South Carolina recruit suspended after arrest

South Carolina football recruit Quintin Richardson has been suspended from the team after he was arrested Friday night and charged with marijuana possession.

Deputies responding to a call about shots fired at a suburban Columbia, S.C., apartment around 7 p.m. found Richardson and three other men around a car that matched the description given by the caller, Richland County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Chris Cowan said.

Officers who searched Richardson found marijuana in his pocket and arrested him, authorities said.

Richardson has been suspended from the Gamecocks per team policy, athletics officials said.

Richardson, a 6-foot-4, 276-pound offensive lineman from Spring Valley High, was among the top recruits in the Gamecocks' incoming freshman class, which was ranked in the top 10 by many recruiting experts.

Richardson was arrested Friday at the same apartment complex where he was stabbed during a fight June 24.

EX-BALL STATE COACH QUESTIONS PROBE: Ronny Thompson cited Ball State's internal investigation into alleged violations of NCAA rules in his resignation as basketball coach.

"Coach Thompson has expressed concerns about the process of the recent investigation of alleged NCAA violations and its conclusions," athletics director Tom Collins said at a news conference on Friday.

Thompson resigned after a single 9-22 season as the Cardinals' coach in a letter Thursday to university president Jo Ann Gora. Thompson and his staff broke NCAA rules last summer and in May by attending voluntary offseason team workouts, and they lied about their involvement in the May infraction, the school has said.

Thompson is a son of Hall of Fame coach John Thompson, who won a national championship in his 27 seasons at Georgetown. His brother, John III, led Georgetown to the Final Four last season.

The Associated Press left a telephone message Friday seeking comment from Thompson.

Ball State did not buy out Thompson's contract, which called for Thompson to pay a penalty if he voluntarily left the school before the deal expired in March 2011.

University attorney Jon Moll does not expect Thompson to take the position that he left his job voluntarily. That could leave open the possibility of Thompson bringing legal action against Ball State.

"He just gave a letter of resignation," Collins said.

In announcing the resignation Thursday, Ball State said Thompson had "expressed concerns about the recent NCAA investigation, as well as other issues."

Notes including racial slurs and insults were slipped under the office doors of Thompson and other basketball staff members last month. The university was investigating the source of the notes.

UTEP FOOTBALL COACH HAS HEART PROCEDURE: Texas-El Paso football coach Mike Price was released from a hospital Friday afternoon after doctors implanted a stent to relieve a blocked artery in his heart.

Price, 61, was resting at home after the being released, UTEP spokesman Mark Brunner said.

Price is preparing for his fourth year as UTEP coach. The Miners were 5-7 last season.