Despite Court Ruling, Miami Doesn’t Want Mira at Practice

Linebacker George Mira Jr., one of two Miami football players suspended after flunking a National Collegiate Athletic Assn.-administered drug test, will not practice with his team for Friday’s Orange Bowl game despite a court ruling that permits him to do so, Coach Jimmy Johnson said Saturday.

“George and I visited, and we mutually agreed that it would be in everyone’s best interest that he work out on his own and prepare himself mentally to play,” Johnson said. “But we would have to prepare other players just in case the NCAA did not give him a favorable ruling.”

Johnson said, regardless of any future legal action, sophomore Bernard Clark will start the Orange Bowl game against No. 1-ranked Oklahoma.

Earlier Saturday, Dade County Circuit Judge Philip Bloom granted a temporary restraining order that overturns Mira’s suspension pending the school’s approval. Paul Dee, an attorney representing the university, said that the school did not want Mira at the team’s practice.

Mira and starting offensive tackle John O’Neill were automatically suspended after the NCAA test turned up traces of a diuretic, a drug used to help the body get rid of excess fluids.

Johnson said that O’Neill’s status with the team “is similar” to Mira’s. Lawyers for both players identified the drug involved as Lasix.