Justin Houston was subjected to drug-testing at UGA
Georgia's Justin Houston runs back an interception against Georgia Tech last November. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
The questions started coming not long after the news began to circulate that Justin Houston allegedly flunked a drug test at an NFL combine, according to a story first reported by FoxSports.com that also is being reported in numerous media outlets. People wanted to know if anything like this happened with Houston while he was at UGA?
The answer is, we don’t know.
Houston was suspended for the first two games of the 2009 season at Georgia for an undetermined “violation of team rules.” That may or may not have been because he tested positive for drugs. But UGA didn’t say then and it isn’t going to say now. Test results are protected by “HIPAA,” the federal law that ensures that medical information remains private.
What we do know is Georgia tests its student-athletes regularly for alcohol and drugs, including marijuana and performance-enhancing drugs. According to Athletic Director Greg McGarity, student-athletes are exposed to testing in four different ways: preseason physicals, random, reasonable suspicion and periodic visits from the NCAA.
The punishment for failing such tests are spelled out in UGA’s student-athlete handbook. McGarity, reading from the 2010-11 edition of that handbook, said that a first offense at UGA calls for a suspension of “no less than 10 percent of the total season of competition,” drug counseling and evaluation, 20 hours of community service and the notification of the head coach, director of sports medicine, team physician and parents or guardians. They are also placed on athletic department probation and subjected to more testing.
A second offense is a suspension from 50 percent of the total season and a third is revocation of scholarship.
“That’s our policy,” McGarity said. “We adhere to it and follow it to the letter.”
Drug-testing is common in college athletics and UGA was considered in pioneer in the practice of it. It installed one of the first comprehensive testing programs in the country under AD Vince Dooley in the 1980s. However, testing policies among individual schools vary widely, according to a recent report by The Associated Press.
Houston (6-3, 270), a defensive end, left Georgia after his junior season this past fall to enter the draft. He was one of two players to test positive for marijuana, according to the FoxSports report. Iowa defensive tackle Christian Ballard was the other, it said.
D. Orlando Ledbetter, the AJC’s Falcons reporter and NFL expert, said teams would have already had knowledge of the alleged failed tests. Houston projected as a late first-round or early second-round draft pick.
Houston was an All-SEC first-team selection after recording 67 tackles, 18½ tackles for loss and 10 sacks this past season, en route to an All-SEC first-team selection. He played defensive end and outside linebacker during his three-year tenure with the Bulldogs and has been evaluated at both positions by NFL scouts.
– Chip Towers, The UGA Blog
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140 comments Add your comment
RomeDawg
April 26th, 2011
10:43 pm
Not too smart, eh? However, anybody on here that supports another school that think your athletes aren’t doing the same thing are as dumb as Houston is! I am not sure todays athletes see smoking pot as bad.
Paul in RDU
April 26th, 2011
10:45 pm
RomeDawg,
The BYU fans would disagree with you.
superDawg
April 26th, 2011
10:50 pm
Well I guess he was fired up and now it is time to come down.
BornADawg
April 26th, 2011
10:51 pm
@Buzz Maxhine…That was a pretty ignorant comment there Buzz Machine. I can see it now, everyone in the locker room right before game time, coaches are with the players going over last minute game plans and several guys are passing a joint around…unbelievable! Go DAWGS!.
AltamahaDawg
April 26th, 2011
11:54 pm
Let’s not pat Muschamp on the back too much. This was the kid’s third arrest in 2 yrs. I doubt very seriously coach was given any decision to make. Wouldn’t the student judiciary have suspended him for a semester anyway?
sports
April 27th, 2011
12:26 am
great news for chippie “techie” to report…truth is half the NFL would probably fail
Old Tech Dude
April 27th, 2011
12:29 am
I think Calvin Johnson failed his combine drug test too………………Big deal over nothing really. Pot should be legal and alcohol banned if you want to make the world a better place.
red&silver
April 27th, 2011
4:36 am
AltamahaDawg
April 26th, 2011
11:54 pm
Let’s not pat Muschamp on the back too much. This was the kid’s third arrest in 2 yrs. I doubt very seriously coach was given any decision to make. Wouldn’t the student judiciary have suspended him for a semester anyway?
Excellent point!
