The nine current and former Michigan State football players charged with assault in the much-publicized November dormitory fight were scheduled to appear in court in East Lansing on Thursday.

Only Ashton Leggett, who has since transferred to Illinois State, got his time before the judge, entering a guilty plea to two charges of assault and battery. Under a plea agreement with the Ingham County prosecutor, Leggett likely won't get jail time (he could have gotten up to 93 days in jail), and will be placed in a sentencing program that would allow him to emerge without a record.

“It was a very stupid act,” The Lansing State Journal reported Leggett having said to 54B District Judge David Jordon, during a pretrial hearing, “and, as a group, we weren’t thinking. We didn’t fully understand and know that we would jeopardize our future like this.”

Read the full LSJ story here.

In Wednesday's news conference — held to announce All-American LB Greg Jones staying in school — MSU head coach Mark Dantonio let slip that the players who remained with the program were no longer barred from team facilities. That group of five players — including starting CB Chris L. Rucker, wideouts Mark Dell, Fred Smith and B.J. Cunning ham and OT J'Michael Deane — were suspended through MSU's Alamo Bowl trip.

Two others, Roderick Jenrette and Glenn Winston, were dismissed from the team, while Leggett and Jamiihr Williams chose to transfer from the program.

As disappointing as the slap on the wrist for Leggett is the fact that Dantonio continued to deal with the incident as much ado about nothing. Several times in his news conference, he chastised reporters for questions, asking them to "Keep it positive. This is supposed to be positive."