Pinstripe Bowl: Marquis Spruill Still Eligible According To Doug Marrone

Doug Marrone told the Daily Orange that, despite his arrest over the weekend, Syracuse Orange linebacker Marquis Spruill is still eligible to play in the upcoming Pinstripe Bowl on December 29th.

"Obviously we’re disappointed in the behavior of both of our players," Marrone said. "I’ll handle it internally. That’s really it."

"Just like for all our players, you have to earn that right and keep going in the right direction and we’ll handle things internally," Marrone said. "Up until the point, we expect our players to act in a proper fashion and with the expectations of our school because we represent Syracuse University. We’re disappointed in what has occurred."

Spruill is fourth on the team in tackles (36) with two sacks.

Steve Rene, the other player arrested, is already done for the season with an injury.

Spruill and Rene aren't out of the woods yet. They have a court date on December 19th and still have to stand before the SU Judicial Board.

If Spruill does play, it confirms something that a lot of Syracuse fans have noticed for a while now. Doug Marrone has cooled his jets immensely when it comes to player punishments since his first season.

In Marrone's first season, anyone that sneezed too loudly was kicked off the team. It got the point where so many players were leaving the program against their will, we were running low on availability. Then, Delone Carter punched a guy in the face and somehow made it back on the squad. Marcus Sales got caught driving a car full of drugs on a suspended license and ended up coming back after sitting out a year. Basically, short of you committing robbery or murder, you're probably not going to get kicked off the team anymore (so long as you're producing).

H/T: SB Nation NY