Alabama football announced Monday that sophomore linebacker VanDarius Cowan is no longer a member of the team.
“VanDarius has been dismissed from the team and is no longer a part of our football program due to a violation of team rules,” coach Nick Saban said in a statement. “Each of us has a responsibility to represent The University of Alabama in a first-class way, and failure to meet those standards can’t be tolerated. We wish VanDarius the very best in the future.”
According to The Tuscaloosa News, Cowan was arrested last month for an altercation at a Tuscaloosa bar and was charged with third-degree assault last week.
Cowan also missed a small portion of spring practice while focusing on academics.
“We have rules about academics here,” Saban said in March. “We define the standard of expectation that we have for class attendance, (tutoring), study table. And when guys do not do this to the standard that we’ve created for all the players here, they can’t practice or play until they get it right.”
The former four-star linebacker and top-100 player in his high school recruiting class played in seven games last season, recording two tackles and one quarterback hurry. He participated in the spring game as a third-string inside linebacker.
