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Utah State forward Jarred Shaw has missed the last five games for the Aggies for being suspended for violation of team rules, however those violations stemmed from Shaw being charged with felony drug possession of marijuana.
On Friday, Shaw pled guilty to a third-degree felony marijuana possession charges, and the charges of misdemeanor counts of possession and contributing to the delinquency of a minor were also dropped. That felony could possibly be knocked down to a misdemeanor.
Despite going 4-1 without their leading score in the line -- the lone loss was a bad one to Air Force -- getting Shaw back in the lineup is a big deal and will help the team as they continue on in Mountain West play.
Head coach Stew Morrill released a statement about Shaw returning to the program:
"There has been lots of speculation and untrue rumors regarding Jarred. Jarred Shaw is a student-athlete who graduates this spring and who made a mistake. This was his first offense and he has served his penalty by missing five games. We will go forward from here, and our team is certainly excited to have Jarred back," Morrill said.
Getting Shaw back is a huge deal as he averaged 16.1 points per game to lead the team, plus he averaged 7.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, good for second. Depth is also restored with Shaw back in the lineup, during his absence the team had to rely on Jordan Stone followed by forwards Ben Clifford and Kyle Davis, but they were playing out of position.
Without Shaw it seemed that contending for the Mountain West title was out of the question, but now that he is back the Aggies will have a shot going up against New Mexico, San Diego State and the other top teams in the league.
