By Kevin Connelly

kconnelly@vindy.com

If LaBrae High School senior Justin Jenkins takes the field tonight for the first time since Week 3, he’ll do so amid a whirlwind of questions and rumors.

There was a chance the Vikings’ quarterback would be reinstated this week after he was initially dismissed from the team for an unspecified disciplinary matter last month.

According to Lordstown police, Jenkins was one of three males in a car pulled over early the morning of Sept. 13 and charged with minor misdemeanor drug abuse after an officer found a small bag of marijuana under Jenkins’ seat.

His punishment was swift and harsh, as the dismissal was announced in the days following. But just two weeks later, LaBrae athletic director and assistant principal Todd Rowe released a statement that read, in part, “Justin Jenkins will have the opportunity to return to the team.”

So why the sudden change in tune?

The Vindicator made numerous attempts to contact Rowe and football coach John Armeni for more information regarding the events, but was repeatedly told it was “an internal matter.”

It’s not the first disciplinary matter to have its wrinkles and won’t be the last. But can these types of decision lead down a dangerous road?

Whether a student-athlete violates the law or the school’s code of conduct, the decisions to follow are never easy ones to make. However the last thing those decisions should result in are more questions than answers.

Current coaches and former players weigh in on how to prevent code of conduct violations from happening — or if it’s even possible — and ways to deal with them once they do.

SETTING A STANDARD

Phil Annarella is in his 44th year of coaching — the last eight at Austintown Fitch High School.

He’s also one of the most respected coaches in the area and has an impressive track record of turning programs around.

His policies haven’t changed much over the years and there’s a reason his results haven’t either.

“When the kids have to turn in all their forms at the beginning of the season, I give them a code of conduct that lists all the things they will be punished for,” Annarella said. “It’s a long list of things — anything from theft in the locker room to swearing — you name it, it’s on there.

“We require the players to take it home, go over it with their parents, have their parents sign it and then they have to sign it.”

That’s common practice at every high school and college around the country. Recently, athletic codes of conduct has been mocked by the public because of a number of high-profile cases in which the discipline process has been made to look foolish.

The issue some schools are having is that one instance isn’t like the next, and some punishments have lacked consistency.

It’s no different at the high school level — just under a lesser microscope. Annarella’s tenure at Fitch has led to what so many programs around the country seek.

“Punishment is at the discretion of the head coach and everybody knows that’s the deal,” Annarella said. “I think that’s the importance of stability in a program, which is so rare nowadays because everyone wants to fire a coach as soon as they lose a game.

“The administration is great, the faculty and I work hand-in-hand and they know if they bring something to me I’m going to back it up and it’s not just lip service.

“Also the parents know what we expect, so there’s no big issues when things come up,” he said. “All of that is so very important.”

In June, an incident in Austintown involving former Falcons standout Will Mahone led to a 10-day jail sentence after he pled guilty to four misdemeanors.

Mahone was enrolled in Notre Dame at the time and was in his second season as a member of the Fighting Irish football team. Both of those opportunities were taken away after the charges.

Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly suspended Mahone from all football activities two days after the incident.

“It tears me apart,” Annarella said about his former player. “I think he made a mistake, a huge mistake, and he’s paying for it dearly.

“We have a sign in our locker room that says character is what you do when nobody’s really watching you and we preach that to our kids every day.

“Then, unfortunately, you use [Mahone] as an example to the younger kids and say hey, ‘This is one of our former players and you see what can happen if you make a mistake.’ ”

NOT-SO BROTHERLY LOVE

Before he took over the football program at Liberty High School last year, Kevin Cylar was an assistant coach at Ursuline High School for eight years. He was in charge of defensive backs and wideouts at Ursuline, which won three straight Division V state titles from 2008-10.

Dale Peterman was an integral part of two of the three championship runs during his junior and senior years with the Irish. The All-Ohio defensive back committed to Syracuse University out of high school, but his grades kept him from ever suiting up with the Orange.

His journey took him to Georgia Military College for one season and City College of San Francisco for another, before he wound up back home in Youngstown. He enrolled in classes at Youngstown State University in 2011, but had to sit out the season while he became academically eligible.

Cylar, a 1991 East High graduate, said Peterman is like a son to him, so what transpired over the next couple of years really tugged at the coach’s heart.

Peterman was charged with marijuana possession, driving under suspension, speeding and a seat belt violation on May 12, 2012, after a traffic stop in Warren. He didn’t appear for a court hearing on the matter and an arrest warrant was issued.

Then, Peterman failed to appear for court on charges of driving under suspension, failing to display proper auto-registration information and not using a proper child restraint in a Dec. 28, 2012 incident in Liberty. A warrant was issued for his arrest on those charges in February of 2013.

He was arrested on both warrants in August of 2013 and was suspended from the football team. It was only then that police realized Peterman’s older brother, Darrell, had posed as him in the first incident.

“I told Dale, ‘You know sometimes we have family members that are family, yet we have to make sure that they’re treating us right,’ ” Cylar said. “The situation was simply that his brother was taking advantage of their relationship.”

Cylar said he still communicates with Peterman almost daily and the player is like a big brother to Cylar’s son Kevin, a sophomore at YSU. He still believes Peterman is a great kid who just made some mistakes and “paid dearly for them.”

“It’s a shame guys like [Maurice] Clarett and Akise [Teague] got in trouble, but you can’t use that to say, I’m not going to come down on a kid, or if this kid had a bad grade you must be like Clarett,” said Cyler, who has already suspended three players for various reasons and lengths this season at Liberty.

Clarett’s first run-in with the law was an armed robbery in Columbus in 2006. Teague was charged with burglary of a dorm during his freshman year at Cincinnati.

“You can’t bend. They need to understand this isn’t just about you and I don’t need you. I’m responsible for 50 guys, not one guy,” Cylar said. “You can’t save all the kids. I don’t even take it personally. Sometimes kids just think that they can outsmart you. Every day, I’m talking to parents and I’m trying to get these guys to do the right thing. It’s a struggle.”

‘IT STARTS AT HOME’

Luke Wollet considers himself fortunate.

A 2009 Poland High School graduate, Wollet was named first-team all-state, Division III All-Northeast Ohio Inland District Player of the Year and All-American Conference offensive player of the year as a senior.

He earned a football scholarship to Kent State University.

Wollet understands the challenges and advantages that come with being a Division I athlete, but says that’s not where discipline can begin.

“Code of conduct starts at home,” Wollet said. “I grew up with great parents at home, Mark [Brungard, Poland coach], who’s a [Jim] Tressel disciple, and then two more Tressel disciples in college [then-KSU head coach Darrell Hazell and defensive coordinator Jon Heacock].

“I think each level carries over to the next. You see so many professional guys get in trouble because they weren’t disciplined in college, and on down it goes.”

Wollet, now an assistant coach at St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, saw some college teammates dismissed for one reason or another. He believes faulting the coach in these situations is a mistake the public too often makes.

“That’s one thing that college coaches take a lot of heat for,” Wollet said. “It goes back to the fact that you can’t watch everyone 24/7.

“Can they control when their players are gonna screw up? It’s the young man’s choice. When you’re talking about a 100 different men with 100 different backgrounds, it’s tough.

“Sometimes some people have to learn the hard way. You see it every day in professional sports, college sports, and now even in high school sports.”