"Darius Philon was more committed to Alabama ..." Updated

[Toxik76]

There were MANY more factors with Philon. He is from Prichard near Vigor HS, one of the toughest areas in the country. His grades are looking OK, his ACT score was way too low, bit that never came out, Saban 1st ASKED about a greyshirt 2 months ago, Philon vehemetly denied, about 4 or 5 weeks ago Bama staff suggested JuCo or prep school to get that ACT and get him out of the area, trying to give him other options beside a greyshirt so he could move away. For a reference point, there was a kid his age arrested yesterday (not sure if you guys saw on the news) in the area, the kid stabbed one officer in the neck killing him, through the bars of the police car, somehow injured 2 other officers, stole the police car, drove it a few blocks before the police caught and shot him, but not before he had entered a home and police had to smoke him out with tear gas and eventually shot the 18 year old. I tell you that story because he was a friend of Philon's growing up and a member of a local area gang that is really bad news, I'm not sure if Philon was involved in gang activity, but from a coach in that area, he was also pretty bad news and had a lot of terrible influences and needed to leave the area immediately, maybe to even stay alive, Saban tried his best to get him out even if it was a JuCo or prep school, the kid rejected it and when a spot wasn't there (Saban took Tomlinson instead, a 3.9 GPA student with great character and a 32 ACT score and a Harvard offer etc) he was desperate to get out of the area and Arkansas provided what Bama couldn't. I good he has a great career, I agree he rushed to a decision, but when you understand the whole story it makes a lot more sense.

[2Stater]

Wow! Some of us followed the story in the "Daily Thread" yesterday concerning the Wallace boy. I had no idea that there was a connection there between him and Philon. You're right, Pritchard is a bad, bad area. He does need to leave there. Now, I'm kind of glad he is going to Arky. Maybe not the best decision, but it will at least get him away from there.

[Leewillie]

Thanks Tox, for the "rest of the story".

There are always 2 sides to every controversy.

[Jamos]

Thanks for the post Tox. CNS has stated to us many times that no player has ever been run off intentionally from his program. There are always some circumstances that he had rather not reveal to the public that caused the player to leave or not come to Bama. Hopefully Philon will go to Arkansas or a Juco far away from the Mobile area and and find a way to clean his life up and get an education.

I wish someone like Finebaum could get his hands on this info and share it with the rest of the nation.

Great post!!  

[2Stater]

Thanks for the post Tox. CNS has stated to us many times that no player has ever been run off intentionally from his program. There are always some circumstances that he had rather not reveal to the public that caused the player to leave or not come to Bama. Hopefully Philon will go to Arkansas or a Juco far away from the Mobile area and and find a way to clean his life up and get an education.

I wish someone like Finebaum could get his hands on this info and share it with the rest of the nation.

Great post!!  

I agree, J. The other day, PF was pretty much slamming the kid.

[Coach Hank Crisp]

Thanks for the info. The media uses mis-information to make unfair and unwarranted attacks on CNS.

Really, really appreciate the accurate news.

Thank you!

 

[Jamos]

Thanks for the post Tox. CNS has stated to us many times that no player has ever been run off intentionally from his program. There are always some circumstances that he had rather not reveal to the public that caused the player to leave or not come to Bama. Hopefully Philon will go to Arkansas or a Juco far away from the Mobile area and and find a way to clean his life up and get an education.

I wish someone like Finebaum could get his hands on this info and share it with the rest of the nation.

Great post!!  

I agree, J. The other day, PF was pretty much slamming the kid.

CNS does a great job in disguising these situations with these athletes. It's sad he has to do it this way and it's for the players benefit, but it lets folks like me somtimes come to the wrong conclusions about what really happened.

[cbbama99]

Thanks Tox. This puts a whole new light on the whole story. I agree, Prichard is no pacle for a young man to be if he wants to achieve anything in life. I hate it didn't work out for him here, but hopefully Arky will offer him a chance to make something of his life.

[Chechem]

SUNDAY morning:

"Nick Saban's actions show commitment not two-way street..."
Click here for link

Mobile paper keeps trashing CNS, saying "What his actions have told future recruits, however, is that if you get hurt, that commitment isn't necessarily a two-way street."

IMHO, what it says is "unless you meet the NCAA academic requirements, plan on attending JC or taking a greyshirt, regardless of what school you'd prefer to attend."


Soapbox:  Few of these recruits are scholars; scholarship is a misnomer: "Grant-in-aid"

 

[Coach Hank Crisp]

Click here for link

Alabama and Arkansas Media Narratives Paint Differing Picture of Nick Saban

If you happen to broaden your horizons, however, you might have found and interesting story from the Arkansas media by one Andy Hodges, who broke from the ‘Saban is the Devil’ narrative, and actually did what they used to call ‘investigative journalism.’

