Saban passionately defends D.J. Pettway's second chance

[jbcarol]

Drew Champlin @DrewChamplin  ·  18 hours ago
Nick Saban passionately defends D.J. Pettway's second chance, everyone who made it possible  http://ow.ly/Gech5

Pettway was dismissed from school in Feb. 2013 after an arrest on a robbery charge, but allowed to come back this January after a year in junior college. He's played a key role in No. 1 Alabama's national championship push, but he's done even better off the field.

"It's really, really good for me and I think for some of our administrators around here who, our President, who shakes hands with all of our players when they walk across the stage and graduate, when we give somebody a second chance and they do well and graduate from school," Saban said Saturday after practice.

"There's always a lot of criticism out there when somebody does something wrong, everybody wants to know how you're going to punish the guy. There's not enough for 19 and 20-year-old kids, people out there saying, 'Why don't you give them another chance?'"

And then Saban got real serious.

"So I'm going to give a speech right now about this," he said.

"Where do you want them to be? Guy makes a mistake. Where do you want them to be? You want him to be in the street or do you want them to be here graduating?"

He made reference to Muhsin Muhammad, who got in trouble while playing for Saban at Michigan State but turned into a success story after his second chance.

"Everybody in the school, every newspaper guy, everybody was killing a guy because he got in trouble and they said there's no way he should be on our team," Saban said. "I didn't kick him off the team. I suspended him. I made him do some stuff."

The receiver enjoyed a 15-year career in the NFL. He created a charity foundation called The M2 Foundation for Kids. Saban noted that Muhannad has seven children, and his oldest daughter is at Princeton.

"So who was right? I feel strong about this now, really strong, about all the criticism out there of every guy that's 19 years old that makes a mistake and you all kill them," Saban said.

"Some people won't stand up for him. My question to you is, 'Where do you want him to be?' You want to condemn him to a life sentence? Or do you want the guy to have his children going to Princeton?"

Vasha Hunt/al.com

[ldfergu]

I hope Korliss Marshall is a success story wherever he lands. It may not have worked out at the UA but I truly believe Coach B has the kids best interest at heart. I think he'll do everything he can to get him into another program and succeed in life.

[jbcarol]

Will Bardwell @willbardwell  ·  11 hours ago

My advice to Chad Kelly would be to pull up Nick Saban's monologue on second chances and try to memorize it before Hugh Freeze calls.

[jbcarol]

Kevin Scarbinsky @KevinScarbinsky  ·  6 hours ago
Are Nick Saban and Alabama giving one "second chance" too many with Jonathan Taylor? http://ow.ly/GWZQL

[jbcarol]

Alex Scarborough @AlexS_ESPN  ·  Jan 7

Jonathan Taylor already had a "second chance" before Alabama. Is taking him on worth the risk? http://es.pn/14x9UAb

[mizzouman]

Here's the deal.

I'm all about given kids a second chance and maybe a third chance under very special circumstances as an exception.  It's a very fine line.

However, if a kid does something so bad that he has to be kicked off of a team, then I don't think he should be afforded another athletic scholarship anywhere else.  Auburn made it to two NC games using two QB's that were previously kicked off of other teams.  This has got to stop.

Having said that, if you kick a kid off of a team and that kid is otherwise a decent young man, then I think the NCAA should have in place or the school, a scholarship of some sort to keep him in school but not allowed to play.  But, if the kid wants to play, then he is on his own.

Life is tough and kids need to learn at this age that they need to act a certain way or life will get even tougher.  Non-athletes don't get these considerations so these athletes should considered themselves blessed.

[jbcarol]

AL.com sports @aldotcomSports  ·  32 minutes ago

Jonathan Taylor needs to prove he deserves second chance, Nick Saban says after assault charges. http://ow.ly/IvSIc

[Rzbakfromwaybak]

AL.com sports @aldotcomSports  ·  32 minutes ago

Jonathan Taylor needs to prove he deserves second chance, Nick Saban says after assault charges. http://ow.ly/IvSIc

Well, I'm not buying it.  The decision to offer Taylor a scholarship, & give him a second chance after being charged with 2 felonies.....was made by several people at the university, according to Saban. Yep, bet the "several" people that made that decision were "Saban & Saban".   Anyone else involved said....."Yes, coach Saban, whatever you want"....

