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All-State Alcoa football player Brian Sommer was arrested on a simple drug possession charge and subsequently dismissed from the football team on Tuesday, according to an Alcoa police report and Tornadoes head coach Gary Rankin.

Sommer, 18, Wexgate Road, Knoxville, was arrested at about 11:30 a.m. and charged with simple possession of a Schedule VI substance (marijuana). He was taken to the Blount County Jail where he was being held on a $750 bond pending a hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday in Blount County General Sessions Court.

“It’s disappointing because I think being a member of the Alcoa football team is a big deal, I think that’s a big deal,” said Rankin, an assistant principal who handled the incident. “When people don’t think it’s a big deal and do things to jeopardize being a part of that organization, I don’t really want them anyway.”

Keeping his seniors after practice Tuesday inside the Alcoa Middle School gymnasium, Rankin said his message was a simple one.

“We won’t slow down, and I made this comment to (Maryville coach) George Quarles the other night, if Maryville football or Alcoa football isn’t strong enough to hold you, I don’t want you anyway,” said Rankin, who led the Tornadoes to the Class 2A title last year. “If what this program does and receives is not good enough to make you act like you’re supposed to act, you’re not going to do it anyway. That’s the way I feel.”

Alcoa Police Sgt. Hank Morris reported that he was requested to conduct a “K-9 sniff” at Alcoa High School. During that search, his K-9 partner Ozkar alerted on a black Cadillac. A Blount County Sheriff’s Deputy had his K-9 Myke check the vehicle for a second sniff and his K-9 also alerted on the vehicle.

Sommer was the student who drove the Cadillac to school and turned his keys over to school officials to search the vehicle, Morris reported. The search revealed a large amount of marijuana shake throughout the vehicle.

Considered one of the top collegiate football prospects in the state, Sommer had scholarship offers from Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Colorado and select other programs.

“This game is going to teach you how to be a better husband, how to be a better father, and that’s our goal,” Tornado defensive coordinator Brian Nix said. “We want to see them graduate high school and get a college degree and be successful in life. So many programs, I think, take advantage of these kids, and we try to set these kids up for success in life.

“That’s what we try to do for our kids, We try to support them as much as we can.”

More on this story in Wednesday's edition of The Daily Times