Secondary Problems. Buffaloes Coach Jon Embree Suspends Five Defensive Players, Possibly For Season

Well this not what I wanted to see right after I woke up this morning. Colorado Buffaloes head coach Jon Embree has suspended five defensive players, four coming from the already severely depleted secondary, indefinitely for a violation of team rules.

Parker Orms, Paul Vigo, Ayodeji Olatoye, Josh Moten and linebacker Liloa Nobriga were told Wednesday of the discipline. Buffzone is reporting that the suspensions could potentially be for the year and the team is expected to make an announcement today. 

None of the problems that led to the suspensions involved the police, but the rules violations were serious enough that CU is expected to announce today that none of the five will play again this season.

Whether the players remain with the program beyond this season remains to be seen.

All five players were recruited to CU by former coach Dan Hawkins. Four of the five are third-year sophomores and members of the 2009 recruiting class.

This moves means that converted offensive skill position players Jason Espinoza and Brian Lockridge should be expected to play significant roles on the defensive side of the ball throughout the rest of the year. More information should be released throughout the day, but regardless this is a major development for a team already dealing with a significant amount of adversity. Jon Embree and the rest of the Buffaloes coaching staff are going to have to help this team stay together and make sure that this isn't the first fracture in a locker room that can't withstand any amount of infighting.