There's a public DIA rule that states a common reason a student would be suspended 8 games. We are one day out from the 8th game of Tev's suspension. If he doesn't play at NW, then either something else has gone terribly wrong, or we should all raise holy ****. Until then, what are we doing? What's more concerning to me is the idea of putting so much hope in an 18-19 year old who failed not one, but two drug tests, full well knowing it would cost him a quarter of his season. Again, we do not and will not know if that's what happened, but it's worth thinking about. People are free to blithely prattle on about how all kids make dumb mistakes, but if all this is true, it's not one dumb mistake, it's two. Two dumb mistakes that happened in less than six months on campus. Two dumb mistakes that were caught (who knows how many other dumb mistakes weren't). Two dumb mistakes that ABSOLUTELY can be the sign of a larger problem, especially if they are happening shortly after a big change in your life (for example, living away from home for the first time). Further, we don't know what drugs they may have been (some mistakes are more concerning than others).
Have numerous other athletes in the past been given lighter punishments for committing worse crimes? Yes, we all know and can list examples. But again, those punishments were handed down at the coaching staff level, and this punishment (if it is drugs) comes from the DIA. And the biggest difference worth noting between theft and multiple drug test failures is the repeat nature of the latter offense. You can arguably treat the theft (or assault if I'm remember Black's situation correctly) as a one time stupid decision unlikely to be repeated. Do that twice and you'll be off the team full stop, see Darius Paul (I'm happy to be corrected on this if someone knows of a similarly serious offense that was committed by a player twice without them being kicked off the team). Repeat drug test failures can't reasonably be hand waived away as a one time dumb decision. It's a strong sign of a pattern, and needs to be taken seriously to help the kids. I'm sure many students today, and many people on this board, would have failed multiple drug tests in college if those happened. But these kids have more on the line, and are, for better or worse, held to a higher standard.