Thomas is not the first UF football player to successfully appeal a positive drug test. Cornerback Lito Sheppard and center David Jorgensen won appeals before the 2001 season, claiming they had inhaled second-hand smoke at a party.
Urban Meyer is something else.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Suspended defensive tackle Marcus Thomas has been reinstated and will play Saturday when No. 5 Florida hosts ninth-ranked LSU.
"I think he's a very good football player," Meyer said. "He's a good chemistry guy on the team. He's invested a lot into this program. Obviously, having him in here is going to help, but we also played pretty good without him. It's important. Is it the catchall? Absolutely not. We proved that the last couple weeks."
Florida fans said, "Why would we delay the results, and lose the anchor of our line for the critical last half of the season, with games against LSU, Auburn, and SEC East rival Georgia. If we had known the results, we'd have bitten the bullet and suspended Thomas immediately so he could be back for that critcal run of games.
(Trying to maintain the Gator theme, the Bong-Gun used by Thomas )
Well, now you know why. Meyer suspended Thomas after the UT game, and an appeal was immediately filed on the grounds that the University of Florida doesn't understand proper testing procedure, and retested Thomas too soon after the first test. That appeal was granted today, and Thomas will be available for the LSU game Saturday, after missing games 1, 4, and 5 (against Southern Miss, Kentucky and a suspect Bama team). Never mind that it's almost impossible for a person to erroneously test positive again more than a month after a single use, which was the grounds for Thomas' appeal. Never mind that Thomas was busted again last Sunday, for driving with a suspended license. Interestingly, the line of the UF-LSU game moved sharply from favoring LSU to favoring Florida in the 24 hours prior to Thursday's decision to reinstate Thomas by the "independent committee" at UF. Of course, that may have been due to the fact that Thomas was spotted on the practice field earlier in the week, apparently in violation of Meyer's policy of not allowing suspended players to take part in any team activities. Maybe Urban just had a good feeling about the decision and decided to suspend his own rule.
(Meyer and Thomas pictured above, "Coach has got you covered")
Whatever the case, when a player has two positive drug tests before the season, gets busted for driving without a license during the season, and ends up with a patchwork of suspensions that craftily avoids the most critical conference games on the schedule... All I can say is "Welcome to the SEC Coach Meyer".
48 comments:
You're a politician man. Keep spinning, I bet you're dizzzzzy.
It writes it's self. It should be a sin. You know Gators can't read. It's in the Bible.
Urban actually had nothing to do with the suspension. It is handed down by the athletic department and appeals actually go through a committee on the academic side of the University which is notorious for looking down their nose at the athletic dept.
The reason for the delay is simple. Qualitative testing (positive or not) testing is conducted on campus, but quantitative (exactly how much is in a person's system) is performed by an independent lab. Thomas' originally tested positive in late July, was suspended for the first game, then in mid to late August tested positive again. Following the second positive, his sample was sent off to the lab for qualitative analysis and verification. Results came back the week before the Kentucky game and Thomas was suspended for half the remaining system, the University standard penalty for a second positive. He appealed and the suspension was changed to indefinite pending the results of his appeal. His appeal has to go through the committee on the academic side who, my guess is, saw that the amount of THC in his system was significantly lower on the second test than the first and had him test again. His test must have come back clean within the last couple of days as his hearing was on Thursday afternoon. The committee has the sole power to make a recommendation for action in this case, not Meyer. The UF President and AD only get to sign off on it, and in this case the committee chose to rescind the suspension with stipulations.
Also, the time between positive tests was in the 3-4 week range, not "more than a month."
I don't know for certain if he smoked once, twice, or 29837459723974 times, but some of the facts in your story are incorrect.
Ron Zook has taught Urban well. Urban is winning with Zook's recruits, and disciplining like Zook and Foley
Discipline Florida Style
Florida coach Ron Zook rightfully punished star linebacker Channing Crowder after Crowder was arrested this summer. Crowder (and another player who was involved) was suspended for the first game of the year, a game against Middle Tennessee. Well, that game was rescheduled for later in season because of Hurricane Frances. Now, the first game is this weekend against Eastern Michigan. Crowder is playing. Huh? Wasn't he suspended for the first game? Well, not according to coach Zook. The coach conveniently moved the suspension along with the game, so that Crowder will still miss the Middle Tennesse game on October 16.
