Starting guard Nicho Garcia leaves Colorado State University football team

Nicho Garcia, a guard who started 10 games for the CSU football team last fall, won’t be returning this fall, he said Thursday.

Garcia was removed from the Colorado State University roster a few days after the April 22 spring game, school spokesman Paul Kirk said. Garcia was arrested earlier this week by campus police for failing to appear for a court date related to a December infraction for allegedly driving with a suspended or revoked license.

Coach Mike Bobo declined to elaborate.

Garcia, 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds, missed CSU's spring practices to “handle some personal matters,” he said in a text message Thursday.

“As I returned, there was too much on my plate to handle, didn’t see eye to eye and had some disagreements, and we ultimately decided it was best to go our separate ways,” Garcia wrote.

Garcia, who played two seasons at Highland (Kansas) Community College before transferring to CSU, wrote he has “nothing but the utmost respect for Coach Bobo and CSU. I’ll forever be grateful for my time here.”

Garcia's Monday arrest was the latest in a string of legal issues the offensive lineman has faced in his two years in Fort Collins. The most serious charge levied against Garcia was misdemeanor assault for an altercation with a neighbor outside his off-campus apartment Oct. 16, 2016. Garcia was arrested and charged with three misdemeanors, two of which were dismissed by Larimer County Judge Thomas L. Lynch on June 13, 2017, when Garcia pleaded guilty to Class 1 misdemeanor assault for which he received a deferred sentence.

Garcia, now 22, had been cited for using a fake ID to try to obtain alcohol while still a minor on Sept. 24, 2016. Those charges were dismissed by the Larimer County District Attorney’s office at his arraignment Aug. 30, 2017.

He also was cited for speeding 5-9 mph over the limit by Fort Collins Police on July 21, 2017, found guilty by default and fined $214 when he failed to appear in traffic court two months later to contest the charge.

He’s due in court again June 4 on the latest “failure to appear” charge, stemming from a ticket he received Dec. 7, 2017, for driving on a suspended or revoked license. He also failed to appear in court to answer that charge on Jan. 5 and Jan. 30, according to court records.

Garcia, who is from Overland Park, Kansas, came to CSU as a junior college transfer in the summer of 2016. He sat out as a redshirt that fall before becoming a starter as a junior.

Garcia’s departure leaves senior tackle Ben Knox as the only returning starter on the Rams’ offensive line.

Two other CSU football players facing unresolved legal issues appear to be on track to play this fall.

Junior safety Braylin Scott, who previously faced a jury trial on three felony theft charges, pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor theft charge under a deal reached April 11 with the district attorney’s office. Scott, who was suspended for the 2017 season because of his legal issues, was a full participant in spring practices and is expected to play a key role for the Rams this fall, Bobo said. He started seven games and intercepted three passes in 2016.

Junior receiver Preston Williams, a transfer from Tennessee who sat out last fall under NCAA transfer rules, was suspended from the team for much of last season following his arrests Sept. 23, 2017, on misdemeanor charges of assault and criminal tampering after an altercation with his girlfriend, and Oct. 18, 2017, for violating a restraining order that had been issued after the first arrest.

Williams received a deferred sentence on the assault charge, a Class 3 misdemeanor, Jan. 23, 2018. The other charges he was facing were dismissed, and he was re-instated to the football program.

Williams, who caught 16 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns in two seasons at Tennessee, was still going through the university’s conflict-resolution process while practicing with the Rams this spring but should be able to play this fall, according to Bobo. He was prominently mentioned in a breakdown of the Rams’ wide receivers published Wednesday on the school’s athletic website.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310) and 10:45 a.m. Saturdays on Denver’s ESPN radio (AM 1600).