Quentin Castille Officially Dismissed At Nebraska

Brian Christopherson from the LJS:

"Quentin Castille was not on the practice field Saturday, his third day of missed practices, and head coach Bo Pelini said following practice that he has been dismissed from the team."

Rumors have it that it has to do with multiple failed drug tests but nobody has said for certain that was the case. If that is the case, then I'm not sure what that does to Castille's chances of playing in the NCAA again - if they were the ones who caught him. If it was Pelini that had the final say, I assume Castille could sit out a year and play somewhere other than the Big 12. As I said, I'm not sure about any of that right now.

No doubt this will certainly send a blow to Shawn Watson's 2009 power rushing game - especially on short yardage situations. Castille was a back that could be heavily relied upon to pick up a yard when you needed it most.

Marcus Mendoza has been back at running back, which obviously has to have something to do with this. Mendoza might be there for the time being basically to serve as a crutch to a group of running backs that has R-Fr. Collins Okafor, R-Fr. Lester Ward, So. Austin Jones, and true freshman Rex Burkhead.

Not much any of us can do about this except hope that one of these guys is ready to pick up some of the slack that will be needed to spell Helu this fall. They're going to have to be ready.

Let the legend of Rex Burkhead begin.


**Update** via the OWH:

Pelini's Statement:

"Quentin Castille has been dismissed from the football team. He is no longer a member of the football team. We have guidelines. We have policies that we've set up here. We have a culture we have set up here. It's pretty black and white, my expectations and what we lay out as a staff. And if someone doesn't follow those policies and guidelines, they're no longer going to be with the football team. And that's the case with Quentin. We wish him luck. He's a good kid. He's just not going to be with our program anymore. I wish him luck in the future."

Also from Jon Nyatawa of the OWH:

"Without Castille, Pelini said Rex Burkhead was working as the clear No. 2 I-back behind junior Roy Helu.

The second-year coach declined to elaborate on the reason for Castille's dismissal and said no NU players or other coaches would discuss the situation."