Report: UGA’s Justin Houston tested positive for marijuana
Justin Houston at the combine. (AP photo)
Citing NFL sources, FoxSports is reporting that Georgia linebacker Justin Houston tested positive for marijuana at the combine in February. Given that the draft is two days away, such news could have broken at no worse time — for Houston, if not for the teams that might have been interested in him.
Such news could also have an impact on the local NFL team’s first choice. It’s widely believed the Falcons are in need of a defensive end, and there’s thought that Houston could be as effective as a down lineman in a 4-3 as at outside linebacker in a 3-4. (Houston played in both spots under both alignments at Georgia.) But the Falcons under Dimitroff have made it a practice to minimize draft risks.
Drafting Justin Houston just got riskier. I can’t see the Falcons picking him now, at least not in Round 1, and I’d be surprised if he’s taken by any team before Round 2. Which would be a shame. He’s a big-time talent with a huge upside. (Sorry to lapse into draftspeak.) All NFL teams cast a critical eye on the draft — this is, after all, their business — and at the moment every franchise has to look at Houston and wonder: “How many guys put themselves in position to flunk their audition?”
This doesn’t mean Houston won’t get drafted somewhere by somebody. This doesn’t mean he can’t become a productive professional for the next 10 days. But it does mean he’s not going to make the money as a rookie he could have.
By Mark Bradley
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368 comments Add your comment
D A DoubleU G
April 26th, 2011
5:46 pm
Italics!!!!
How’s you do it??
Please share!!!!
Im glad drinking age was 18 when I was in college
April 26th, 2011
5:46 pm
I know Skole’s family..Matt Skole is a great kid who drank a couple too many beers as a 20 yr old. If anyone judges a kid harshly for that, they either a/skipped from age 15 to 40..or never had kids.
Accountabilabuddy
April 26th, 2011
5:48 pm
He is from Statesboro, GA
Hour of Power
April 26th, 2011
5:48 pm
Good Sermon, ….. UGASlobberknocker.
Houston Tests Positive for Stupidity
April 26th, 2011
5:48 pm
http://isportsweb.com/2011/04/26/justin-houston-fails-drug-test/
doggoneit
April 26th, 2011
5:51 pm
I believe he took plays off at Georgia . And I believe he will be a bust in the NFL
ATL Sports Fan
April 26th, 2011
5:51 pm
Very interesting that you can comment about Justin Houston’s positive test, you couldn’t post anything about Jake Skole being popped with a DUI. Also no post about the Florida lineman who tested positive and you know we couldn’t blog about Janoris Jenkins being arrested for being caught with pot. So what gives Mark Bradley. You got your wish when Hewitt was fired….
ATL Sports Fan
April 26th, 2011
5:53 pm
Moron, no one is judging him for underage drinking, its the fact he was loaded and behind the wheel of a car. What if he ran over someone in your family or hit their car killing one of your family members. Would you still feel sorry for the GOOD KID….??
Im glad drinking age was 18 when I was in college
April 26th, 2011
5:46 pm
I know Skole’s family..Matt Skole is a great kid who drank a couple too many beers as a 20 yr old. If anyone judges a kid harshly for that, they either a/skipped from age 15 to 40..or never had kids.
NORML
April 26th, 2011
5:55 pm
If NFL Europe still existed, Justin Houston could play for the Amsterdam Admirals.
But they folded in 2007.
Blizzard
April 26th, 2011
5:55 pm
Who cares? Obviously he is still a great athlete. Mind your own business.
It Ain't Rocket Science
April 26th, 2011
5:58 pm
I would bet that it will have little or no affect, on his placement in the draft. The NFL is all about the bucks and it will take a little more than smoking some weed to scare off the owner that needs a person of his skills and position. If he can catch onto a team and not get into any further trouble with drugs while he is playing, five years from now, nobody will care that he failed an NFL pre-draft drug test, Unless of course it is a person that has to find some way to try and put down UGA; Say, for instance, some school close by that, has a poor record in head to head meetings.
Creative Loafing
April 26th, 2011
5:59 pm
Now the Justin Houston story
has turned into the Matt Skole story.
headley lamar
April 26th, 2011
6:03 pm
I know Skole’s family..Matt Skole is a great kid who drank a couple too many beers as a 20 yr old.
He didn’t say he had beers. He admitted to drinking whiskey.
Which is worse? Smoking a joint or getting loaded and getting behind the wheel putting yourself and everyone else on the road at danger?
Former UGA player gets his own blog. Current Tech player barely was mentioned.
Double Standard. You betcha.
Randall "Pink" Floyd
April 26th, 2011
6:03 pm
Big Dawg fan here. Always thought Houston was overrated. He is talented but I disagree with MB that his upside is “huge.”
