MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University’s suspended slotback Jock Sanders had a productive day in court Friday, which will almost surely lead to his suspension being lifted as camp opens Saturday.
Sanders’ attorney, Harley Wagner, worked out a deal with prosecutors to have DUI-related charges against him dropped if he completes alcohol education classes, spends time with an Interlock device on his car that will not allow it to start if he has been drinking, and speaks to area high school students about the dangers of driving drunk.
Prosecutors dropped charges of DUI against Sanders and refilled as DUI under 21. That carries no jail time and allows the charge to be expunged from his record once he completes his courses. He has already completed a WVU alcohol education class but now must pass the state one.
While coach Bill Stewart refuses to address Sanders’ suspension, handed down Feb. 10 after a second alcohol-related incident within a year, it became obvious that he plans to reinstate him when he allowed Sanders to begin working out with the team and when he was included in the team’s media guide that was recently released.
Stewart will talk about Sanders’ role with the Mountaineers after the first practice on Saturday.
Sanders will appear before Monongalia County Magistrate Hershel Mullins in January, and if Sanders has met all his responsibilities, all charges will be removed from his record.
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West Virginia has scored a football recruiting coupe by obtaining the verbal commitment from Quantavious Leslie of Callaway High in Hogansville, Ga., according to ESPN.
The Mountaineers beat out some of the nation’s top football schools that had given Leslie offers, including LSU, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Clemson, Kentucky, South Carolina, South Florida, East Carolina and Florida International.
As a junior, Leslie caught only 20 passes, but 13 of them went for touchdowns, good for 500 yards.
A couple of days earlier, WVU received a verbal from Robert Clark of Dwyer High in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The 5-10, 175-pound Clark had received offers from Wisconsin, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Auburn, Iowa State, Marshall, Louisville, Florida International and Colorado State.
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There is a real battle waging over the basketball recruitment of Adreian Payne, a 6-10 center from Dayton, Ohio, and it seems to be coming down to Kentucky and West Virginia, which makes it down to John Calipari against Bob Huggins.
The Louisville Courier-Journal writes that it is going to take some time before it’s settled, saying, “Bob Huggins has put a lot of time into this and is not going down without a major battle. It should be fun to see it play out.”
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
Bob Herzel
Sanders takes step toward reinstatement
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