T1B

Is this the perverbial "taking a bullet" for the cause?


Irish QB has pot charge dismissed
Posted: Thursday May 24, 2007 3:51PM; Updated: Thursday May 24, 2007 6:40PM


SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- Prosecutors dismissed a marijuana possession charge against Notre Dame quarterback Demetrius Jones, who was driving a car that had the drug in its ashtray, authorities said.

Jones, 19, was arrested on May 17 after state police stopped a red Dodge Charger he was driving on the Indiana Toll Road in northern Indiana's LaPorte County. He was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana less than 30 grams. Two passengers in the car were not charged, state police said.


The LaPorte County Prosecutor's Office dismissed the charge without prejudice, according to court papers filed Wednesday. The car's owner (who dat? This guy has booster pals me thinks) said he let Jones drive the car and was sure he didn't know the marijuana was in the ashtray, court papers say.

Jones is considered one of the favorites to replace Brady Quinn as Notre Dame's starting quarterback. Coach Charlie Weis was expected to name the two finalists for the job next week.

University spokesmen said Thursday that Jones was still enrolled and still on the team.

To start with, the area where Jones was pulled over is notorious for "DWB" incidents. That said, the car did in fact belong to a friend of his. Not a booster, but someone from his old neighbor hood. His grandmother recently passed away and he has been catching rides back home and trying to get back. No idea if the pot was his, but supposedly he was tested at the police station and passed.

The kicker is, as Terry will tell you, ND's Res Life is a step below the gestapo when it comes to many of these situations. It would not shock me at all for Jones to be suspended from school for the entire sememster.

There is a rumor going around that Jones doesn't have an entirely clean slate with the Res Life bunch because he broke pariatels. How did he get caught? The rumor on the street is that Zach Fraser turned him in. If that is the case, you can bet your ass that Fraser will be transfering at the end of this semester.

Cornhusker wrote:The car's owner (who dat? This guy has booster pals me thinks)

I didn't hear about this story until now, and I'll defer to Killian on what happened. Having said that, however, based on my own experience at ND, this isn't the type of thing that would raise an eyebrow as to NCAA violations.

When I was at ND, students who had cars on campus routinely would lend out their cars to other students. That's just the way it was. It may sound hard to believe, but it was true. The ND Administration routinely would refer to the "Notre Dame family," which may sound hokey, but in many respects there was a familial atmosphere at ND that you don't often see elsewhere.

I never had a car of my own until after I graduated, but I personally borrowed cars from friends on more than one occasion at ND. If the borrower in question happened to be a ND football player, I don't think that fact converts such an act, which is nothing more than a friendly gesture, to a violation of the NCAA rules. Certainly it doesn't violate the spirit of the rules.

Then again, I graduated over 20 years ago. Maybe the situation is a little different now.

Killian wrote:The kicker is, as Terry will tell you, ND's Res Life is a step below the gestapo when it comes to many of these situations. It would not shock me at all for Jones to be suspended from school for the entire sememster.

Yep. This was a pretty similar situation to McAlarney, and we know what happened there.

There is a rumor going around that Jones doesn't have an entirely clean slate with the Res Life bunch because he broke pariatels. How did he get caught? The rumor on the street is that Zach Fraser turned him in. If that is the case, you can bet your ass that Fraser will be transfering at the end of this semester.

Wow. I know the competition to replace Quinn has gotten rather fierce, but if it's degenerated to this level, Weis needs to get a handle on things immediately.