Mrs. Manners
April 26th, 2011
6:04 pm
Maybe he can catch on with a team and not get into any further trouble.
Maybe not.
Another weed story
April 26th, 2011
6:04 pm
[...] weed story Report: UGA's Justin Houston tested positive for marijuana | Mark Bradley At least it was after he was gone from UGA. These guys sho is dumb Reply With [...]
ATL Sports Fan
April 26th, 2011
6:06 pm
Creative Loafing, I was repsonding to a few previous posts. I just asked the question why you can post comments about this article but we could not post comments on the article about Matt Skole’s DUI. Doesn’t seem right in my book.
NORML
April 26th, 2011
6:07 pm
headley is right, whiskey is much more dangerous than weed.
juvenal
April 26th, 2011
6:10 pm
d a, in D.C., ANY detectable etoh is a dui(i.e., one drink)-don’t post on the mistakes young folks make, born a sinner, still a sinner, not as bad i hope because of the errors-you can learn a lot in college outside the classroom, probably learn more from your mistakes than anything else-nerdy enough i may be the only person in the USA that never smoked pot(always afraid i’d like it too much)
59bulldawg
April 26th, 2011
6:11 pm
Pretty damn stupid if you ask me!
old timer
April 26th, 2011
6:12 pm
Mark, I have been reading your posts for a long time.The ajc gets a big bang out of your a$$ way of headlining stories about u g a.thank GOD i wont ever again read your tripe .You cannot put the right headline on a story about u.g.a.there’s a difference between a u.g.a.football player and a former u.ga.player.Ban me see if i give a Sh.
EFFIE'S of Athens Boarding House
April 26th, 2011
6:12 pm
All this started with Fox News, … I mean Fox Sports.
headley lamar
April 26th, 2011
6:12 pm
Creative Loafing, I was repsonding to a few previous posts. I just asked the question why you can post comments about this article but we could not post comments on the article about Matt Skole’s DUI. Doesn’t seem right in my book.
Because Mr Skoles goes to Tech and Mr Houston UGA,
There is a double standard.
ryan
April 26th, 2011
6:13 pm
This a yawn story Obama smoked pot Bill Clinton smoked pot who cares .
Thanks Old Timer
April 26th, 2011
6:15 pm
Thanks, OT for saying what I wanted to say … in a little bit different way. If you can’t get someone to read your articles due the quality of the content, just lie in the headline. What journalism class did you learn that in Mark?
“How to get someone to at least read your article 101″
Vince
April 26th, 2011
6:16 pm
Just another Georgia football playa! So, what’s the problem? I been smokin as long as I be here…
Colorado reality
April 26th, 2011
6:17 pm
I live and Denver and ask 11 individuals ( male and female) if they consider Ga Tech a upper level academic institution? Not one of the 11 considered Ga Tech a top level university. One actually said, well it is not recognized like Colorado, Vandy or Duke. Outside of Georgia, unfortunately, Ga Tech is not recognized as great academic school. I know they don’t play Basketball or Football well, but Tech fans are living a lie. People outside of the Southeast don’t even know what conference GT
is in.
Non Story
April 26th, 2011
6:17 pm
Calvin Johnson smoked pot and was drafted #2 overall. It doesn’t matter when it comes to drafting quality players. Teams don’t base their picks on whether a guy smokes pot or not. The Falcons traded up to get a pot smoking player with the #1 pick when they got Mike Vick. When you watch the NFL, you are watching a bunch of dope smokers so don’t act like a moralist when one of them gets caught.
gtfanfrom1951
April 26th, 2011
6:18 pm
Hey he did go to UGA! Where Football players pee on the sidewalk and drive without a DL. And steal from their future team mates. Just so that they can fix in!
SEC Fan
April 26th, 2011
6:25 pm
There’s a UF player who just had his 2nd or 3rd arrest, and more than likely he’ll be playing n the fall for Florida. AJC just loves to put it all on UGA. NOTHING ABOUT THE CURRENT FLORIDA PLAYER IN THE AJC.
BG
April 26th, 2011
6:25 pm
Houston must be friends with Janoris Jenkins… Mark, Why in the world is this front page news????????
milledgeville DAWG
April 26th, 2011
6:25 pm
DUMBASS!!
BG
April 26th, 2011
6:26 pm
Jenkins has been busted twice this year for weed and the AJC did not put that on the front page. Kinda weird!!
Billyboy
April 26th, 2011
6:26 pm
What is the big deal, most of our politicians in Washington smoked pot and look at the great decisions they are making?
