Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Reports today emerged that Sunday morning two Washington State football players were arrested in Pullman on drug charges for allegedly having over three dozen marijuana plants in their residence.

Pullman police arrested redshirt freshman backup linebacker Jamal Atofau and redshirt freshman Andre Barrington, who is academically ineligible this semester, after finding 38 marijuana plants growing in a house they rented with two other men.

Pullman police spokesman Cmdr. Chris Tennant said that while executing an unrelated search warrant, they discovered the marijuana plants growing in a basement room. Later the cops found manufacturing equipment and paraphernalia. All four residents of the house, including the two football players, were arrested.

Tennant:

“We’re in a college town, it’s not that unusual to find five or six plants growing in somebody’s individual bedroom. Thirty-eight plants in a residence is quite a big deal for us.”

The Cougar players were arrested, booked and released on their own recognizance.

The Times reports:

All four were charged with a violation of the uniform controlled substance act, the severity of which depends on the weight of the marijuana seized. That will be determined when the plants are dry, according to Tennant.

Atofau has been suspended from team activities while coach Paul Wulff gathers information concerning the incident, a WSU spokesman said.

Because Barrington is ineligible and has not been practicing, suspension was unnecessary.

I smell a Horticulture lab defense coming on.

The big question for the players in this situation is the role of the two other men at the house, if any, with the plants. It also stands to reason that if cops were already there on an unrelated search warrant, the players might have known that something improper was taking place in the home – even if they weren’t involved.

Also not unreasonable to think that it would’ve been very difficult for the players not to know that such a widespread growing operation was present inside the residence.
Vince Grippi of the SPOKANE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW