Madisonville, Texas ? Drug charges against four Texas football players have been dropped because officers performed an illegal traffic stop on Interstate 45 before searching their vehicle, Madison County District Attorney Bill Bennett said Thursday.

The players did not break traffic laws by leaving the highway without signaling, so officers with the Brazos Valley Narcotics Task Force had no grounds to pull them over or conduct the search that uncovered marijuana in the vehicle, Bennett said

UT defensive tackle Larry Dibbles was driving the sport utility vehicle that officers pulled over near Madisonville. Running back Selvin Young, linebacker Aaron Harris and defensive back Edorian McCullough were passengers.

According to court documents, officers said they found two plastic bags containing marijuana stuffed in back-seat air conditioning vents.

• l

UT linebacker ailing: Texas reserve linebacker Lance McFarland will not play this season while he battles non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

• Witnesses feel threatened: Northwestern disclosed that it had sent armed undercover police to pretrial proceedings in the wrongful-death lawsuit brought by the mother of Rashidi Wheeler after witnesses said they felt threatened by her.

The university wants the mother, Linda Will, barred from future depositions, or a court official assigned to monitor Will’s behavior if she is allowed to attend them. Will and her ex-husband’s suit contends that Northwestern and its athletic staff provided poor medical care to Wheeler when he collapsed and died on a practice field in August 2001.

• Army to leave conference: Army will leave Conference USA after the 2004 season to play as an independent.
• UConn to start league play: Connecticut will become a full-time football member of the Big East Conference next year, and the league won’t add any new schools before the 2005-06 season. Miami and Virginia Tech will leave the Big East to join the ACC beginning with the 2004 season.