Former Colorado State RB Treyous Jarrells quit football to grow and smoke marijuana

Colorado State running back Treyous Jarrells abruptly quit the team last fall despite being the Rams leading returning rusher that season.

Initially, the thinking was that Jarrells, who missed the 2015 season opener because of arthroscopic surgery in August, left the program because he had slipped to third on the depth chart. But a story in Monday’s Fort Collins Coloradoan explains that Jarrells quit the team to pursue his love of marijuana.

According to the story, Jarrells, who was the team’s second-leading rusher in 2014, signed with Colorado State because of Colorado’s legalization of marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes. Jarrells holds a medical license to legally grow marijuana in Colorado, which he said he received in order to relieve the pain of playing football for 16 years.

He said in his two seasons with the program he played all but one game high. He left the program in September 2015 for fear he’d fail a drug test and lose his financial aid.

Jarrells rushed for 450 yards and six touchdowns in 2014 while backing up Dee Hart. He played just one game in 2015, but could have been the starter. He said in his two seasons with the program he was never drug tested, but knew that probably wouldn’t last.

So in late September, Jarrells told coach Mike Bobo, who at the time was in his first season with the Rams, he didn’t feel like his relationship with the new coaching staff was working out. That coupled with the murder of his godfather the following summer made for a plausible reason for Jarrells to want to step away from football. Bobo allowed him to leave and keep his scholarship through the academic year. Jarrells needed only two more semesters to graduate.

“I’ve seen people before me, my brothers, who got kicked out of school for marijuana,” Jarrells told the Coloradoan. “I’ve seen people from CSU who got kicked out recently for marijuana. In my mind, I’m thinking, ‘I can’t do it any more with the pain. I can’t take it. I have to get my body right.’ I knew if I stepped back from the game, they wouldn’t drug test me, but I could still get my degree.”

The story is almost unbelievable, but totally worth a click for the pictures alone. It takes a step-by-step journey through Jarrells’ apartment, which is a makeshift greenhouse. His floor is littered with marijuana stems and there’s a 10-by-10 room that is wall-to-wall Pineapple Express and Blue Haze cannabis. He keeps a .45 caliber pistol on his nightstand.

Jarrells said he used marijuana daily to relieve the aches and pains and felt like it was a better option than popping the pills available by the Colorado State training staff.

“I practiced under the influence. I played games under the influence. This is my medicine,” Jarrells told the Coloradoan. “I’ve seen players at CSU pop five, 10 ibuprofens before practice. Daily. You think that’s good? Over the course of two, three years, that’s eating your liver away.

“I am not ashamed of what I did.”

Jarrell got his degree in communication studies and said he used his final two semesters to make connections for his current business. He bottles and sells what he calls his “million-dollar spray” that helps cannabis and other plants flourish.

Above all, he has no regrets.

“These two semesters I wasn’t able to play ball, I was able to make connections for my career,” Jarrells told the Coloradoan. “If I would have played ball, I wouldn’t have had those opportunities because I wouldn’t have been in the places to make those connections. Right now, a lot of players who didn’t get into the league, they’re lost right now because they didn’t make connections. … That’s the thing, you’re not a student, you’re an athlete.

“I tell you right now that I thank God that I didn’t play football, that I chose to step away. I was able to heal my body, get my degree and actually use my degree.”

For more Colorado State news, visit GoldandGreenNews.com.

– – – – – – –

Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday