Sam Bruce’s time at Miami came to an abrupt end, but the former highly-touted recruit’s impact on the football program is still being felt.
According to the CBS affiliate in Miami, Sam Bruce was arrested Monday night and charged with marijuana possession. The station’s website writes that the arrest came after police spotted “several people getting high in a car.”
The Palm Beach Post, meanwhile, writes that "[t]wo of Bruce’s former UM teammates, freshmen safety Cedrick Wright and tight end Jovani Haskins, were with Bruce when he was arrested.” Neither of those two Hurricane football players were arrested or charged.
A week ago, The U announced that Bruce had been dismissed for “multiple” violations of team rules, as well as a “failure” to meet the expectations for players set by first-year coach Mark Richt.
In early September, and prior to a broken leg playing basketball, it was confirmed that Bruce would be suspended for the first three games of the 2016 season. The stated reason for the suspension was the standard unspecified violations of team rules, although that punitive measure stemmed from an incident while he was still in high school.
It was reported in mid-July that the prized recruit was facing a suspension by The U because of a photo that showed him “brandishing a gun.” That incident this past February, which involved a male student and centered on Bruce’s ex-girlfriend, led to Bruce withdrawing from his high school, St. Thomas Aquinas in Ft. Lauderdale.
Bruce was a four-star member of The U’s most recent recruiting class, rated as the No. 11 receiver in the country and the No. 13 player at any position in the state of Florida. The 5-8, 180-pound Bruce had been expected to contribute immediately to the Hurricanes in both the passing and return games, but he didn’t appear in any games during his very brief time with the program.