A University of Memphis football player was arrested on campus Friday after officers said they found a handgun in his bag during a traffic stop, a move that quickly erased him from the Tigers’ online roster and sparked questions about how a weapon ended up on university grounds. The athlete has been identified as 20-year-old Christopher Stokes, a defensive lineman the program signed in January.
Police stopped a silver SUV for speeding on Goodlett Street and, after searching a backpack, officers said they found a black Glock semi-automatic handgun, which was taken into evidence. The 20-year-old, who the program signed in January as a defensive lineman, was arrested on a charge of carrying a weapon on university property and was booked at the local jail, according to WREG.
Not long after the arrest, Stokes vanished from the team’s public-facing materials. The Tigers’ online roster no longer lists him, and his player bio appears to have been removed from the football program’s site. The University of Memphis Athletics page currently shows the 2026 roster without a profile for Stokes.
The Memphis Police Department’s public pages also include a listing for Christopher Stokes among recent arrests, and department logs show officers processing cases tied to stops in the university area. The Memphis Police Department maintains an online arrest log and news feed with recent incidents, including weapons recoveries.
Campus law and legal exposure
Tennessee law generally prohibits people from possessing firearms on school and university property, with only narrow exceptions for storage in vehicles and for certain authorized personnel. The state’s Attorney General has outlined how those exceptions work, noting that keeping a gun locked in a vehicle can be lawful in limited situations, but that bringing a weapon onto campus grounds or into buildings is usually prohibited and can carry misdemeanor or felony penalties depending on intent and circumstances. For legal context, see the opinion from the Tennessee Attorney General and the relevant sections of the Tennessee Code.
What happens next
Stokes is scheduled to appear in court Monday morning, and his bond had not been set as of the initial reporting, according to WREG. The university’s athletics department removed his player page and had not released an official statement about disciplinary steps by publication time. Investigators said the handgun was taken into police custody as evidence while the case remains under review.
