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USF Dismisses Mercer After Second Arrest

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By BRETT McMURPHY

bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com

Published: January 27, 2009

TAMPA - University of South Florida junior guard Mike Mercer, who was arrested for the second time in four months Friday night, was dismissed from the program Monday by Coach Stan Heath.

Bulls freshman guard Anthony Crater, who also was arrested with Mercer on charges of possession of marijuana, will remain at USF, Heath said. Mercer will remain on scholarship the rest of the semester.

"He's disappointed and pretty devastated," Heath said of Mercer. "He just feels like he's snake-bitten. Unfortunately, he's just got to make better choices."

Heath purposely took his time with the decision to dismiss Mercer.

"I didn't want to make any emotional decisions; the first 24 hours you've got to be careful of that," he said. "But my thoughts really never wavered."

Mercer transferred to USF from Georgia last season. After becoming eligible after the first semester, Mercer started at point guard in four games this year before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Mercer, 22, was arrested in September for public consumption of alcohol.

As a sophomore at Georgia, the 6-foot-4 Mercer led the Bulldogs in scoring (13.7 points) and the year before that was named to the all-SEC freshman team. He was then suspended for the first 15 games of the 2007-08 season after violating the school's academic policy and transferred to USF last season.

Crater, 19, transferred to USF from Ohio State last month. He won't be eligible at USF until December 2009 and will have 21/2 years of eligibility remaining. Heath said Crater realizes he can't make any more mistakes.

"Crater knows," Heath said. "He knows his life's not going to be very exciting for a while."

Tribune correspondent Gregg Becnel contributed to this report.

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