Yep, I remember that shit. Just like this Thomas crap
Zook on the reason for putting off the suspensions
"I need to talk to Jeremy (Foley, Florida AD) about that a little bit more. Obviously it would be his call,'' Zook said. "They were scheduled to miss the Middle Tennessee game. Now Middle Tennessee will be the sixth game. That's the game they should miss.''
Notre Dame looks like a genius not hiring this strawberry douche
I wish I was still coaching Notre Dame. Urban Meyer would not have been a good fit at a school that has morals.
...academic side of the University which is notorious for looking down their nose at the athletic dept.Bullshit, conjecture You Homer. Is Urban selling them dope? This has Foley's and Meyer's fingerprints all over it. We need Miami CSI to run this to ground. Even David Caruso can see this a fuckup of monumental proportions.
Comments above clearly show the Univeristy's past patterns of covering for thug players.
Who is The Bow? Do I need to worry about him on Saturday?
I am glad Coach Meyer came to Florida instead of that pussy school up North. Notre Dame sucks
Can we switch jobs?
Need some offense? Daddy is a little upset with me
Urban is sending out a new recruiting message to future recruits. If you sign with us, you NEVER have to worry about getting cought when you break the law or any of our "team rules".
Your all stupid if you think Urban Meyer has done anything wrong. He don't have no problems with the team. We will win the Suger Bowl and win the championship this year.
its not anyones business! UM will do whats best for the team. thats not anyones business thats between him and the team. we pay him to win games. thats not anyones business, thats between him and foley. he might not be the brightest but thats not your gulldamn business, thats between he and his mother and father! i for one don`t give a damn how good he is or how good the team plays, its not my business. mide your business thats all, just mind your business.
As I have said. He is the Coach of the University. He alone will deside. He fooled all of our opponents by mixing them up for the suspended players. They could not know how to prepare because they didnt know or understand what Coach Meyer would do next on sitting out his players for their crimes. He just shows how much better a coach he is than wingnut.
Everyone needs to leave Urban the hell ALONE!! HE is the coach at the Universtiy of Florida! HE is the one that has to prepare this team for their next NATIONAL CHAPMIONSHIP! HE is the one that must put the rest of the teams in the SCE in their place! This is a HIGH-PRESURE JOB! LET HIM DO IT!
I agree. Do we expect the players to play tough on the field...but off the field they need to play by the rules..isn't that a double standard? Can't we all just have fun and party without fear of losing our "jobs". I mean come one...no ones perfect!! Great players should be able to play no matter what their criminal record. Coaches have no right to take away their god given gifts to be FOOTBALL PLAYERS!
Finally somebody besides me gets it! You go Urban!
Thanks Coach
Check your facts. Urban uses a middleman. Indeed he loves his players. Suspending Thomas takes food off the table for a lot of people.
Urban will no doubt be ridiculed for his decision to let his players play the game, great men often are, but true fans recognize the service he has given to the school and his team. We should all learn from Meyer's shining example and show our appreciation and love for the Gator Nation. Next time you run into a Gator player make sure to buy him a drink/Joint, and tell him not to worry about that drive home, Coach has you covered.
Thanks Coach
Meyer should've given him an ice cream cone.
Wow, you Florida guys are lucky. You really see the gem you got in Coach Meyer. What with all that pressure at UF and all.....having to make the right decision or even a moral decision is just too much. Thank God, you have Urban to make the decision he made--right or not. Moral or not. I mean, if it gets you a championship then screw morals, right? We win! And the players learn to live the right way. Wait, um, the players learn to live like nobody can touch them. Wait, that doesn't sound right either. Dammit, where's Bobby Bowden to help out here....
Then why didn't he play against Alabama? They are better than Tennessee.
Some people are calling Thomas a thug. How does smoking weed a few times make him a thug? He missed 3 games for it. We're not talking about assault.
