"Report all medicines. Don't play with your eligibility." These words are displayed prominently on an NCAA poster within their drug policy literature. Every athlete signs the written drug policy acknowledgement form. Every athlete is made aware of banned substances and to always ask medical staff.
Yes Will Grier absolutely made a bad decision by not checking with his coaches before taking this supplement. Bad decisions get made all the time and there are always consequences to those decisions. But do the NCAA's consequences fit the crime? If he had smoked marijuana, he would have been given a one game suspension.
Ohio State saw four players suspended for opening game against Virginia Tech. Nebraska had five players suspended for opener for "violating team rules." All purported drug violations; all resulting in a one game suspension.
And, Jameis Winston, now an NFL QB, was suspended three games for shoplifting. He had already been in the news for a number of wrong reasons during his tenure at FSU.
There are hundreds of other examples of college athletes violating team rules and NCAA policies.
High profile programs are always under scrutiny. These student athletes can often go from obscurity to media darling in a second.
And yes, student athletes know the rules, they know what is expected of them and a strong coaching staff makes certain they are adhering to those rules. A truly strong coach, as it appears to be the case with Coach Jim McElwain, makes their players accept responsibility for their actions and holds them accountable.
But the NCAA's inconsistencies when it comes to suspensions are antiquated and inconsistent. This is an athlete, who along with more than 20 other players had succumbed to the flu the week before a major conference game. This is an athlete who took a supplement in the hope of fighting off the symptoms. Bad decision to not check with his coaches, but to punish him with a calendar year suspension while other college athletes get their hand slapped for far worse misconduct, is hypocritical.
The NCAA's drug policies are designed to prevent a player(s)/team from having an unfair competitive advantage. So if this was another athlete story about steroids, I would say go ahead and suspend him and have UF forfeit the games won. But this was a supplement and a bad choice. Will Grier should have known better. Give him a one game suspension if indeed this is the truth of what happened.
He has already maturely accepted responsibility for his actions. This is a 20 year old young man who stood up at a media press conference and owned his choice. I have an almost 19 year old UF freshman and a 23 year old UF graduate who will absolutely tell you that they were raised with fair and sometimes creative punishments/consequences to their poor choices. They learned their lesson and to the best of my knowledge, did not repeat the same offense. I would venture to guess it is because they were treated fairly and consistently without an over the top punishment that could have taught them nothing more than they have crazy parents/mentors.
As a parent, and UF alumni, I am at a loss as to what benefit a calendar year suspension serves. I'd even go further to suggest that LSU and any other top rated program would have much preferred playing Florida with an intact team. Make no mistake, Treon Harris is a good football player and he will no doubt do his best to step into his role this weekend against LSU.
But this is not about the caliber of Harris. This is simply about calling out the NCAA for its old fashioned, antiquated policies and inequitable treatment of true criminal and illegal offenses versus taking an OTC supplement. There is an enormous differential between these offenses and it is time for the NCAA to step up and address these policies.
Share This Article