Hodges reports that Philon sustained a knee injury in November, two months after he had committed to Alabama. The injury, it was reported, would require surgery to assess the extent of the damage. As of signing day, Philon had not had the surgery, and so nothing was known about how long he would be out of commission or what his prognosis was going  forward.

The interesting quote from the article comes from a source close to the Mobile sports scene: “It’s not a big secret that the knee is worse than just a minor deal. He also hasn’t had any success with any rehab.”

Arkansas media being more fair to CNS than Alabama media!

[Jamos]

Since reading some of the information that has been provided I'm starting to wonder if there may have been more to Philon's situation than I first realized.

I may be wrong on this but doesn't a high school athlete have to provide his or her own insurance. If the answer is yes, and I'm sure it is, I am curious able Philon's insurance status, did he have any when he hurt his knee. It's been a while since he hurt it and nothing has been done. If that is the case I can see why the scholarship was so important to him because he could get his knee fixed then. Surely he was insured when he was playing in high school and if he was why hasn't the surgery already been done.

Personally I don't think he will qualify academically for Arkansas, what happens then? Will Patreno wrap his arm around this kid as Saban was trying to do and get him out of Prichard or will he let him go his own way? If he goes his own way I think we all know what the end result is there. Who knows, if he doesn't qualify for the Hogs maybe CNS will come back into the picture, let's hope so for Philon's sake.

[Merk]

I may be wrong on this but doesn't a high school athlete have to provide his or her own insurance. If the answer is yes, and I'm sure it is, I am curious able Philon's insurance status, did he have any when he hurt his knee. It's been a while since he hurt it and nothing has been done. If that is the case I can see why the scholarship was so important to him because he could get his knee fixed then. Surely he was insured when he was playing in high school and if he was why hasn't the surgery already been done.


Jamos, My son hurt his knee playing football for his high school in Texas. All the player were covered by an accident policy purchased by the athletic dept. that covered his medical expenses on an excess basis. If the players parents didn't have health insurance, the accident policy paid first with no deductible.
Our health insurance paid for all except the deductible. The accident policy picked up the ded. for us so no out of pocket.
I would think Philon's school would surely have a similar program.

[Jamos]

I may be wrong on this but doesn't a high school athlete have to provide his or her own insurance. If the answer is yes, and I'm sure it is, I am curious able Philon's insurance status, did he have any when he hurt his knee. It's been a while since he hurt it and nothing has been done. If that is the case I can see why the scholarship was so important to him because he could get his knee fixed then. Surely he was insured when he was playing in high school and if he was why hasn't the surgery already been done.


Jamos, My son hurt his knee playing football for his high school in Texas. All the player were covered by an accident policy purchased by the athletic dept. that covered his medical expenses on an excess basis. If the players parents didn't have health insurance, the accident policy paid first with no deductible.
Our health insurance paid for all except the deductible. The accident policy picked up the ded. for us so no out of pocket.
I would think Philon's school would surely have a similar program.

I'm very curious about this since nothing has been done for the young man, it sounds like some bad decisions have been made since his injury then and I wonder who made the decisions.

[Chechem]

Have you heard any of the Aub faithful question why Darius wasn't offered a scholarship to Auburn?  He was committed there at one time.  Aubs had room for him.

But they'd rather gripe than help him out with an offer.  Maybe it's because they ALSO knew that he was damaged goods and wouldn't qualify.   

[carl childers]

I may be wrong on this but doesn't a high school athlete have to provide his or her own insurance. If the answer is yes, and I'm sure it is, I am curious able Philon's insurance status, did he have any when he hurt his knee. It's been a while since he hurt it and nothing has been done. If that is the case I can see why the scholarship was so important to him because he could get his knee fixed then. Surely he was insured when he was playing in high school and if he was why hasn't the surgery already been done.


Jamos, My son hurt his knee playing football for his high school in Texas. All the player were covered by an accident policy purchased by the athletic dept. that covered his medical expenses on an excess basis. If the players parents didn't have health insurance, the accident policy paid first with no deductible.
Our health insurance paid for all except the deductible. The accident policy picked up the ded. for us so no out of pocket.
I would think Philon's school would surely have a similar program.

I'm very curious about this since nothing has been done for the young man, it sounds like some bad decisions have been made since his injury then and I wonder who made the decisions.

All HS athletes in the state of Alabama, no matter what sport, are required to carry insurance. If the parent is not able financially to carry it, ALLKids insurance will suffice.

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