Supplemental Draft Pick Jeremy Jarmon Signs With Washington Redskins
July 21, 2009 – 7:00 am by Michael Bean
Jeremy Jarmon is the newest member of the Washington Redskins. Who the hell is that you might ask? Good question, as Jarmon wasn’t drafted in last April’s 2009 NFL Draft. The reason? He was suspended by the NCAA for his senior season last year after testing positive for a banned substance following the conclusion of his junior season. As a result of not being in the spotlight at all for his fourth and final year of eligibility, Jarmon slipped in to the Supplemental Draft. The defensive joined ESPN Radio Washington D.C. to talk about losing his senior year of eligibility at Kentucky for testing positive for a banned substance and about how he sent Skins G.M. Vinny Cerrato a text message just hours before the draft to express his sincere interest in playing for Washington.
On the rumor that he sent ‘Skins General Manager Vinny Cerrato a text message expressing his desire to play in Washington prior to the NFL Draft:
“”Well, I don’t know if I had to push too hard. Talking with the G.M. Mr. Cerrato yesterday, he told me they wanted me more than other teams wanted me and they were going to make sure that they got me. But I didn’t know that at the time. I knew that they were interested and that other teams were interested, but when I woke up yesterday morning, I was kind of going through my mind saying, I really want to end up with Washington. I want to be a Washington Redskin and I debated whether I should send them a text message or not letting him know. And I ended up doing that – I sent him a text message about two and a half, three hours before the Draft and said I wanted to be a Washington Redskin.”
On what exactly happened that led to him being suspended for his senior year at Kentucky:
“What happened was after the Bowl game, I was back in my hometown of Memphis, I was just trying to lose some weight. I wanted to lean up, get a little bit leaner before spring ball came around. More so because after the season was over, I got diagnosed with a mild form of tendinitis in my left shoulder. And the doctor told me I was going to be inactive for a time period. So between January 19th until about mid March, I was inactive and during that time period, I did not want to gain weight because I wasn’t lifting weights, I wasn’t running. So it was going to be crucial for me to keep my weight under control during that period so when I did get cleared right before spring ball, I wasn’t going to be a 300 poud defensive end taking snaps. So I purchased a supplement when I was in Lexington over the counter for 15 days. And on February 19th, my physician informed me that they wanted to give me a cortisone shot. So at that time, I asked our trainer if I needed to get off of the supplement that I was taking. I wanted to know if it would interfere with the cortisone shot. His advice to me was, let’s just get off of everything unknowing what I was taking. And he just said, let’s just get off everything and get you back healthy, and we’ll worry about everything else when it comes back around. And after we had that conversation four or five days later, the NCAA came in and said they were doing a random drug test and I found out that I failed on March 21st after I returned from Spring Break. And from that time period on, we spent time communicating with the NCAA and putting forward our appeal which we were certain we were going to win under the circumstances of our case. But the NCAA didn’t overturn it because they make rulings based on precedent and they don’t overturn cases.”
On the biggest game of his collegiate career, the 2007 upset by Kentucky over LSU in 4 Overtimes: (video highlights of the shocking upset after the jump)
“It was an amazing game. We didn’t know when it was going to end but when it was finally over, it was a sense of relief. We did a great job of preparing for them and we went in to that game knowing that we could beat them. And you could see that from the start – we started playing well and we ended playing well. And the fans pretty much let us know how happy they were because the police in Lexington used helicopters that night to oversee the city because the ground was a little too dangerous.”
Listen here to Jarmon on ESPN Radio in Washington D.C.
Tags: athletes suspended for performance enhancing drugs, Jeremy Jarmon, Kentucky Wildcats, Washington Redskins
