In the end, an offseason incident involving a quartet of Auburn football players won’t end up causing the early portion of their upcoming season to go up in smoke.
At the SEC Media Days Monday, head coach Gus Malzahn confirmed that the four players arrested earlier this offseason, defensive end Byron Cowart, defensive back Carlton Davis (pictured), wide receiver Ryan Davis and defensive back Jeremiah Dinson, will not miss any playing time as a result of the incident. The four players were arrested by the Auburn police department in early May and charged with one count each of second-degree possession of marijuana.
The four players were disciplined internally, although Malzahn declined to discuss the details of those punitive measures.
“Those four young men made a mistake; we punished them and they won’t miss any time,” Malzahn said by way of al.com. “That’s behind us. They’re four fine young men, they made a mistake and I’m confident that they won’t make any more.”
The defensive back Davis is the most noteworthy of the Cheech & Chong impersonators. As a true freshman in 2015, he started at corner for the Tigers and led all SEC freshmen with three interceptions. He was named to the conference’s All-Freshman team at the end of the season.
Cowart, a five-star 2015 signee, played in all 13 games as a true freshman, while Dinson played in nine games in his first season with the Tigers. The receiver Davis, also a true freshman, didn’t have a reception in 2015 but ran the ball twice for 20 yards. Davis’ first college carry went for 28 yards.
Auburn opens the 2016 season against 2015 College Football Playoff runner-up Clemson. I’ll let you discuss what if any factor the quality of the season-opening opponent played in Malzahn’s decision.