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

[Chechem]

The day after signing day, Kerry Stevenson didn't want to talk about Darius Philon.

The Vigor High School football coach didn't want to talk about his star defensive lineman, who originally committed to Auburn, switched his commitment to Alabama in September and stayed committed to Alabama by not visiting other schools.

And then signed Wednesday with Arkansas.

Why the switch? ...

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[BAMADCHAMPSHIPS]

 

[Jamos]

  There was no scholarship pulled away, it was only delayed. Both of these players had serious knee surgery, which in most cases take months to fully heal and then more time is needed to get their agility back as far as playing shape is concerned. The grayshirt would have benefited both, they would have the time to heal and get back in playing shape as well as get their scholarship at a later date.

I'm thinking each wanted their day in front of the media for their big splash, signing, but the grayshirt does take this away. If they really wanted to play for Bama the grayshirt would have made no difference. There have been players this week that turned down scholarships at other schools to walk on Bama, these are players that wanted to wear that crimson jersey and I say Roll Tide to them, and hope they will earn their scholarship and wear that crimson jersey on gameday in front of 100,000 plus fans, something that a particular two will not. Roll Tide!!

[Chechem]

There was no scholarship pulled away, it was only delayed. Both of these players had serious knee surgery, which in most cases take months to fully heal and then more time is needed to get their agility back as far as playing shape is concerned. The grayshirt would have benefited both, they would have the time to heal and get back in playing shape as well as get their scholarship at a later date.

I'm thinking each wanted their day in front of the media for their big splash, signing, but the grayshirt does take this away. If they really wanted to play for Bama the grayshirt would have made no difference. There have been players this week that turned down scholarships at other schools to walk on Bama, these are players that wanted to wear that crimson jersey and I say Roll Tide to them, and hope they will earn their scholarship and wear that crimson jersey on gameday in front of 100,000 plus fans, something that a particular two will not. Roll Tide!!

Indeed, Roll Tide. 
I wish them both well.

[Coach Hank Crisp]

And then signed Wednesday with Arkansas

Not a bad place to have to go to a SEC school. Free ride for an education. We had to pay for my daughters education at Bama.

I am tired of hearing this stuff. If anything those kids are victims of the SEC's new oversigning policy. They could have waited until August to enroll at Bama.

[Chechem]

Eli Gold this morning on radio (The Zone):

"I've got to believe the kid knew he was being greyshirted."

Good discussion, and Eli acknowledged that CNS was in a difficult position.

Asked, "Don't you think coaches should honor their offers?"
Eli: "Yes, but there is a broad range of conditions and circumstances (paraphrased), give and take."

[pmull]

I understand the disappointment the kids feel when asked to greyshirt but a parent or coach should step in and talk some sense into them. They are injuried and unable to train and get ready for next season. If they signed they would be redshirted. By accepting the greyshirt they delay enrolling by one semester. They get to finish high school and have time to get healed up. They will get to go through spring practice next year which gives them a head start on other incoming freshman. They will also be a year older and a little more mature when they get to campus.

Part of CNS success is getting the players to buy into his process. These kids did not buy in and choose to go to other good schools in the SEC. Good luck to them. I hope they have good careers. CNS has to made difficult personnel decisions everyday. I'm sure he tries to be honest and as fair as possible with each recruit but the overall team must come first.

[carl childers]

This kind of yellow journalism is going to continue as long as CNS is at Bama and Bama continues to kick tail in every conceivable way. It's good to be hated.

[McBaman]

The press in general is always looking for bad news or to put some bad news spin on a story.  Scarbo is well known for his anti-Bama bias, so stories like this come as no surprise.

This is a loose-loose situation.  The kids don't want to accept the consequences of the bad luck of an injury/surgery situation.  The schools (Bama) work with them as best they can but circumstances with other recruits intervene in the process.  A greyshirt is not the worst thing especially for an injured player.  I would argue that Bama kept it's committment, it just had to delay the start of the offer for the good of the overall team.  If there weren't this 25 player cap, this issue might have been different, (or it might have been the same with other players.)

At the end of it all, players and coaches have to make choices.  The player could have come to Bama a semester later and a whole lot healthier.  He chose not to.  Godspeed young man.  Hope it works out for you.

