Washington coaches deny Marcus Peters choked an assistant

Washington defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake have denied reports that cornerback Marcus Peters choked an assistant coach during an argument this season, according to the Seattle Times' Adam Jude. 

NFL.com published an article this week citing an anonymous scout who said he had witnessed Peters, who was dismissed from the program in November, choke an assistant coach. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a similar report, citing unnamed sources. 

"It’s bull (expletive)," Kwiatkowski said. "We had our issues with Marcus ... but there was never any physical altercation. Not with this staff."

Lake echoed Kwiatkowski's statement.

"That obviously never, never happened," he said. "I've been for, what, 11 months now and that has never happened. I was very surprised when I read it. My first thought was, 'Boy, that must have happened before I was here,' because that never happened to anyone here - to our staff, to me, to my assistant, not to anybody here.

"That did not happen in 2014, for sure."

Former Washington coach Steve Sarkisian also said in a message to the Seattle Times that such an altercation never happened during his tenure.