Kentucky head coach Joker Phillips confirmed on Monday that three players were charged with marijuana possession last week. Two of the players, running back Raymond Sanders and wide receiver Bookie Cobbins, were suspended last Saturday for the Wildcats' ugly loss to Western Kentucky. The third, Marcus Caffey, had already been ruled academically ineligible for the season. All three admitted to smoking the drug when a university policeman confronted them after smelling "the distinct odor of marijuana" coming from a Lexington apartment. A search also turned up marijuana in the apartment.
Kentucky Suspends 3 Players For Marijuana Charge
Kentucky coach Joker Phillips confirmed that three Wildcats football players were charged with marijuana possession, and two were suspended for last Saturday’s loss to Western Kentucky.
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Phillips has had a rough start to the season, which was compounded by this off-the-field mishap. The coach talked about the decision to discipline the players for the WKU game (via Kyle Tucker of The Louisville Courier-Journal):
“Kids don’t always do all the things right,” Phillips said. “The thing we do is we hold the kids accountable. We discipline them right away. We don’t wait. We try to get as many of the facts as we possibly can. We got them on Friday and we disciplined them right away.”
As for the already-suspended Caffey, Phillips indicated that UK would stick by him, but his chances are running out:
“But we’re not a rehab center or a center that we’re going to continue to give guys chances. We love Marcus. A lot of us, this is all we’ve got. We’ll go with him until we feel like we can’t take it anymore. We’ve done that with other kids. This is all he has. So we’ll continue to stick by him.”
Caffey does still practice with the team, and he was reinstated this week along with Cobbins and Sanders.
At 1-2, it doesn’t get any easier for Phillips and the Cats, as they begin their SEC slate with a trip to Gainesville to face Florida this weekend.
For more on Cats football, visit Kentucky blog A Sea Of Blue, plus SEC blog Team Speed Kills.
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