Washington State quarterback recruit Calvin Schmidtke, one of 25 players to sign a National Letter of Intent to play for the Cougs in 2008, is being released from the school.

According to the Tacoma News Tribune, Schmidtke has run into legal problems lately. The Lakes High School star has been cited 11 times (seven for traffic violations) in the last 18 months. The latest charges, which he is in court for this morning, are DUI and drug-related.

In a press release yesterday, WSU head coach Paul Wulff talked about Schmidtke:

"We have begun the process to allow Calvin the opportunity to be released from his National Letter of Intent and pursue his academic and athletic opportunities at another university," said Wulff. "We feel this is in the best interest of both Washington State University and Calvin. We wish him well with his future endeavors."

It sounds like Wulff is cracking down on bad "character" kids. First, he suspended Xavier Hicks for the first three games of the upcoming season after he pleaded guilty to assault and theft charges. Now, he isn't allowing a kid with legal issues (which happened before he stepped foot on campus) to come to Wazzu.

I know he's only a kid (I don't want to pound away him...we all make mistakes), but it doesn't seem like a huge loss to the program. Schmidtke is listed as a "Two Star" prospect by WashingtonPreps.com. According to his profile, some doubted he was good enough (he's pretty small...only 5'11) for DI football until he transferred to Lakes. Plus, the Cougars already have a bunch of (mediocre) quarterbacks in place.

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