Ole Miss Rebels

Mississippi's Robert Nkemdiche will not play in Sugar Bowl

Published Dec. 20, 2015 12:19 p.m. ET

foxsports

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) Mississippi defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche, recently charged with marijuana possession after a 15-foot fall at an Atlanta hotel, won't play in the Sugar Bowl and will enter the NFL draft.

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said in a statement Sunday the star junior ''will not be joining us'' for Jan. 1 game against Oklahoma State.

Nkemdiche has apologized for the incident in Atlanta and said in a statement Sunday he wishes he could have ''finished this journey with my team but is ''ready to begin the next phase of my life.''

Nkemdiche is one of the country's top defensive linemen and a second-team AP All-American. He says he ''learned a valuable lesson in the last week'' and wants to show NFL personnel this is ''not representative of my true character.''