Fulton halfway through a two-year suspension

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Fulton is halfway through serving a two-year suspension imposed last winter by the NCAA, said Don Jackson, an Alabama-based attorney representing the Fulton family who spoke to The Advocate on Sunday.

Fulton’s suspension kept him from playing the 2017 season. If not overturned, the suspension will prevent him from playing in, at least, the regular season of 2018, too. His eligibility would be reinstated for 2019. The 730-day suspension, Jackson said, is tied to a drug examination the NCAA conducted on Fulton late in the fall of 2016, Fulton’s true freshman season.

Fulton is alleged to have attempted to use a fraudulent testing sample, somewhat of a double whammy, according to the NCAA. The governing body of college athletics suspended him one calendar year for submitting a fraudulent sample and docked him another calendar year for allegedly failing the test, Jackson said. The NCAA considers a no-show or, in this case, a fraudulent sample a failed test, Jackson said.

“The NCAA suspending this young man for two full competitive seasons is unethical, and there are due process issues relative to the collection of the test specimen,” Jackson said. “The decision in this case was ethically and legally incorrect. He’s suffered the most serious sanction I’ve ever seen for a student-athlete who failed a drug test.”

An LSU official reached Monday declined comment. An NCAA spokesman declined comment to questions Monday regarding any specific athlete.

According to NCAA policy, an athlete involved in a case of “clearly observed tampering” with a drug test is banned from competition for 730 days, or two full calendar years.

Meanwhile, Keith Fulton, Kristian’s father, continues to fight for his son’s eligibility. Keith Fulton told The Advocate on Sunday that Jackson is to speak on his behalf regarding this matter, approving the public release of information of his son’s case.

Jackson said in a couple weeks he plans to file what’s called a “reconsideration” with the NCAA in an attempt to overturn Year 2 of the penalty on grounds of “new evidence,” he said. The new evidence questions the handling of Fulton’s test sample.

“There were blatant violations of drug-testing protocol,” Jackson said. “We’re attempting to request the decision be re-examined and him to immediately be declared eligible for 2018.”

A denial by the NCAA of the “reconsideration” would lead the family into another wave of appeals, Jackson said. A first round of appeals, coordinated by LSU, was denied last spring. The second wave of appeals could conceivably bleed into the 2018 season, further affecting the college career of one of the country’s best 2016 prospects.

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The NCAA randomly tests athletes at its member schools for performance-enhancing drugs — not recreational drugs. About 12,000 tests happen each year. Each NCAA school has discretion in testing its athletes for recreational drugs, and LSU is no stranger to this. The school, in fact, has tested Fulton more than two dozen times since the NCAA test in 2016. He has passed each test, Keith Fulton confirmed.

A two-year suspension is “overly punitive,” Jackson said. College athletes are allowed to play four seasons over five years. Fulton would have two seasons of eligibility remaining after the suspension ends around December of 2018.

“This case is highly unusual,” Jackson said. “Bottom line is, the decision here was wrong.”

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