Fleming Island Dawg
April 27th, 2011
7:35 am
Nobody’s mentioned the fact that a Gator lineman tested positive also and a current player has been busted twice for it. You now say great for Muschamp for kicking him off the team but lets see if it sticks. Urban wiould kick them off too just to bring them back in the fall. Remember Jarvis Moss etc.
dp
April 27th, 2011
7:36 am
Houston….you are indeed a real mental midgit
Notso Fast
April 27th, 2011
7:36 am
Teams may not look at this violation as big but the fact this young man is in a position to make as lot of money would take a chance at this time to smoke. Shows lack of self control and maybe reflects on his intelligence.
Timbodog
April 27th, 2011
7:42 am
Much easier to pass those tests they give in college than the ones they give you in the pros…
In the pros, they have a guy sitting there watching you take it. Can’t even fool them with a “Wizzinator” anymore.
Timbodog
April 27th, 2011
7:44 am
For the record, Calvin Johnson didn’t fail a drug test at the Combine. He just admitted to a panel of interviewers that he had smoked weed in the past. They appreciated his honesty. And I mean, c’mon, how many guys entering the draft honestly haven’t?
Timbodog
April 27th, 2011
7:49 am
Hopefully this means the Falcons can pick up Houston now.
gt
April 27th, 2011
7:55 am
We are talking about a school that can’t even keep up with which players have expired drivers licenses being a leader in drug testing. The press facilitates this atmosphere at Georgia, they are fed what to write by someone in Athens. What none seem to understand is this is what is causing the underachieving, not only for sports but for the entire state which has lost it mojo. These guys play like their on drugs when they get to the field and what do you think a majority of the kids do that don’t play sports and don’t go to college. This team are milk toast by fourth quarter, they are showboats the entire game, the most penalized team in the SEC. A place every mother wants to send her child…
Timbodog
April 27th, 2011
7:59 am
I agree with SOME of the points you make, “gt.” But blaming it on the “press?” Please…it starts at the top, with Bobby Bowden Part 2.
Richt, like Bowden, brings in great talent because kids think he is a fun guy. But he has no real direction other than a shoulder shrug and “Aw, shucks.”
Pago Pago DAWG
April 27th, 2011
8:01 am
Amazing how some of you people adore, wish all the luck in the world, praise, idolize this dope smokin’ houston…sad.
Timbodog
April 27th, 2011
8:05 am
“Pago Pago,”
Would you rather we string him up for the egregious crime of ingesting a plant? You’ve listened to too much Merle Haggard.
Bubbatavious
April 27th, 2011
8:16 am
Looks like UGA has something that is runnig amuck in Athens. It called stupidity and players with no character. Its time for Richt to go.
Eat and Tweet
April 27th, 2011
8:19 am
Looks like UGA has a good feed and weed program now. Keep dem lockers locked!
and Gomer said to Sgt. Carter
April 27th, 2011
8:22 am
Stupid …stupid… stupid
Timbodog
April 27th, 2011
8:23 am
But Gomer said to Barney, “Citizen’s arre-est! Citizen’s arre-est!”
Buckeye
April 27th, 2011
8:32 am
Not to worry dwags, if the AJC pattern holds true, they’ll be a football story to blog about tomorrow
gdawginkalamazoo
April 27th, 2011
8:37 am
SSI Gator, that was my thinking too. Did anybody see old #42 picking up trash on the North Campus for 20 hours? Or is #42 the official jersey number of the roadside pickup crew?
I hope it was some really really good weed because he only spent a few hundred thousand on it.
Timbodog
April 27th, 2011
8:41 am
Y’all are making a mountain out of a molehill…I’d be glad to have Houston wearing a Falcons jersey. Like the other guy said, Warren Sapp also failed his Combine drug test for weed. The Bucs got an absolute STEAL and laughed all the way to the Superbowl when all the other teams took the “high road” (no pun intended) and passed on the guy who toked up a bit.
Georgia
April 27th, 2011
8:45 am
Paulin RDU.. Of everybody was interested in Taylor… they ALL also want to win the game. Ask the players if it was meaningless. It certainly was not and they both gave 100%.
Victory = Georgia
Damon Evans
April 27th, 2011
8:46 am
Dont Toke and Drive!
Georgia
April 27th, 2011
8:47 am
Dont kiss up to pathetic meyer/foley’s 5 failed test policy. Georgia booted him for 2 games which far far far more than UF would have done. You could get away with firing AK-47 assuault rifes in Gainesville if you were a starter. Thats a fact.
roly poly fat faced dawg girl
April 27th, 2011
8:53 am
pass the big fat spliff for a toke.
