Three Starters Facing Suspensions

[smazza]

They should lose their scholarships and team eligibility after a second positive drug test, not the third.  Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

starting wr,rb and DE

kicking them off team would have a serious negative impact

i say dont kick them off the team

leavitt and crews needs to recruit a higher  character kid

i told you guys there was a big story

[Joe]

I think many of you are missing my point.

They should be suspended! They shouldn't be dumped from the team.

[BullyPulpit]

I think the situation is being handled in a manner that should be acceptable to all. These guys are so entrenched in Leavitt's doghouse they will have to be angels (and have been angels) throughout the duration of this ordeal to even sniff the playing field. USF Football is a family and this is a family problem. Nobody was arrested, nobody was physically hurt. If the USF Family chooses to allow these players to play after a two game suspension, I say so be it. They are still one strike away from being kicked off the team regardless of whether they are suspended for two games or six games.

And for all of those attacking a "double standard" for these privileged athletes, how many other students at USF are held to this standard? I received a free ride at USF and never had to undergo a drug test. The double standard is that these kids are held to a higher standard than any other student at USF. I think the punishment system is more than adequate and I also think that this is an internal "family" matter that should NEVER be reported publically. Allow people to speculate and throw around rumors, but at then end of the day you have to protect your family.

[E.T.]

I think many of you are missing my point.

They should be suspended! They shouldn't be dumped from the team.

I missed your point ... Thanx - and I understood better from your retort to Mike.

[USFMikeB]

I think the situation is being handled in a manner that should be acceptable to all.

I agree.  My dissatisfaction is with the policy, not with the present handling of the situation by USF.  I would prefer a stricter set of rules governing failed drug tests by student athletes.

[USFMikeB]

They should lose their scholarships and team eligibility after a second positive drug test, not the third.  Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

i say dont kick them off the team

I'm not advocating kicking them off the team, I am advocating a stricter policy for the future.

[Guest wildrover]

This might be Julmiste's second failed drug tests, but wasn't he involved in something else at the beginning of his freshman year?  Something like burglary or something like that?  I seem to remember a story about a group of players stealing from another player.

If thats true than he is proving to be a rotten seed.  Joe, I completley disagree with you, I served in the Navy for five years right after high school.  The military by then had institutied its zero tolereance drug policy.  If you got caught you got the boot, plain and simple.  And leaving the military due to a positive drug test isn't exactly the honorable way of doing it, know what I mean?  I had my fun before I went in the Navy, and even after I left it but while I was in I didn't touch anything.  Not because of any moral or health reason but because I never knew when I was going to have to take a test and if I tested positive I knew I was gone.  I saw lots of guys get caught and get discharged shortly there after.  In many cases these guys had no where else to go but the military, not the sharpest tools in the shed so college wasn't really an option.  The military offered a skill and a career and for a lot of these kids that popped positive, the military was the only place that would ever make such an offer.  

The military never says, "well, your just a kid, its just pot, you never have time to yourself, here is your slap on the wrist, don't do it again"  It doesn't care how old you are, your social status, your opportunites (or lack there of) elsewhere.  It simply says, you get caught (once mind you), you go away, period.  The military also doesn't offer an opporuntity to play the game you love, a free education (the gi bill helps but these days its not enough) or the opportunity to someday get noticed by NFL scouts, the military just offers a  job basically.

Now with all that being said, though I saw a number of guys get booted as a result of a positve drug test I'd be willing to bet the positive tests I saw or knew about in the five years I was in don't even come close to the number of positve tests that show up in any given athletic department in any given year.  Wonder why that is?  

[E.T.]

...  Wonder why that is?  

[Guest Sprtsfn627]

I agree with wildrover that Josh Julmiste has really pushed his limits.  He sat out all last year and apparently still didn't get the message.  Hopefully he gets it together, because I'm guessing he doesn't get another chance.

[Knight_Light]

This might be Julmiste's second failed drug tests, but wasn't he involved in something else at the beginning of his freshman year?  Something like burglary or something like that?  I seem to remember a story about a group of players stealing from another player.

 

Here's some background on Julmiste from today's papers/blogs:

From St Pete Times story:

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/27/Sports/USF_sits_trio_for_two.shtml

Julmiste has had off-field problems before. He had to withdraw from USF in the fall of 2004 when he and two teammates were accused of removing $4,000 in property from a former teammate's dormitory room. No criminal charges were filed, and Julmiste re-enrolled in January 2005 and played sparingly last season, totaling eight tackles.

St Pete Times Blog:

http://www.sptimes.com/blogs/usf/

I talked to Josh Julmiste two weeks ago and he spoke about how Leavitt expected him to be a leader on the defensive line, stepping up into a major role as a sophomore as his brother Pat did. Julmiste, who had an arrest on theft charges before he got to USF and lost a semester of school because of another off-field incident that didn't result in criminal charges, needs to show he can make better decisions.