Only a few months in, Paul Chryst has his first disciplinary issue to deal with. In case you happened to miss it, linebacker Carl Fleming turned a minor issue into a major one and was promptly arrested and subsequently suspended:
Pittsburgh police arrested Fleming, 21, of Reisterstown, Md., about 10 p.m. Friday outside One Stop Mini Mart on the Boulevard of the Allies in Oakland.
As Fleming exited the store and got into his Ford Taurus, police approached and attempted to stop him for a traffic violation. Fleming pulled away and attempted to hit the marked police car before crashing into a guard rail, according to a criminal complaint.
Fleming then shoved a plastic bag containing marijuana in his mouth and started to swallow, authorities said. Officers pulled Fleming from the car and, after failing to remove the bag, punched him, successfully dislodging the drugs from his mouth, the criminal complaint states.
Despite commands to remain on the ground, Fleming struggled with officers before being handcuffed, authorities said.
Preliminary hearing on April 10th.
To me, it's that the incident spun so wildly out of control that might do in Fleming.
Fleming could have possibly avoided being booted from the team with only the marijuana incident - heck, he still might. But to escalate that to the point where you're allegedly trying to hit a police car and then resisting arrest ... I'm no expert, but that very well could be his undoing. My guess is that we've seen the last of him, but the fact is that we've got no litmus test on how Paul Chryst handles these things. He doesn't even have one since this is the first time he's a head coach.
Fleming wasn't a star, but he did play in every game last year, even starting one. So if he's dismissed from the team, Pitt definitely loses some quality depth at linebacker.
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