As expected, the Syracuse Orange football team will welcome back wide receiver Marcus Sales to the fold in 2012, Doug Marrone announced Friday.
"He's on the football team," Marrone said during a news conference to discuss Syracuse's upcoming schedule. "He's enrolled in school with no issues in school, so there's no issues with being a part of the program."
The senior missed all of the 2011 season after running afoul of the law in a way that would be considered impressive if it wasn't so dumb. Sales and his brother were charged with multiple counts of drug possession after a car he was driving was found to contain an open container of alcohol, several bags of marijuana, a bag of painkilling pills, other baggies with devil, superman and pit bull insignias on them, and several digital scales in the car.
Sales' brother Michael ended up taking the rap, sentenced to five years' probation after pleading guilty on a felony count of fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Marcus has kept his nose clean (hopefully literally) since, doing community service and keeping a low profile.
Sales is an interesting character in terms of his on-field production and it remains to be seen how valuable his return will be. If you're judging it by what he did during the 2010 season, you don't expect much. If you're judging it by what he did in the Pinstripe Bowl, you're expecting All-World numbers.
Sales finished second on the team with 26 receptions for 414 yards and four touchdowns in 2010.
With Alec Lemon out all spring and possibly longer, the Orange can use all the veteran help they can get. So in that case, welcome back, Marcus.
Which Marcus Sales will be back for the Orange for his final season? We'll have to wait and see.