L'Damian Washington and Marcus Lucas are graduated. Dorial Green-Beckham was dismissed from the team and is now at Oklahoma. And this week, Missouri lost another receiver.
Sophomore Levi Copelin has been suspended for the entire 2014 season by the NCAA, the school announced Tuesday. In a statement sent to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Copelin said he failed a drug test for an undisclosed supplement banned by the NCAA.
"The reason I am suspended is that I recently bought an over-the-counter nutritional supplement from a local store, and used it as part of my workout routine," Copelin said. "Unfortunately, I used it without clearing it with my strength coaches or trainers. This supplement is legal and available to the public, but it isn't approved by the NCAA, and as a result of using it, I failed an NCAA drug test. This was a stupid mistake on my part, and I'm very sorry that I put myself and my team in this situation. This is a hard lesson to learn, as I never had the wrong intentions. I also understand there aren't any shortcuts to success. There's nothing I can do except dedicate myself to representing me, my family, my team, and Mizzou the right way going forward. I'm very grateful to my coaches and my teammates for giving me a chance to overcome this."
Copelin wasn't one of the Tigers' featured receivers in 2013, catching just three passes for 61 yards. But he worked with the starting offense the final two weeks of spring practice after Green-Beckham's departure. He was listed third on the preseason depth chart released earlier this month.
"This is a very unfortunate situation, but one that Levi created for himself," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said in a release, according to the Post-Dispatch. "He's paying the price for this mistake, and I commend him for owning up to it and taking responsibility. Our strength coaches and trainers rely on our players to be careful of what they do on their own, and to always get approval from them first. We're disappointed that Levi didn't follow this guideline, but we will support him during this time, and have high expectations that he will handle all of his responsibilities in the classroom, in the community and on the field in a first-class manner."