[SeniorTSM]

I hope he sets records at Arkansas, (except when Bama is playing them)

I feel bad for him but at the same time He will get a good education and play in the SEC, i think he will be fine.

[brainman62]

I don't know ALL of the details, and neither do the media types...but my guess is that it played out something like this.

1.  He knew he could be impacted by the number crunch.
2.  He chose to keep his focus on Bama, even though he knew it might not work out, because it was his dream.
3.  When it didn't work out, he was crushed.

All of this would be normal for a teenager.  So, I don't see anything overly unusual about how this played out...he saw a dream slipping away from him and it hurt, hell yeah, it hurt...and then he had to go out in front of a camera and deal with it...hey, no pressure there...

Everyone has had some sort of big thing in their life turn out in a disappointing manner.   I know I have...  However, most of us don't have to go through it while in front of a TV camera, and have it reported statewide, or even further after it happens.

So, the media types doing all the moral grandstanding on this should do the following;

1.  Stop promoting the widespread coverage and hype, yes, you are part of this
2.  When something like this crops up, engage that moral compass that you purport to have and turn the da#@ camera off !!!   How long did they keep the camera on him after he spoke and was just there fidgeting?   They knew quite well that he was uncomfortable.

As a secondary note, he could have gotten some better support from the adults around him, coach, parents, etc.   When he knew what was going down, somebody should have just had him NOT go to the big announcement show.   Then, in private, he could better evaluate the situation, and make a decision, not under duress...and not while overly emotional...

I bet at a later time, having the benefit of hindsight, he will realize that his decision to go to Arkansas was made hastily, and emotionally, and blocked out his long term dream, which was to go to Bama... 

And that sucks for everyone, except the media leaches, who got their big story...

[ALTideUp]

I have no ill feeling toward this young man. He's a kid, he's disappointed, and I feel bad about that.

But to all the grown folk, let's just step back here a minute.

Johnny Smith is accepted to (insert school of self-righteous whiner). He is told that his admission/scholarship is contingent upon him maintaining his grades. He doesn't. He either loses his scholarship or even his offer of admission.

Bob Smith gets a scholarship to play football at (insert school of self-righteous whiner). In January he is involved in a tragic car accident and loses both of his legs. Does (insert school of self-righteous whiner) honor his scholarship offer and medical red-shirt him for 4 years. I don't think so.

My point is that these kids are getting a scholarship for what they will do, not for what they have done. The scholarship is to support them while they play football. If they can't play football they are not entitled to a scholarship. And pulling a scholarship is not only rational, it is practiced widely in academic as well athletic circles.

[cbbama99]

The media is making much more of this than is necessary. I was listening to WNSP (The Whining about Nick Saban Program) here in Mobile this morning, and Mark Heim and some other goob he had with on this morning were painting CNS out to be the devil incarnate who squashed the dreams of this 18-year-old kid, saying that there was no way he knew about the grey shirt possibility prior to Wednesday. The problem with this is that these two idiots continued to accuse Bama fans calling in to question them that they(Bama fans) were making assumptions. Umm, well Mr. Heim, are you not also making an assumption?

[Coach Hank Crisp]

The press in general is always looking for bad news or to put some bad news spin on a story.  Scarbo is well known for his anti-Bama bias, so stories like this come as no surprise.

This is a loose-loose situation.  The kids don't want to accept the consequences of the bad luck of an injury/surgery situation.  The schools (Bama) work with them as best they can but circumstances with other recruits intervene in the process.  A greyshirt is not the worst thing especially for an injured player.  I would argue that Bama kept it's committment, it just had to delay the start of the offer for the good of the overall team.  If there weren't this 25 player cap, this issue might have been different, (or it might have been the same with other players.)

At the end of it all, players and coaches have to make choices.  The player could have come to Bama a semester later and a whole lot healthier.  He chose not to.  Godspeed young man.  Hope it works out for you.

I keep posting this, Scarbo is a school of journalism Florida graduate. So is Izzy Gould.

[2Stater]

PF said on his show yesterday that he thought Philon was hasty in his decision to go to Arky and predicted that he would never see significant playing time there.

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