JONESBORO -- Arkansas State University Coach Blake Anderson announced Monday that junior cornerback Demari Medley has been dismissed from the team.
"Just [to] be honest, it was just time for him to move on and find a place that he's happy. This is not it," Anderson said. "Just felt like it was, instead of waiting till the end of the season to do it, it was better off just to remove him from the equation now. I want all people moving in the same direction."
Anderson declined to provide further details as to why Medley was dismissed.
Medley, a native of Gainesville, Fla., had been in hot water at ASU earlier this year.
Anderson suspended Medley for the entire spring. Then on Aug. 1, at the Red Wolves' media day in Jonesboro, Anderson announced that Medley had rejoined the Red Wolves.
"It was really, as much as anything, just attitude and wanted him to grow up a little bit," Anderson said then. "I've been really candid with him and very transparent about what I expected of him. Laid out some very stiff parameters of what I expected of him, and he still chose to come back."
In four games this season, Medley tallied 12 tackles, including 5 against Georgia State on Oct. 5. For his career, Medley has 44 tackles, 4 passes defended and 2 interceptions.
Medley's dismissal leaves ASU thin at cornerback. Junior Jerry Jacobs is out for the year with a torn ACL. Redshirt freshman Jevon Jones also went down in spring camp with a knee injury.
True freshman Jarius Reimonenq, who's played in three games this season, figures to be the only viable reserve behind starters Jeremy Smith and Nathan Page. Anderson said earlier in the season that freshman running back Samy Johnson, a Little Rock Catholic graduate, had started working at corner after Jacobs went down against Georgia on Sept. 14.
"You know what, we'll find somebody else that wants to play -- somebody that's got the right attitude to be out there," Anderson said.
"I'd rather put a dude that absolutely loves his teammates and wants to be around his teammates every day, that loves what we're doing, that's maybe not quite as skilled, to get the right attitudes on the field, so that's what we're going to do."
Sports on 10/22/2019