COLUMBIA, S.C. - Derek Watson said Tuesday he plans to prove his innocence of a misdemeanor drug charge and would work to be reinstated as a South Carolina running back. <br>
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Coach Lou Holtz kicked Watson off the team Monday after he learned the 20-year-old was arrested for possession of marijuana in Greenville last weekend. <br>
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``I am innocent of the misdemeanor charge issued against me and look forward to the opportunity to clear my name,'' Watson said in a statement. ``I look forward to meeting again with coach Holtz after I put these matters behind me to discuss my possible reinstatement.'' <br>
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Watson has a career total of 2,078 yards rushing on 437 carries and 16 touchdowns. He also has 58 receptions for 466 yards and two touchdowns. <br>
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Watson's troubling off-season last year included a suspension from the 2001 Outback Bowl after he was ticketed for driving with a suspended license and driving too fast. <br>
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Holtz also disciplined Watson after he was accused of threatening a student referee during intramural basketball. And last summer Watson was fined $425 after he was charged with driving without a license and playing his car stereo too loudly in his hometown of Williamston. <br>
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Watson was dismissed from the team just days after the junior could have entered the NFL draft. <br>
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His options now seem limited to another Division I school where he would have to sit out a year before playing or going to a smaller school where he could play next fall. <br>
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But the draft was an uninviting choice for Watson because he struggled this season to produce the numbers he had a year ago. Even Holtz said in November that Watson's continuing off-the-field troubles may have led to his mediocre season. <br>
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``I think Derek had so many things he had to do this summer that Derek really could not work out running and in agility drills. It hurt him somewhat this year,'' Holtz said when he was asked whether Watson would return to the Gamecocks for his senior season. ``I think he's still a great football player and would do really well in the NFL.'' <br>
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This past fall, he rushed for 618 yards and five touchdowns compared with 1,066 yards and 11 scores his sophomore season. <br>
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Watson was dropped from the team after he was arrested outside a Greenville nightclub early Saturday. <br>
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Teammate and sophomore linebacker Jeremiah Garrison spoke with Watson after the incident, but Garrison didn't know Watson had gotten into trouble. <br>
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``I just saw him Sunday. He didn't say anything about it,'' Garrison said. ``It breaks my heart that he's not going to be on the team next year. It's not like he's a bad person. He just makes bad decisions sometimes. He's got the worst luck in the world. I thought he was doing good.'' <br>
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Watson also had been enrolled in a pretrial intervention program for an assault and battery charge but will now have to stand trial for that charge, Richland County prosecutor Barney Giese said. <br>
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If Watson had successfully completed the pretrial program, the assault charge would have been erased. <br>
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``I'm disappointed. He was a big part of our team,'' Garrison said. <br>
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The drug charge could mean academic trouble for Watson, too. The case will be the third matter reviewed by the Office of Student Judicial Affairs, said university spokesman Russ McKinney, and Watson could be expelled. <br>
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Greenville police Lt. Mike Gambrell said undercover agents watched Watson sit in the passenger seat of a car Saturday morning, filling a hollowed out cigar with a substance from a clear plastic bag. Watson attempted to hide the items under the floorboard when drug agents approached the car, Gambrell said. <br>
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The driver, Antwan Andre Galloway, 23, of Pendleton, also was charged with marijuana possession. Both men were fined $497 then released and are scheduled to appear in Municipal Court on Jan. 30.