Saban said...."We need to give the kid a second chance......besides, he's the best DT available"....

[jbcarol]

If he's guilty, Jonathan Taylor just became one of Alabama's biggest mistakes

It didn't make sense from the start, Alabama taking a chance on this talented but troubled young football player named Jonathan Taylor.

He'd already blown a second chance at Georgia, getting arrested not once but twice, the second time on a charge of violence against a woman.

Never mind his junior college rehabilitation after Georgia kicked him to the curb. His was a rap sheet that didn't belong at an SEC program, let alone one with a reputation as the premier college football program in the country.

Now, if the latest police report is correct, Taylor needs a good lawyer, and Saban, Bill Battle, Judy Bonner and Alabama need a better explanation than they provided at the time for giving a defensive lineman with two strikes on his record a chance to put a stain on them and their school.

Not to mention giving Taylor a chance to put his hands on a young woman in Alabama's back yard.

How did Taylor repay their kindness? He failed everyone when he got arrested Saturday and charged with domestic violence third degree assault and domestic violence third degree criminal mischief.

According to the police report, the alleged victim, a 24-year-old female described as Taylor's girlfriend, had minor injuries to her neck. Police also found a bedroom closet door with a hole punched in it.

For the record, Taylor stands 6-foot-4 and weighs in the vicinity of 340 pounds. If he's guilty of hurting a woman, physical stature aside, he's a very small man.

[jbcarol]

ESPN SEC @ESPN_SEC  ·  11h 11 hours ago

Nick Saban: Not sorry for opportunity http://es.pn/1Mri1lp

"I'm not sorry for giving him an opportunity. I'm sorry for the way things worked out," Saban told reporters in Tuscaloosa. "I'm not apologizing for the opportunity that we gave him. I wanted to try to help the guy make it work. It didn't work. So we're sorry that it didn't work and we're sorry there was an incident and we're sorry for the people that were involved in the incident. But we're not apologizing for what we did and we're going to continue to create opportunities for people in the future and we'll very, very closely evaluate anyone's character that we allow in the program."

[jbcarol]

 Matt Zenitz @mzenitz  ·  32m 32 minutes ago

Jonathan Taylor incident will not change Nick Saban's stance on second chances http://www.al.com/alabamafootball/index.ssf/2015/04/jonathan_taylor_incident_will.html ...

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Carvell_AJC/status/743097975140962304

Nick Saban has yet to announce any public discipline for Crimson Tide offensive lineman Cam Robinson and defensive back Laurence "Hootie" Jones after the players were arrested in May, and charged with marijuana possession and carrying a weapon in the presence of a controlled substance.

Robinson was also charged with a felony after a handgun, that was reported stolen in Baldwin County, Ala.

"I think that we all kind of live and learn," Saban said, according to a report from USA Today's George Schroeder. "There's one thing giving a guy a second chance. That's completely different than making somebody be responsible for their own self-determination. In other words, they've got to be accountable for their actions. There's two different things here. And you make decisions and determinations about whether you give a second chances as to whether you can trust and believe in them based on their history.

"We do a lot of things internally with our players, which we have implemented with Cam, to try to change behavior in a positive way if we feel there's issues. We have never had any issues with Cam before this, so this is kind of an unusual circumstance."

Saban has been willing to give players a mulligan after disciplinary actions in the past, but it has not always worked out. The most notable case came with former defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor, who transferred to the Crimson Tide after his dismissal from UGA after a domestic violence arrest. Taylor was subsequently kicked out of the Alabama program after another domestic violence accusation, although the accuser later recanted her claim.

Still, Saban believes there is value in providing second chances.

"Look, I've been right about that a bunch of times, but I've been wrong about it sometimes, too," Saban told USA Today. "And I think we all want to be more careful about that.

"I know you can just look at the glass half-empty, but if you ever take a chance at looking at it half-full, there's a lot more guys that are having success because they got a chance..."