Colorado Buffaloes' head coach Dan Hawkins announced Friday morning that the Buffs' second leading wide receiver from a year ago in junior Markques Simas has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. The CU athletic department issued the press release, here is Dan:
This is obviously disappointing, but we are going to continue to emphasize our philosophy of excellence with class and we will uphold our standards," coach Dan Hawkins said.
This is the not the first time Simas has been suspended. In 2008, the receiver was ineligible following his redshirt year and last year, he missed the first two games after being suspended for violating team rules. Simas played in 10 games a year ago, recording 43 receptions for 585 yards and three scores.
While on the practice squad all of the 2007 and 2008 seasons, many of Simas' teammates raved about his athleticism and deemed him to be the best receiver on the team. But due to off the field issues, the talented receiver's production was limited to glorified practice reports for most of his career at Colorado. Towards the end of last year, though, Simas emerged as one of the most productive receivers in the country and the threat many Buff fans have heard about.
Just in the month of November '09, Markques Simas had 25 receptions and 355 yards. If he kept that production up over a full season, he would total 100 receptions, 1,412 yards and 8 touchdowns. Simas ranked 10th in the nation for yards/game in the month of November among all receivers in the nation.
These sorts of numbers from Simas coupled with Michigan transfer Toney Clemons, returning leading receiver Scotty McKnight and a talented group of youthful receivers had Buff fans very excited about the position in '10. Now we have to wonder if Simas will be suspended for a large chunk of the season since this is not a first time offense. One thing is for sure, Dan Hawkins is not afraid to suspend anyone even if Simas is an important piece to the puzzle.