He seems like a great kid, that just got caught up in some poor decisions. Only a few months off of his mission, tells me that he was by far, not the only player with this issue. More than likely, there were a few players saying to use this, as it will help him recover without having to ask for pain meds after a hard game. The kid is tough as nails, but we all know how hard it is to transition back from mission life. Not justifying his actions, but I had a lot of friends screw up right after they got home, because they didn't know how to return to normal life. They weren't high school kids, anymore, and were influenced by some others and living a different life. We all like to think that this stuff doesn't happen at BYU, but it is college, and this stuff happens there, a lot more frequently than I would like to admit knowing. Listening to the battle between Brady Poppinga on the radio, he talked about what he saw during his recruiting, and how a lot of that changed when Bronco took over. I believe the same issues were starting under last year's coaching staff, because they were trying too much to be friends, instead of coaches/adults. It was way too laid back of an atmosphere, and it transitioned over to the field. Ula was a consequence of that, and a reason that some of the changes needed to be changed.
Sitake seems more focused and stricter this year, and acknowledged that he was too laid back. Hopefully, Ula, Bernard(here or anywhere else. He is too good), and any others that had issues with this and other off the field issues, can come back and finish their careers in style. I love a good comeback story.