After a relatively quiet summer, Penn State football players once again find themselves mixed up with the law.
Whether there are repercussions for coach Joe Paterno and his team remains to be seen.
University police said they found and seized marijuana Tuesday from a campus apartment registered to four Nittany Lions players. The authorities still were investigating and did not release the names of the players they expect to file charges against, Lt. Bill Moerschbacher said.
The search warrant listed junior tight end Andrew Quarless and junior cornerback A.J. Wallace as residents and among those present during the police search. Junior defensive end Maurice Evans and sophomore defensive tackle Abe Koroma also are registered as residents of the apartment, according to university online records, although the warrant did not say they were present.
A team source said all four players did not practice on Wednesday.
Police said they were called to the Nittany Apartments complex after 8 p.m. to follow up on a complaint of loud music coming from Apartment 5204.
According to the report, “The odor of burning marijuana was detected coming from inside one of the buildings. The residents of the apartment denied a consent search, and a search warrant was applied for and executed on the residence. The search yielded a small amount of marijuana.”
When police entered, they were greeted by Aristides A. Nova, a student who told the officers that he was staying at the apartment temporarily, the warrant said.
A number of people were inside, but only Wallace, Quarless and Nova were named in the warrant.
Jeff Nelson, Penn State’s assistant athletic director for communications, said that the team was aware of the incident and was “looking into it.” Nelson said Paterno had no comment.
Quarterback Daryll Clark said he was “shocked” when he learned about the incident, but during a conference call Wednesday morning he said he did not have any details.
“All I know is that the police had stopped at somebody’s apartment,” he said.
Cornerback Lydell Sargeant described the incident as “not a big deal” as of Wednesday morning.
Still, any negative association that Penn State players have with the law is bound to cause a stir after a year and a half of numerous off-the-field incidents. In July, ESPN’s “Outside the Lines examined the spate of problems.
Since April, three players — wide receiver Chris Bell and defensive tackles Chris Baker and Phil Taylor — have been kicked off the team. Bell was dismissed after he allegedly pulled a knife on a teammate, and Baker and Taylor were cut without official reason, although they were suspended at the time in part because of their alleged involvement in fights.
Quarless recently was welcomed back to the team, along with two other players, after serving a suspension for a DUI conviction. Wallace, Evans and Koroma — all starters — have not been in any trouble with Paterno before, at least not publicly.
“I have not been given any indication there’s been any change in any player’s status,” Nelson said.
Clark gets extra year
Clark has earned back the extra year of eligibility he lost when he spent a year at prep school as a freshman non-qualifier.
“Daryll has completed more than 85 percent of the credits required to earn his degree in telecommunications and will be eligible to play in 2009,” Nelson wrote in an e-mail on Wednesday. “He is on schedule to graduate in December 2008, in 3 1/2 years. He will enroll in a second-degree or graduate school in the 2009 spring semester.”
Clark, who attended the Kiski School in Western Pennsylvania before enrolling at Penn State, now is considered a junior in terms of eligibility. He said last week that he planned to return for his senior season.
“I feel like I need it,” he said. “It’s just another year to develop as a quarterback, leadership skills and ... take one more run at a national championship.”
Clark was named the starter last week while sophomore Pat Devlin, of Downingtown, was deemed his backup. Both played in the opener against Coastal Carolina, but Clark is set to start Saturday against Oregon State.
Paterno has not awarded the starting spot to Clark on a long-term basis, though.
“They’ll be battling each other for another couple of years,” the coach said Tuesday.
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NEW – Controversy again finds some Penn State football players
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