YSU MUM ON WHICH PLAYERS OR SUBSTANCE INVOLVED
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State University will be without at least four football players for its FCS national semifinal game against Eastern Washington on Saturday in Cheney, Wash.
Two sources confirmed to The Vindicator at least four players will be suspended from playing this Saturday after testing positive for an unidentified substance.
YSU’s weekly news conference will be at 11:30 a.m. today, where head coach Bo Pelini is expected to address the situation.
One of the two sources confirmed to the newspaper that three of the players facing suspension typically see significant playing time for the Penguins. Two of the players are on defense and one on offense.
YSU Athletic Director Ron Strollo said he wouldn’t be able to confirm or deny any rumors, and that the YSU athletic office has “never discussed any suspensions or potential suspensions regarding any program.”
After his weekly radio show Monday, Pelini would not confirm any suspensions. “I don’t comment on that,” he said.
At least a dozen Penguins were tested for banned substances immediately after YSU’s 40-24 win over Jacksonville State on Dec. 3 that advanced the Penguins into a quarterfinal matchup against Wofford on Saturday.
According to the NCAA’s website, stimulants, anabolic agents, diuretics and other masking agents, street drugs, peptide hormones and analogues, anti-estrogens and beta-2 agonists are all classes of drugs that are banned.
The NCAA also tests for steroids and masking agents year-round while testing for stimulants and recreational drugs during championships, such as the FCS playoffs.
At this time, it is not known if these suspensions are coming from the NCAA or from Youngstown State.
According to Dana Balash, sports director for 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, because of a positive result when YSU was tested after the Jacksonville State game, the results were re-tested later, which may have been the cause of the delay in suspending players until this week.
The NCAA splits urine samples given after championship events into two containers. After a positive test, the second specimen was tested at the NCAA testing site.
The NCAA’s website does not mention anything regarding forfeiture, meaning YSU’s win over Jacksonville State should stand regardless of drug-testing outcomes.
The NCAA’s punishments for banned substances are fairly strong and in some cases can affect a player’s future eligibility.
According to the NCAA, a positive test for a street drug is withholding from competition for 50 percent of the season in all sports in which the student-athlete participates.
A second positive test for street drugs results in the loss of a year of eligibility and a withholding from participation for 365 days from the test.
According to the NCAA, a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs is an automatic loss of one full year of eligibility and an automatic withholding from competition for 365 days from the date of the test. A second positive test for performance-enhancing drugs is an automatic loss of all remaining eligibility.
A student-athlete who is found to have tampered with an NCAA drug test shall be declared ineligible for competition for two calendar years, according to NCAA guidelines.
The Penguins did not practice Monday but are expected to have practice this afternoon.