The Upstate Life

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Maryland Releases Marvin Alaeze from Football Scholarship

Marvin Alaeze, one of the highest-rated recruits Ralph Friedgen has ever signed since taking over the program in 2001, will unfortunately never hit the field, at least with a Terps jersey. Alaeze was supposed to play for Maryland last season, but due to failing to meet NCAA academic guidelines, he spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia in order to qualify for the upcoming 2006 season (he's taken the SAT literally more than a handful of times). Unfortunately, Alaeze had a few run-ins with the law which included multiple drug-related charges that ultimately led to the athletic department's decision.

Alaeze was charged with five marijuana-related offenses in February, according to Baltimore County District Court records. A month later, three of those charges - possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and single counts of possession of marijuana and paraphernalia - were dismissed.

Two remaining charges - possession of marijuana and paraphernalia - have been placed in an inactive status but still can be prosecuted, according to Baltimore County Assistant State's Attorney Thomas Kane.

According to police documents, officers had approached a car driven by Alaeze on Feb. 17 while it was parked in the 4700 block of Old Court Road. Police reported that they found several bags of marijuana in the car that one of the passengers said belonged to him.

Though the timing of his scholarship release is questionable, TUL feels Maryland's decision was the right thing to do. Although it hurts losing a five-star defensive tackle, Friedgen and Co. practically did everything in their power to let this guy qualify. Let's face it: a top recruit really has to screw up in order to have his scholarship revoked. Oh, and dude's MySpace page doesn't really seem to help his case either.

Posted by Brett at 3:38 PM |