Wow. I will never get back my wasted time spent reading such ridiculous and unintelligent comments made by you Florida fans. For some reason I was under the false impression that UF was at least a decent school and had decent fans, but I have been exposed to the reality of it all one too many times now to ignore the truth. It is pretty sad.
Dumb and Dumber: It's similar to watching bad porn. Time that can't be recovered.
Volsheimers:
Urban does not respect Shula, a petite lad in size 6 shoes. JMO
Latest info is that he is playing against LSU. Meyer is such a piece of crap. He kept saying all week 'its out of my hands', 'its out of my hands'. Bullcrap. The 'committee' did NOT acquit him of his second failed drug test. They simply ammended the school rules of a mandatory 5 game suspension, and said 2 games is enough. Coincidently, the 2nd offense was known before the UT game. And yet, Thomas plays against UT. Then he misses Bama. And now when the 'final decision' is made, 'hes missed enough' and he's ready for the hard stretch vs LSU, Aub, and UGA. What a debacle.
Thanks again Coach Meyer. I missed enough games.
How can Thomas not be a thug? I get the assault charge comment but we are talking about a player that smokes weed and a Univrsity that has some questionable suspension practices. I am sure that Marcus's dope dealers are good citizens.
For the love of Charlie Pell and Galen Hall, can't anyone see this is fucked up?
The funniest thing about this blog is that it comes from the sames school that developed the mentality of super-thug Haynesworth.
Nice job turning out the NFL's greatest criminals, losing a fourth quarter lead at home, rushing for -11 yards in a game, and bitching about a gator when your team's history is full of the worst offenses in college football.
Pot, hi I'm the Kettle, did you know that you are black?
I am a good person.
He dumb-ass, Haynesworth plays for the Titans. Gotta an AK-47 I can borrow? Or a bong?
Run the fucking option, I need to some use bitches!
Dope Dealer, I think you are an outstanding citizen
Assault victim, I've got that snow.
You dumb ass Vols. Thomas is not the first UF football player to successfully appeal a positive drug test. Cornerback Lito Sheppard and center David Jorgensen won appeals before the 2001 season, claiming they had inhaled second-hand smoke at a party.
Blow it out your ass
What a bunch of queers you people are! You all are talking about smokind dope like he shived some nun or something. I'd be willing to be all the money in my pocket versus all the money in your pocked that at least have of you idiots posting on here have smoked dope. I would make that same bet with every football team in the country for that matter.
For the half (or less of you that haven't), you are a fucking dork!
Again, you Gator Fuckheads missed the point: Urban could continue his suspension regardless of what the AD and president said.
hey knute... what would you recommend meyer do? give him a piss test himself?
the thing everyone is missing here is that this suspension, appeal, and suspension lift was all handled by the university. NOT meyer. meyer said it was "out of his hands" and there's no reason not to believe him.
i don't understand why most of you idiots can't understand that.
The mota isn't the issue. "Suspending" him for 3 week-ass teams (basically a pick-your-game deal) and then miraculously getting him back for the tough stretch is.
What is so hard to understand? Geez Gators are such fucking doucebags. Once more: Urban could continue his suspension regardless of what the AD and president said.URBAN FUCKING MEYER STILL HAS A CHOICE!!!!
I agree. Urban was saying one thing and doing another during his interview and he is preaching "good citizenship" but has sold his soul----and he knows it
Mark Richt, Bobby Bowden, and every head coach has done the same thing. It's just Urban Meyer doesn't pretend to be a Christian, then does crocked stuff like Richt and Bowden.
Urban Meyer is Satan's love child
This whole thing is irrelevant. If you are a true gator and not some band wagon fan who has no family or personal connections to uf you would never bad mouth Urban. He pulled us out of our Zook depression and after only 1 year he has got us a SEC east title.As a TRUE Gator fan I think we owe him our complete thanks. Meyer knows what its about. The Urban legend has come true. I know that any true member of the Gator Nation will agree with me. All hail Florida all hail our alma mater. Go Gators!
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