A Sea Of Red

Here's the official statement:

LU News Release wrote:Fualaau and Sampson Removed from Football Roster
May 13, 2015| Lynchburg, Va.|

Liberty Head Football Coach Turner Gill has announced that fullback Nicky Fualaau and safety Gary Sampson have been removed from the roster due to a violation of team rules.

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Nicky has been on and off suspensions before. The situation with Gary is uglier with Chris Lang revealing that he faces felony marijuana charges after an April 4th arrest.

Completely ridiculous. Our secondary is taking a big enough hit losing Hagen... Now this. I'm glad Gill is taking a no non-sense approach to these issues though.

Just proves my point, that even tho this is a christian school, and people think things don't or can't happen, everyone is still human and has circumstances or makes mistakes. When I have been around this kid(he was my kids roommate, as frosh) he was been nothing but respectful and likeable. I hope he gets things back on track.

HCTG, did do the right thing for the program tho. You hate to say it but NO one person should be above the team. As the NFL has shown with TB even tho, its still a farce.

Actions have consequences...and for these two it unfortunately means they lose out on AND off the field

Gill didn't have much of a choice. The kid is facing a felony charge. Pot must be done good stuff.

Here is the court record indicating the formal charges dating to the April 4th arrest:

Public Record of General District Court

And if you are like me and not familiar with the Virginia criminal code, here is what it states about Class 5 Felonies:

(e) For Class 5 felonies, a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than 10 years, or in the discretion of the jury or the court trying the case without a jury, confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.

As a low grade felony, this will likely result in a plea as a misdemeanor considering his lack of a criminal record at least based on what I have seen online.

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This pot stuff is just ridiculous. I don't blame Gill; he did what he had to do. But the fact that our state is this stringent on something as harmless as pot is insane to me.

Glad to see Gill making the call to remove these guys from the team. He seems to be a no-nonsense type of guy when it comes to these things. It will only help us in the long run.
I always think back to John Wooden telling Bill Walton that he was not welcome on the team if he didn't cut his beard. That was just one of his rules and he was not going to allow anyone to be an exception. That is the sign of true leadership.
Hope that both of these guys land on their feet and use this as a positive learning experience.

Weed should not be a felony.

Serious question: If liberty were located in Colorado, are they still booted from the team? I think yes. HCTG doesn't play games. (aside from the wonderful game of football)

flamesfan30 wrote:Weed should not be a felony.

Serious question: If liberty were located in Colorado, are they still booted from the team? I think yes. HCTG doesn't play games. (aside from the wonderful game of football)

I would hope not. Liberty needs to understand that they aren't the reason why kids will abstain from sex, money or drugs. College students are going to make decisions, regardless of what the university deems acceptable behavior. If you want to have rules for legalities, I'm fine with it, which is I don't have an issue with them being kick off. But if pot is legalized in VA, LU needs to adjust.

Alcohol is legal and kids still get kicked out for that. You know the rules coming in.

VAGolf wrote:This pot stuff is just ridiculous. I don't blame Gill; he did what he had to do. But the fact that our state is this stringent on something as harmless as pot is insane to me.

Because marijuana wasn't harmless 50 years ago and it's less harmless today.

Nicky Fualaau: Let's be clear, is "violation of team rules" the standard euphemism for substance abuse? The news of his dismissal is included with that of Gary Sampson's dismissal which was due to drug use and arrest and it might lead some to conclude that Fualaau's dismissal was drug-related as well. This might not be fair to him as his dismissal might have been for another reason.

Gary Sampson: How was his arrest kept quiet for so long? He was charged with "sale, distributing marijuana." We know what "sale" means, but does "distributing marijuana" mean just giving it to your friend? Who was he selling or distributing to? Were Fualaau and Sampson together on April 4? Was this a one-time thing? How much selling has been going on? How did he attract the attention of law enforcement?

It's a shame on several levels, not the least of which is that these guys throw away a scholarship-free college education. With so many families struggling financially and graduates exiting college in serious debt, it is frustrating to hear about athletes who don't value education and their scholarships enough to just keep themselves in line for four years.

It's also a shame because the LU football team is much better with these guys on the field. They are letting a lot of people down.

Both of these guys know better. Sorry if he's someone's friend here, but as a repeat offender Fualaau is just stuck on stupid.

Sampson, charged with a felony by age 21, he now puts himself in the position of telling the truth, checking the box on every employment application and explaining the circumstances of his arrest or lying and hoping that no one finds out. Sorry.....the Internet doesn't make that likely.

I am sure that this is the worst part of Turner Gill's job. Dismissing young men that he cares about can't be easy. But sometimes it has to be done and it takes character to do it.

Bobby Bowden just called all-everything Jameis Winston "an embarrassment" to FSU. So many people probably took offense at that as did Winston's new coach, Lovie Smith, at Tampa Bay. For them, Jameis Winston brought wins, fame, and money to FSU. Winston goes #1 in the NFL draft and makes a ton of money for himself. It's win-win for everybody, right? What's Bowden talking about?

What he's talking about is doing the right thing and protecting the reputation of FSU.... (I know, cue the jokes here). But Jameis Winston was "an embarrassment" to FSU because they allowed him to stay and become an embarrassment. The stain of scandal lasts a lot longer than wins and fame but most people can't see that or they don't care. But I'll take Bobby Bowden's side on this one because wisdom and truth are on his side; "A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold" (Proverbs 22:1).