Maybe he should be a 5th round draft choice now.
tennessee tom
April 26th, 2011
6:27 pm
he will be broke in 5 yrs reguardless of how much money he gets,these schools should have a plan that allows or forces them to manage part of their education funds,after their freshman yr.Insead of everything paid for them.They can’t learn anything about managing money the way things are setup now.this kid can’t seem to manage anything,probley the only chance like this he will ever get in his life,Its not the weed,thats the problem,it is the kid can’t handle his business,never had to worry about it,some one else always there to cover it up. you know he could do both and it would’t be a problem,if he was anywhere near responsible
gtphotog
April 26th, 2011
6:28 pm
It must be Willie’s fault.
SEC Fan
April 26th, 2011
6:29 pm
Bet you used pot at some point-in-time.
Brian
April 26th, 2011
6:41 pm
Richt, Johnson, Saban Meyer can all set guidelines and boundaries for players, but they can’t make a person not do drugs.
juvenal
April 26th, 2011
6:41 pm
co reality, co school of mines only co school ahead of GT on payscale.com(know Solder’s mom, hope he goes early)
Big Boy
April 26th, 2011
6:43 pm
With team leadership like that and others, one can see why the Dawgs only barked and didn’t bite.
Winnipeg, Canada
April 26th, 2011
6:43 pm
Colorado is the arm-pit of the United States and their football program stinks.
legalize it!
April 26th, 2011
6:45 pm
So what! Really, pot. this is news? who cares? his job is to tackle, sack, make plays. Who cares what he does at home. NFL is the largest abuser of opiates. So he smokes some medicine and heals his pains. Get real America. You so called “small govt, get out of my lifers” get real. legalize it, regulated it and tax it. Stop the war and save $65billion a year in your tax dollars.
King Gator
April 26th, 2011
6:45 pm
Still gonna be a 1st round pick, but wait to hit the blunt until after the drug test at the combine you big dummy! You know they’re testing and it’s all about the $$ at this point…plus the more $$ the better the weed when you’re in the NFL. Pass the funions duuuuude! Go Gators! Coach Boom is going to be a little different than Erb …Jenkins will still be a 1st/2nd round Supp Draft pick; going to make it harder for UGA to explain away the losses when MChamp’s actually booting off the knuckleheads. Go Gators!
chipontheroad birdsrus
April 26th, 2011
6:51 pm
sack a packer get a sack of whatever
Reubdogg
April 26th, 2011
6:52 pm
First of all–For the person that made the comment about weed causing brain damage and cancer- There has not been ONE persons death attributed to the use of Marijuana, and they use weed while treating cancer patients..Well, they do in states that are out of the 17th century..Georgia still debating whether to sell alcohol on Sunday, but I can go to restaurant and get sauced up. Would rather someone be stoned than drunk anyday. This comes down to poor decisions by a young man. What a bone head thing to do with so much on the line..Then again-He may not be loosing anything if lockout doesnt end.. Stop acting shocked about weed people-This isnt 1929..good grief! Society needs to grow up quite a bit…
JASon
April 26th, 2011
6:56 pm
“Report: Pot use by UGA player”
NOOOOOOOO! Up is down, left is right, the earth is spinning off its axis! How, but…who? God is dead.
juvenal
April 26th, 2011
6:58 pm
co real, 11? p=?(you probably did not take statistics in college)-denver like the atl, most folks there not from there(born in Aurora, myself)crap, they even vote blue, now……
jenkins off team
April 26th, 2011
7:03 pm
all schools have their issues. look at Ohio State. . .not looking good for Tressel
jenkins off team after 4th, yes, 4th arrest. where is the article about them???
jenkins off team
April 26th, 2011
7:05 pm
gator fans – get a clue
it took 4 arrests, 4!!!! to get him off the team
Joshua
April 26th, 2011
7:11 pm
Harmless? Obviously you’ve been smoking too much of it.
Beyond the brain damage and cancer risks, it was harmful to Houston, likely to the tune of a few million bucks (dropping out of the first round to the second or third).
That’s definitely not ‘harmless.’
Go ’smoke it up’ some more; the world needs another addle-brained pothead with no work ethic or incentive to succeed.
====
First of all, there is absolutely ZERO evidence that smoking pot causes brain damage.
Secondly, marijuana has been shown to actually kill cancerous cells in a petri dish. What the the practical applications of this? We don’t know – thanks to mindless, unthinking, propaganda regurgitating automatons like yourself, the government is able to effectively control the common perception of this substance as one which has absolutely no positive benefits but rather is just some dangerous narcotic that induces mindless murderous rage and causes its users to become “addle-brained” retards. It is beyond ironic that people like you continue to spew this nonsense…so why don’t you keep your opinion to yourself. Robots are incapable of reason, after all.