Just one day after word broke that James McDonald was arrested for driving under the influence, Penn State has announced that the wide receiver has been dismissed from the program.
“James McDonald, a reserve wide receiver and recent graduate of Penn State’s College of Communications, will not be invited back for his fifth season on the football team,” the school said in a very brief and terse statement.
The on-field loss for the Nittany Lions is minimal; for his career, McDonald has a grand total of seven receptions.
What’s interesting, however, is how McDonald’s off-field legal woes were addressed as compared to that of now-former teammate Navorro Bowman.
Earlier this year, Bowman admitted to smoking marijuana while on probation for a disorderly conduct charge stemming from an on-campus fight in 2007. An additional year was added to Bowman’s probation for violating the terms of his sentence.
In May, head coach Joe Paterno announced that Bowman would not face a suspension for going Cheech & Chong during his probation.
Interesting tack to say the least.
Then again, one player is an All-American candidate, while the other was a seldom-used role player, so it really shouldn’t be all that surprising, should it?