Let's pray for Nicky Fualaau and Gary Sampson and hope they gets things straightened out. They both have promising lives that God wants to use for His glory.

You know that there was a little statement that was removed from some of the articles talking about COach Bowden's quote...I forget if it was "in some ways" or "in a lot of ways" but when you look at it within the context of not only the quote, but the question that led to the quote, it puts it in a bit more perspective.

That said, it still is quite sad to see these young men making bad decisions, whatever they happened to be.

VAGolf wrote:I would hope not. Liberty needs to understand that they aren't the reason why kids will abstain from sex, money or drugs. College students are going to make decisions, regardless of what the university deems acceptable behavior. If you want to have rules for legalities, I'm fine with it, which is I don't have an issue with them being kick off. But if pot is legalized in VA, LU needs to adjust.

Every student accepts the ground rules when they agree to come to Liberty, even though viewing the Liberty Way now requires an account.

If a player is charged with something equivalent to Sampson, they should be gone from the school. Whether they will be gone is a different matter.

Kiwon wrote:Bobby Bowden just called all-everything Jameis Winston "an embarrassment" to FSU. So many people probably took offense at that as did Winston's new coach, Lovie Smith, at Tampa Bay. For them, Jameis Winston brought wins, fame, and money to FSU. Winston goes #1 in the NFL draft and makes a ton of money for himself. It's win-win for everybody, right? What's Bowden talking about?

What he's talking about is doing the right thing and protecting the reputation of FSU.... (I know, cue the jokes here). But Jameis Winston was "an embarrassment" to FSU because they allowed him to stay and become an embarrassment. The stain of scandal lasts a lot longer than wins and fame but most people can't see that or they don't care. But I'll take Bobby Bowden's side on this one because wisdom and truth are on his side; "A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, Favor is better than silver and gold" (Proverbs 22:1).

In this circumstance, Bobby Bowden is being a hypocrite.

VAGolf wrote:This pot stuff is just ridiculous. I don't blame Gill; he did what he had to do. But the fact that our state is this stringent on something as harmless as pot is insane to me.

+1

I'm okay with Gill's decision though.

Big florida state fan here. I am glad Winston has moved on and agree with bowden's statements. I also agree that in this issue he us being a bit hypocritical.

bluejacket wrote:

VAGolf wrote:I would hope not. Liberty needs to understand that they aren't the reason why kids will abstain from sex, money or drugs. College students are going to make decisions, regardless of what the university deems acceptable behavior. If you want to have rules for legalities, I'm fine with it, which is I don't have an issue with them being kick off. But if pot is legalized in VA, LU needs to adjust.

Every student accepts the ground rules when they agree to come to Liberty, even though viewing the Liberty Way now requires an account.

If a player is charged with something equivalent to Sampson, they should be gone from the school. Whether they will be gone is a different matter.

This particular comment of mine wasn't in reference to the how Gill or the school is handling the current situation. Pot is illegal, so I completely support punishment. My comment didn't have to do with the punishment. I was discussing that Liberty needs to change the Liberty Way...especially if/when pot becomes legal in VA. For crying out loud, we penalize students for committing suicide. The Liberty Way needs a massive overhaul.

VAGolf wrote:

bluejacket wrote:

VAGolf wrote:I would hope not. Liberty needs to understand that they aren't the reason why kids will abstain from sex, money or drugs. College students are going to make decisions, regardless of what the university deems acceptable behavior. If you want to have rules for legalities, I'm fine with it, which is I don't have an issue with them being kick off. But if pot is legalized in VA, LU needs to adjust.

Every student accepts the ground rules when they agree to come to Liberty, even though viewing the Liberty Way now requires an account.

If a player is charged with something equivalent to Sampson, they should be gone from the school. Whether they will be gone is a different matter.

This particular comment of mine wasn't in reference to the how Gill or the school is handling the current situation. Pot is illegal, so I completely support punishment. My comment didn't have to do with the punishment. I was discussing that Liberty needs to change the Liberty Way...especially if/when pot becomes legal in VA. For crying out loud, we penalize students for committing suicide. The Liberty Way needs a massive overhaul.

Having seen up close and personal what pot can do to people, I'm fine with it being illegal in VA and fine with Liberty taking a hard stance on it, whether it's legal or not.

Tobacco was fine with the government when they could tax and make a profit from it. Once enough people developed emphysema 10 years before they actually died, costing the government more money than they could make, they came clean.

Look for a repeat with marijuana.

It's your life.

I can't speak for your personal experience, YR, but it has been mine that alcohol is far more damaging than marajuna. Far more.

thepostman wrote:I can't speak for your personal experience, YR, but it has been mine that alcohol is far more damaging than marajuna. Far more.

Alcohol revenue collection still exceeds alcohol related healthcare expenditures.

TH Spangler wrote:

thepostman wrote:I can't speak for your personal experience, YR, but it has been mine that alcohol is far more damaging than marajuna. Far more.

Alcohol revenue collection still exceeds alcohol related healthcare expenditures.

I am talking more about the emotional toll alcohol has taken on many members of my family and family friends.

thepostman wrote:I can't speak for your personal experience, YR, but it has been mine that alcohol is far more damaging than marajuna. Far more.

We have more exposure to alcohol examples because it is legal. My first hand experience of both alcohol and weed abuse has shown me that weed is much worse. That's just my opinion but it's based on personal experience.