CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona senior running back Clarence Farmer, who had his best game of the season against UCLA earlier this month, was dismissed from the team yesterday.

Arizona interim head coach Mike Hankwitz announced yesterday that senior running back Clarence Farmer was "dismissed from the team and will not return" due to a violation of team rules.

Farmer showed up late to last night's practice and Hankwitz told him to leave.

Hankwitz said Farmer just walked away after being told he was no longer on the squad.

"As far as I'm concerned, he sealed his own fate," Hankwitz said.

Farmer was held out of the first quarter of Saturday's 42-14 loss at California due to an unspecified violation of team rules.

Farmer's dismissal is something that has been building over at least the last couple weeks, Hankwitz said.

Hankwitz said he had met with Farmer numerous times, but would not comment any further as to Farmer's situation, other than to say he is no longer on the team.

For a team that has been hit with so much controversy the last two seasons, Farmer's dismissal seemed to be just another bump in the road for the Wildcats.

"Something like this doesn't happen very often," junior center Keoki Fraser said. "(As a team), we are pretty close and we've been through a lot. We're not going to be disrupted by this. If he was a problem to the team and coach needed to dismiss him, I'm sure it was for a good reason."

Some players said they were somewhat surprised by what happened and that nothing seemed too different with Farmer and the team lately.

"(Last week), he seemed like the regular Clarence to me," Fraser said. "At practice, he was doing everything he usually does and he didn't seem like he wanted to quit."

"I could say it is a disruption, but (sophomore running back) Mike (Bell) is playing well and we just have to keep going," freshman quarterback Kris Heavner said.

With the dismissal of Farmer, most of the running load will fall squarely on Bell's shoulders.

Bell rushed for a career-high 182 yards on 18 carries last week at Cal. In the Wildcats' last two contests, Bell has rushed for a total of 276 yards on just 27 carries ÷ an average of just over 10 yards per run.

"Mike Bell deserves a lot more carries," Hankwitz said. "I'm very pleased with his performance. We feel good about having him (as the number one running back)."

"He's going to have to step up and he can do it," Heavner said.

"Mike has been running good, and we need to just keep going with that," Fraser said.

Sophomore Gainus Scott was the Wildcats' number two tailback at practice yesterday, but Hankwitz said the team will continue to look at all options in the backfield.