The UNC-Chapel Hill football player accused of sexual assault against UNC-Chapel Hill sophomore Delaney Robinson said he was innocent Tuesday in an interview at the home of his attorney, Kerry Sutton. 

Allen Artis, the 20-year-old linebacker from Marietta, Georgia, was suspended from the football team on Sept. 13, the same day Robinson publicly announced her allegations, according to The News & Observer.

“Everything was completely consensual, what happened that night,” Artis said. “That’s the truth. I did not rape her.”

The case has been under investigation by both UNC-Chapel Hill Campus Police and the university’s Title IX office. Artis learned that he had been alleged of these criminal charges two weeks ago via text message, according to The News & Observer.

“I was surprised, hurt, distraught,” Artis said. “Just thinking about my reputation and how false accusations like that can affect my reputation.”

UNC investigators obtained search warrants to examine text messages on multiple cell phones in the case, according to The News & Observer. In affidavits for the warrants, an investigator said that Robinson believed she had been drugged that night. 

Artis said that he did not give Robinson a drug, according to The News & Observer. He said that he had been drinking and that he had met Robinson for the first time the night of Feb. 14, the night she claims he sexually assaulted her.

Artis says that while his football career may be over, he still has the emotional support of his teammates.

“It’s just good knowing that I have 100-plus brothers who are in there supporting me,” he said. “I mean, I’m not playing, but I know I’m in their hearts and they’re in my heart.”

His mother, middle school teacher Stephanie Artis, said she had to stop reading reports and social media about the case, according to The News & Observer. Instead, she said, she turns to the Bible app on her phone for comfort.

“You feel like, ‘Why my son, why is this happening?’” she said. “And then I say, ‘Well, why not him? This could be any of our sons. … God has a purpose and a reason and I trust in that.’”

Sutton questioned photos presented by Branch that seemed to show bruises on Robinson’s neck, according to The News & Observer. In an enlarged version of the photograph, Sutton said that dark areas on Robinson’s neck are actually shadows from her earring and from the tilt of her head.[KL9] 

Sutton was one of the attorneys involved in the Duke lacrosse case ten years ago, in which three lacrosse players from Duke University were falsely accused of rape.

“I’m not saying she’s lying,” Sutton said, referring to Robinson. “I’m saying we have facts that support that what happened that night was completely consensual. In every one of these cases that we work on, both sides completely believe what it is that they believe. I don’t think we’ve had a case since Duke lacrosse where someone was just lying.”