This is not unique to UGA
April 27th, 2011
8:56 am
For anyone to allege that UGA is the epicenter for kids or athletes smoking pot, proves that they are just illiterate UGA haters. I have young family members attending VANDY, DUKE and yes, …………….GT and they all smoke weed.
The haters are usually dumb asses that come on this site. They are jealous of all the exciting, FUN things going on over in Athens.
Convertible season in Athens ……………. coeds, the good life and yes, ACADEMICS galore.
Goooooooooooooooo Dogs.
Joey
April 27th, 2011
8:57 am
If Justin is a pothead, maybe lighting up should be a requirement for the team. He was the best playmaker on the D last season . . .
Buckeye
April 27th, 2011
9:13 am
Nothing wrong with the ocassional doobie, eh Jenoris?
SEC! SEC! SEC!
BIG JOE
April 27th, 2011
9:16 am
What an expensive joint.
Buckeye
April 27th, 2011
9:17 am
30 arrests, 27 players over six years. And we want Urbane to replace Tress. Think not.
SEC! SEC! SEC!
Buckeye
April 27th, 2011
9:18 am
How in the world did not Florida win the Fulmer Cup? Guess uga outcompeted them.
SEC! SEC! SEC!
Buckeye
April 27th, 2011
9:20 am
I propose after Auburn takes the Cup this season, they permantly retire the Fulmer Cup in the SEC/Mike Slive’s office.
SEC! SEC! SEC!
Buckeye
April 27th, 2011
9:30 am
Is drug testing in Athens like taste testing at Coke?
SEC! SEC! SEC!
GaDawg
April 27th, 2011
9:38 am
Lizards, don’t forget Percy tested positive, you know Glass house’s
Dirty Dawg
April 27th, 2011
9:46 am
Yeah it was stupid and wrong, but until he’s an accomplice to a double murder and still walking around free with the label of NFL linebacker legend, I’m gonna cut him some slack.
Dawg Tired
April 27th, 2011
9:52 am
I don’t think it is possible to listen too much Merle Haggard.
Dawg Tired
April 27th, 2011
9:54 am
Buckeye – Actually it may be more like the lie detector test now required of all coaches at OSU.
Auburn fans are horrible...
April 27th, 2011
9:58 am
The way UGA is percieved around the country is very negative. Here right before the very showcase that proves we recruit and produce great players, our two best show their a$$!!
AJ rocks a 10 on the Wonderlic and Houston fails a drug test THAT HE KNOWS IS COMING.
WTF is wrong with these idiots?
Buckeye
April 27th, 2011
10:00 am
dawg tired,
Might as well throw in testing for STD’s in Athens………….
So you knowm I do like Merle Haggard.
Auburn fans are horrible...
April 27th, 2011
10:03 am
Dirty…Ray Lewis has been one of the best people in the NFL since that happened. He plays hard and stays out of trouble. He is the best the NFL has to offer in my opinion.
Timbodog
April 27th, 2011
10:05 am
“Auburn fans,”
You’re standing up for a guy who killed two men but bashing a couple of guys for being dumb?
Dawgso55
April 27th, 2011
10:06 am
I am a long time Dawg fan…..but I am really beginning to question the intelligence quotient of some of Richt’s players….come on how stupid can you get….
bill arp
April 27th, 2011
10:07 am
Houston, we have a problem….
Auburn fans are horrible...
April 27th, 2011
10:11 am
I don’t think he killed them…I think he had idiots for friends that he was partying with after he got paid. They killed him. Ray was dumb for hanging around with those idiots. (Plus–that was all 15 years ago. What has he done since then? He has been a model of an NFL player, that’s what.)
Ray Lewis was dumb. Ray Lewis…regardless of his guilt or innocence does not reflect on UGA.
AJ and Justin do. They should recognize the fact that even when not taking classes they represent the school. And they should represent that school better than they are presently.
Timbodog
April 27th, 2011
10:15 am
Regardless of whether he killed them, he did not turn in the guilty parties. He covered up two murders. He is a real piece of garbage.
To even begin to compare covering up a murder to smoking weed or being unintelligent is absurd.
NFL Bound
April 27th, 2011
10:16 am
I guess this article could be titled…”Let’s Circle the Wagons” since more bad injuns (bad publicity) is once again on its way with Richt as the Coach. Way, and I mean WAY over having him as coach. Hire him as personal councilor to the football team and get us a Great coach in here who knows what to do with all the talent.