USC Star Bregel Out of Citrus Bowl : All-American Admits Taking Steroids, an NCAA Rules Violation

Jeff Bregel, USC’s two-time All-American guard, won’t play against Auburn in the Jan. 1 Florida Citrus Bowl game because he has violated NCAA eligibility rules. Bregel, a senior, admitted Tuesday in a prepared statement that he experimented with a steroid last August while undergoing rehabilitation after knee surgery.

The NCAA now has a drug testing program, and players participating in bowl games have been tested. Drug tests were administered to 36 USC players Dec. 5--22 starters and 14 others chosen at random.

The Bregel case marks the second time in two years that a prominent USC football player has been declared ineligible just before a bowl game.

Hank Norman, USC’s all-time leading receiver, was dropped from the team last season before the Aloha Bowl game with Alabama.

University officials said at the time that Norman couldn’t play because of “personal reasons.” Norman didn’t, and still hasn’t, divulged why he was declared ineligible for the Aloha Bowl, but the assumption has been that the drug testing procedure had something to do with the action.

USC had a drug testing program at that time before the NCAA implemented its own program.

The Bregel situation is another negative in a USC season full of them. Coach Ted Tollner was fired Dec. 8, although he will coach the team through the Citrus Bowl game. His firing was precipitated by a rout by arch rival UCLA and a last-second loss to Notre Dame.

Now USC has lost its most dominant offensive lineman. The Trojans’ running game, which has been statistically below par this season compared to other years, is bound to suffer.

USC and the NCAA issued only a terse statement concerning Bregel’s ineligibility status, with no reference to drug testing.

The 6-foot, 4-inch, 280-pound Bregel elaborated, saying:

“After I had arthroscopic knee surgery this past summer, I experimented in August with a type of steroid. I did this because I had heard from some people I know in my hometown gym that this steroid speeded up the rehabilitative process of tissue building and strengthening atrophied joints.

“Unfortunately, it was my fault for not getting accurate information on what I was taking. I haven’t used any steroids since I experimented with them to rehabilitate my knee, and I learned from my mistake. I feel bad about the situation and I regret making this mistake because I feel like I’ve let my coaches, teammates and the university down.”

Receiving steroids via prescription is legal. Getting them and using them without one is not.

Bregel’s ineligibility for a bowl game follows the announcement that two starting linemen for Stanford, defensive tackle Tony Leiker and offensive tackle John Zentner, won’t be allowed to play in Saturday’s Gator Bowl game against Clemson.

Stanford officials refused to say whether their absence was due to drug tests, which were administered to 36 players Dec. 9 in compliance with NCAA policy.

But Zentner’s father told the Los Angeles Daily News Monday that his son, a 6-5, 265-pound sophomore from Woodland Hills, experimented with steroids “for the first time” this past summer.

“It absolutely devastated us,” the elder Zentner said of the positive test result.

Bregel, who is expected to be a high draft choice when the NFL makes its selections, has also been honored for his academic achievements.

He’s a first-team Academic All-American, one of 11 National Football Foundation scholar-athletes, and winner of USC’s Academic Letterman Award for the senior with the highest grade-point average. A business-finance major, Bregel has a 3.3 GPA on a scale of 4. Bregel’s likely replacement at strongside guard will be either redshirt freshman Brad Leggett, or junior Dave Cadigan, who has started all season at strongside tackle. If Cadigan moves over to the guard spot, sophomore Mark Sager will move to tackle.