Shadrach Thornton, who remains indefinitely suspended from the NC State football team, was back in court Wednesday to address misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Those charges were dropped, perhaps getting Thornton a little bit closer to being reinstated.
Police were investigating a second potential assault case involving Thornton when they discovered drugs at the apartment shared by him, Marchez Coates, Juston Burris, and (the since-departed) J.J. Jones. Neither Coates nor Burris were charged with anything by police.
Thornton has not been charged in the second assault case, but the first case, which came as the result of an alleged physical confrontation with his girlfriend, hasn't been fully resolved.
Dave Doeren said during his press conference Monday that Thornton is participating in team activities:
"He's with the team every day, he trains with the team, I'm around him every day," Doeren said. "That's the only way to help him grow as a person. Putting him in a box by himself is not going to help Shad. We keep him around us.
"But we're still waiting all the things we need to find out to determine playing time and the future of the program. We'll see where that goes. The punishment well definitely suit whatever we feel happens in the end."
I'm guessing that punishment will include some additional regular season time missed--if he is reinstated, that is--but we'll see.