Football implications of TCU drug scandal: two questions remain

Leaving aside-- not because they are unimportant-- the family and career implications of the TCU student drug ring recently busted, there remain two questions for the football team that must be answered before one can assess the impact of the bust on the 2012 football season.

They are, simply: (1) what suspensions remain, and (2) what position switches will be required? The answers to the questions are not so simple.

Concerning the suspensions: a couple of the arrested (former?) players said, in the course of their drug selling, that 60 or 80 of the team's players couldn't pass a drug test. Kolby Griffin indignantly tweets otherwise; one report says that number is merely five. But it's foolish to expect TCU to open the season with the full roster (minus the arrested quartet).

So the answer to the first question is a solid shoulder shrug; we'll just have to see.

And that makes answering the second question utterly impossible. We know the linebacking corps was thin before Tanner Brock dealt it a blow (double pun intended). Incoming freshman A.J. Hilliard had better be ready to play from day one. I'd say it's now very likely James MacFarland will play linebacker instead of defensive end. Might LaDarius Brown make a switch to the defense? At 6-4, 220 pounds, he's got the body for it, probably.

The intrigue for spring ball is suddenly heightened, as it will be our first chance to begin seeing the answers to these questions.