Apologetic Bynes reinstated

By Ted Hutton
Staff Writer
Posted November 17 2004

BOCA RATON ? Florida Atlantic's beleaguered offense got good news Tuesday when wide receiver Roosevelt Bynes was reinstated after being suspended for the past three games.

Bynes, a senior from Fort Lauderdale, is FAU's second-leading receiver with 17 catches for 407 yards and two touchdowns. He is averaging 23.9 yards per catch and 67.8 yards per game.

"It was a lesson learned. I told the team I was sorry, that I didn't mean to hurt the team like that," Bynes said after meeting with coach Howard Schnellenberger before practice.

FAU (6-3) was 1-2 without Bynes, beating Florida A&M and losing to Troy and New Mexico State.

Bynes continued to practice during the suspension and said he is ready to play.

"I've got three more games to do big things. I'm going to do my best to put up yards and score touchdowns for them," Bynes said.

While Bynes spent time with the first team at Tuesday's practice, he will be on the bench for the start of Saturday's game against Illinois State.

"He's not going to start unless somebody is injured and we had to," Schnellenberger said. "We'll see how he develops through the course of the week."

NFL scouts have shown interest in Bynes and the Colts had a scout at the FAMU game that Bynes missed.

"Hopefully [the scout] will come back," Bynes said. "I can rebuild from this error."

Bynes' teammates are glad to have him back.

"He's a big part of the offense," senior tight end Ben Coker said. "Everyone makes mistakes. We're not going to hold a grudge against him."

Bynes and Schnellenberger would not discuss reasons for the suspension, but a source familiar with the situation said Bynes tested positive for marijuana for the second time.

Under FAU's drug-testing policy, a second failure calls for suspension for a quarter of the season, which equated to three games since the Owls have a 12-game schedule this season.

Bynes did not travel to Tallahassee for the FAMU game, though at the time Schnellenberger said Bynes was not with the team for personal reasons.

News of the suspension did not come until the following Thursday, a day after it was announced that tight end and leading receiver Anthony Crissinger-Hill was suspended for the rest of the season.

The source said Crissinger-Hill failed his third drug test, also for marijuana, which caused him to be kicked off the team under FAU's policy.

Ted Hutton can be reached at [email protected].

Im anticipating a bunch of big plays from bynes this weekend.. Im restocking the cannon with more gun powder.....

Let's hope Bynes can make an impact. He should be the go to guy now. 10 catches for 150 yards would be nice. I would also like to see Larry Taylor have a big game. He has sort of gotten lost in the depth chart since year one. He has game breaking speed if he can outfight bigger, stronger DBs and get open.

That is certainly good news.. now lets hope from now on he keeps himself clean. Now that the receiver corps are now healthier, except ACH, lets hops the line protects Allen.. I really dont think that'll be a problem though with a Div 1AA team.. IMO