Report: Documents Tie Couch to Drug Regimens
August 29, 2007
· Quarterback Tim Couch, the No. 1 pick in the 1999 N.F.L. draft, had doping regimens that called for anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, according to documents obtained by the Web site yahoo.
Couch, who was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars this month, told Yahoo that he used H.G.H. for about a week, under a doctor’s care, to help him recover from shoulder surgery.
He denied using steroids or any other banned drugs, and he said he had never seen the documents. Couch told Yahoo that he had passed a drug test when he signed with the Jaguars.
Yahoo reported yesterday that it had obtained documents that had Couch’s name printed across the top and that called for extensive use of drugs banned by the N.F.L.
Yahoo said its anonymous source was a former associate of Brian Yusem, a nutritionist in Boca Raton, Fla. It said Yusem had worked with Couch since January 2006.
“Just because somebody prints something and says this is the protocol I would suggest doesn’t mean somebody has the obligation to do it or did it,” Yusem told Yahoo, calling the documents “worthless.”
Couch’s agent, Tom Condon, did not return a telephone call from The Associated Press. The N.F.L. had no comment.
The documents detail regimens for 72-, 80- and 55-day programs, dated Jan. 26, 2006; Sept. 18, 2006; and Nov. 27, 2006, according to Yahoo.
Yusem said nothing illegal took place, but the source told Yahoo that he saw Couch pick up steroids and H.G.H., and saw him injected with steroids in Yusem’s office.
Couch, the No. 1 pick in the 1999 draft, signed with the Jaguars on July 29. Coach Jack Del Rio said then that Couch, the former Cleveland Browns quarterback, was merely giving the team another quarterback to use during training camp and that he had an outside shot to make the team.
Couch was released three weeks later.
Dan Edwards, a Jaguars spokesman, said the N.F.L.’s drug-testing policy was confidential and that results were not shared with teams. Teams were only notified when players were suspended for violating the policy, he said.
Couch said “there’s no way” he would have passed a drug test in Jacksonville had he taken what was outlined in the steroid regimens.
“It doesn’t matter what that says,” Couch told Yahoo.com. “It matters what I took. I know what I took and what I didn’t take.”
