<p>Fldad…I think you might be surprised at the number of kids in college with some run ins with the legal system. Kids not associated with sports at all. </p>
<p>Many kids mess up. A number of them are lucky enough to get a second chance. But they need to not mess up the opportunities they are given. </p>
<p>These kids not only had victims, but really screwed up what may have been a second chance. Or even a way out of an otherwise bleak future. </p>
<p>I hope these kids are able to learn from these mistakes and become productive citizens. But I dont think remaining at Alabama is appropriate. </p>
<p>Oh please. By that argument, every university has misplaced priorities. A simple google search will yield student arrests at pretty much every school in the country. I bet that sometime in the history of UF, a student or two has been arrested.</p>
<p>And you have no idea whether these particular kids were or were not qualified to attend UA. Students are not required to have 4.0’s in high school to be admitted to UA, so that’s completely irrelevant. And again, you have no idea what these kids’ criminal histories are, if any. I am guessing that some criminals do commit their first crimes during college age, although your statement that it “just doesn’t happen” is indeed persuasive.</p>
<p>This kind of thing can and does happen everywhere. The only variable is how the school handles it, and that is the only thing I am watching right now.</p>
<p>*Quote:
The fact that kids who would assault and rob other students were accepted into the University in the first place IS evidence that priorities are indeed misplaced.
*</p>
<p>that has got to be the most ridiculous statement yet. Now, you’re expecting people to “see into the future” and know that certain people (without records) will eventually commit crimes.</p>
<p>Does this mean that your son’s pricey elite school hasn’t admitted students who’ve eventually committed serious crimes (even more serious than these crimes)?</p>
<p>Heck, the Unibomber was a Harvard grad.</p>
<p>Whatever happened to being “innocent until proven guilty”?</p>
<p>The excerpt below that I read from a newspaper demonstrates the amount of resources D1 coaches have to find out everything they need to in order to make a decision on a kid. It doesn’t uncover everything but it comes as close as you can. Basically Saban has two coaching staffs. He employs the 9 allowed by the NCAA for on the field coaching and another 9 who only focus on breaking down film and developing relationships with the High Schools in their recruiting area:</p>
<p>Saban currently employs nine men who are “analysts” (five on offense, three on defense, one for special teams) and they handle different kinds of responsibilities. They’re primarily football strategists who break down film of opponents, Alabama, other teams obsessively and catalog tendencies into a database.</p>
<p>They also assist in other ways. Some of them act as liaisonswho are given specific high schools, coaches, staffs to manage. Their job is to build a strong bridge to these high-school programs – even schools that don’t have sophomore, junior or senior prospects. These liaisons physically journeyed out and let those people know that Alabama, up to and including Saban himself, were available to assist them. It’s not just talk; these guys check in with the schools and coaches frequently.
If a high school hired a new coach, Alabama’s mission was to have one of its representatives shake that guy’s hand as soon as possible after being hired. Certainly within 24 hours. Those kinds of relationships yield information that can be relayed back to the recruiting office for future use. Or not. Building the network is the goal.</p>
<p>Alabama’s national championship football team had 21 graduates [on its roster], one shy of the BCS National Championship Game record the Tide set in 2009. Football also had the second highest graduation rate among schools in the final 2011 BCS top 10 and has posted the second-highest graduation rate in the SEC each of the past three years.</p>
<p>Don’t let FloridaDad see that. He wants to believe that these football players can barely read. </p>
<p>From today’s Crimson White, the victims speak out:</p>
<p>"Burks, who had spent the evening with Jurgens, said Jurgens called him about 20 minutes after they had parted for the night. He sounded delirious, Burks said, and repeated “I don’t know what happened, I need your help,” multiple times. Burks and another friend, Anna Richardson, hurried to meet Jurgens at the front door of the dorm.</p>
<p>“His left side of his face was gigantic,” Burks said. “The jacket he was wearing and his headphones were completely drenched in blood, the bottom half of his face was completely covered in blood; he was bleeding badly from his lip. He had clearly been badly beaten.”</p>
<p>Friends helped clean Jurgens up and called UAPD, who made a report and escorted him to DCH. To save Jurgens the costly ambulance fee, Burks drove his friend to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a mild concussion and received stitches to close up his busted bottom lip."</p>
<p>Absolutely appalling that young adults who spent the past season being part of Coach Saban’s program would do this to fellow students. Yes, I am scratching my head.</p>
<p>I am certain UA is working fiercely right now to correct this situation. I dont think “innocent until proven guilty” is really an issue here. Correct me if I’m wrong but didnt they admit to these crimes. How bold is it to commit not one vicious crime but two within an hour of each other and within blocks of each other. It takes a cold callous person to commit one violent crime, an absolute animal to commit two together. Having spent the better part of twenty five years in law enforcement in a major metropolitan city, i have my own opinions as to what truly happened here but hey, lets let the courts decide. I will tell you this, this case will never make it to the inside of a court room since they already confessed. A plea bargain will be offered, one that they will be complete fools to turn down since the apparent evidence against them (confessions) is overwhelming.</p>
<p>*I am certain UA is working fiercely right now to correct this situation. I dont think “innocent until proven guilty” is really an issue here. *</p>
<p>If you’re referring to my use of that phrase to Florida Dad, that was in a totally different context. Florida Dad (an atty) was claiming that during these boys’ recruitment Bama should have somehow known that they would someday commit a serious crime. My point about “innocent until proven guilty” had to do more with being considered innocent when these kids had not yet done anything wrong.</p>
<p>m2ck,
Understood. I was referring to the “maybe this didn’t really happen as reported” crowd. This is why I emphasized their confessions. Regardless of education level, I have witnessed many uber rich kids committing heinous crimes. The only difference between the two groups is that the rich educated kids have the financial resources to commit their crimes in an even more detailed elaborate way often skirting the law due to their family connections. One famous family name comes right to mind but believe me there are dozens more.</p>
<p>It certainly doesn’t matter. Where it will sadly matter is that the rich kid’s family connections may get his charges reduced to next to nothing and skirting jail time.</p>
<p>Malanai, thank you so much for the update. Sounds like Alabama is handling this well.</p>
<p>On a side note, unless we have fact updates like Malanai’s perhaps we should refrain from chit-chat posting on this thread, lest it become high profile and on the front page of CC. Just a thought.</p>