Jimmy Johns has been arrested on charges of cocaine distribution. He has been dismissed from the University of Alabama football team.

UPDATE 1:

This has been fast developing this morning. The Tuscaloosa News now has a more detailed story up on their site.

There is no need for us to jump on the bandwagon of people throwing this kid under the bus. He will have his day in court, and the judicial system will judge him accordingly. Obviously Jimmy deserves the same rights as all Americans in that he is innocent until proven guilty.

Having said that, their appears at this time to be a preponderance of evidence. According to the report from the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force, drugs were purchased from Johns by undercover police officers. Also a search of his house uncovered 9-11 grams of cocaine and 8 or 9 ecstasy pills.

He was booked at the Tuscaloosa County Jail at around 10:30 and charged with 5 counts of distribution of a controlled substance (cocaine) and 1 count of possession of a controlled substance.

There has been no word from Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban, though it is hard to imagine that this will be handled any differently than the Jeremy Elder situation in February. Once there is official word from the Coach Saban or anyone at the University we will let you know.

UPDATE 2:

Now, al.com has their report up, with quotes from Tuscaloosa Police Department Captain Jeff Snyder:

“We’d gotten information he was involved in distributing cocaine the last couple of weeks,” Snyder said. “For about the last week and a half, we were able to buy cocaine from him on five different occasions, which resulted in us obtaining five warrants for him for distribution of cocaine.”

Johns lived alone and is the only Alabama player sought in this investigation, Snyder said.

“As far as the football players or the team,” Snyder said, “we don’t have any information or evidence that anybody else was involved.”

So, the update here is he’s guilty as sin and thankfully no other players are involved.

UPDATE 3:

Nick Saban has now weighed in:

Jimmy Johns has been dismissed from the team. This type of behavior obviously will not be tolerated, and he is no longer a part of our program.

Quick and to the point. I’m sure that this will almost certainly be a PR mess for the Tide program, but it has been rightly handled by Nick Saban.

Related posts:

1. Player Profile: Jimmy Johns Jimmy Johns - #10 - LB - 6-2 - 233...
2. Dubious Honor of the Week: #1 in the Fulmer Cup Well, Jimmy Johns has made a lasting impression on the...
3. Updated Scholarship Numbers With the announcement that Lionel Mitchell has left the team...
4. Clemson’s DC: Bama Bought Julio and B.J. (UPDATED) OK, he didn't say it so many words. But please,...
5. Kudos to Ali Sharrief With all of the negative news regarding Jimmy Johns the...