These three players were unfortunately pulled over by the Morgantown po-po during an expedition to seemingly, allegedly, distribute tiny 1-gram baggies of cannabis to party-goers for profit. It seems from the reports I've read that there wasn't a large aggregate amount of grass involved, but there are felony charges due to it being packaged in a form incongruent with personal recreational consumption (baggies in the shoe).
I have several thoughts on this matter. Assuming that these charges result in the dismissal of all three players, the results will be clearly bad for the football team, although not necessarily devastating. These guys are all solid backups who were likely to get significant playing time this year. So it's somewhat bad news from a football perspective.
From the standpoint of the players, this was stupid. Whatever profit margin you can gain from reselling an OZ is not worth risking a D-I scholarship and even an outside chance at getting on an NFL practice squad or roster. The math just isn't there. Lets say they bought an ounce of weed for $100. Then they resell it in gram bags for $20 each. They're going to make less than $400 in profit to split three ways, while assuming a great deal of risk and going to a lot of trouble. Not smart.
And finally, Morgantown, like every other college town in America, is awash in weed. It's not a big deal. They may as well just legalize it and tax it. Maybe that way Monongalia county could acquire they funding they need to build their precious new roads instead of trying (and failing- props to my brother) to garnish the paychecks of everyone who works there.
Coach Stew takes action against the players:
“These three players are dismissed from all aspects of the Mountaineer football family,” Stewart said. “The players will retain their scholarships through the end of the academic school year, pending the legal process.”
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Hey, we've all been young and have done silly things and these guys weren't very careful unfortunately and will have to pay the price. And though most of the country could care less about their neighbor or coworker smoking weed in this day and age, people still hold student athletes to a different standard. So Coach Stew had little choice but to take a tough stance or risk WVU turning into the next version of Thug U. Schools don't get punished in the popular opinion polls unless they stand by and don't address issues. You can clearly see the effect being labeled Thug U has had on Florida State and Tennessee the last few years. I think fans of both teams would agree that it has not helped in very competitive recruiting arenas and their on field performance has suffered.
Plus, this was Stewarts first player issue that he's had to face as far as I know. He has to set the stardard early and this really was his only choice. Unfortunate it was over a little weed. I doubt anyone really gives a shit.
The saddest part of stories like this one is that these student athletes make a stupid choice and pay not only for their education but for their education. By that I mean they have to learn a lesson that could cost them in the eyes of justice and possibly in the rest of their college education. Certainly their reputation is tarnished in a way that even if reinstated it will damage any NFL aspirations they might have. John Holmes was a NFL linebacker in the making and now we may or more importantly he may never know.
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