TCU head coach Gary Patterson denied previous claims Friday that a majority of his team failed a Feb. 1 drug test.

Patterson met with the media after his team’s first spring practice Friday night. It was his first public appearance since four of his players – Devin Johnson, Tanner Brock, D.J. Yendrey and Ty Horn – were arrested Feb. 15 on suspicion of distributing marijuana.

Patterson released a statement the day of the arrests.

Since then, reports have swirled regarding the amount of drug use on the team.

According to his arrest warrant affidavit, Johnson told an undercover police officer that 82 players failed the team-issued test that was given the same day the program signed 23 high school recruits.

In a separate affidavit, Brock told an officer there would be about "60 people being screwed” by the test.

Those numbers were contrary to the ones released by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Feb. 16, which reported that an unnamed source said five players failed the test with 11 additional players testing positive for traces of marijuana.

Patterson said he could not comment on which count was accurate, but he did say the initial numbers, which indicated a majority of the team failed the test, were false.

“I can’t talk about that one or the other, but I can tell you the numbers that were thrown out early are not true,” Patterson said. “Reality is somewhere in between, but I can say this to you: it wasn’t the number that was thrown out early.”

Patterson said it’s hard to be certain whether a team or a university is entirely drug free.

“I never said [the team] was drug free,” Patterson said. “I don’t think there’s any campus in the country that is.”

And while it might have been his team taking the brunt of the criticism the past couple weeks, Patterson said the situation shined a light on an issue that has to be handled everywhere.

“When it’s all said and done, it’s all about kids” Patterson said. “Not only did this help kids at TCU and my football team, but this also raised a point. This was not just a TCU situation. This is something that’s going on in our colleges and our society that we have to deal with.”

Still, Patterson was quick to point out that the actions of a few shouldn’t characterize an entire group, something he felt has happened to his team over the past couple weeks.

“The most disappointing thing for me is our whole team felt like, after watching for two days, that we all of a sudden went from good to everybody is bad,” Patterson said. “And that’s not true.”