June 10, 2011 · 6:43 AM

‘What can we do to make your college experience better?’

Corey Grant, you’ll never get the chance to find out.

19 Comments

Filed under Nick Saban Rules

19 responses to “‘What can we do to make your college experience better?’”

  1. lrgk9
    June 10, 2011 at 6:54 AM

    UCRA – University of Castoffs and Runoffs Alabama

    Shameful

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  2. TennesseeDawg
    June 10, 2011 at 7:40 AM

    Guess he wasn’t one of “Nick’s Kids”

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  3. heyberto
    June 10, 2011 at 7:49 AM

    It was interesting that he hadn’t spoken to the two other kids that had decided to transfer, or so it sounded. I can’t remember anyone transferring from Georgia without having a discussion with Richt.

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    • Steve
      June 10, 2011 at 8:48 AM

      The article says the exact opposite, heyberto. All three talked to him. In Smith’s own words (not this article) he wasn’t really making an effort (a la Ealey), Goode has graduated (isn’t that the point?), and Grant was not asked to leave (he would have been fifth string this fall, but Alabama has used as many as six backs in a game the last couple seasons), he chose to do so. I just fail to see where the offense is here.

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      • Senator Blutarsky
        June 10, 2011 at 8:57 AM

        Yeah, I just thought this story was interesting because Saban clearly didn’t want Grant to leave. Should make a few heads spin, anyway.

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        • Marmot
          June 10, 2011 at 10:46 AM

          Grant is enrolled at Auburn and will walk-on the football team this year. He has to sit out, but will be available for a scholarship and playing in 2012 (Grant is from Opelika, so he’s essentially going home). It appears the Auburn coaches are partially responsible for the Grant exit from Tuscaloosa. I’m sure Saban appreciates the help.

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        • Mayor of Dawgtown
          June 10, 2011 at 11:19 AM

          Maybe Grant didn’t want to end up 3 years from now being in the same situation as Goode i.e. graduating without having played significantly, effectively wasting his college football career.

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          • Texas_Dawg
            June 10, 2011 at 9:02 PM

            And maybe college-age kids (especially once-celebrated small town football stars) often have extremely irrational expectations about their abilities, are terrible at evaluating how major decisions will affect their careers and lives, and thus are best served by school leaders and officials that will do all they can to properly counsel these students. For example, leveling with the kid about the odds of his future in football and explaining to him the academic and career resources he would be greatly downgrading to by transferring to a much poorer school.

            But of course, that would require doing the right thing for the kid which unfortunately would mean the coach and school keeping a kid on scholarship whose abilities they failed to properly evaluate. And none of us CFB fans really want that now, do we? What’s another working class black kid cast back to where he came from – after a brief stop at Podunk Community College – when we’re talking about possibly messing with our CFB teams’ success? We don’t want these busts sitting around forcing us to go through mediocre seasons. So we kid ourselves about “playing time” and other such career-downgrading stupidities being perfectly logical explanations.

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        • Texas_Dawg
          June 10, 2011 at 8:40 PM

          Ha. Sure he didn’t. He’s just so torn up about this… But on the bright side, he only has 6 more purges to make before the deadline in less than 2 months.

          But, really, Nick really really Grant to stay. Scout’s honor.

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          • Senator Blutarsky
            June 11, 2011 at 7:53 AM

            Seriously, why would Saban lie about Grant? It’s not like he gives two shits what people like you think about how he runs his program. So who’s he worried about offending with your version of what happened?

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      • Texas_Dawg
        June 10, 2011 at 8:49 PM

        Goode has graduated. Good for him. No issue there.

        Smith is going to a community college. Did Saban and staff do everything they could to get him to stay at Alabama instead of greatly downgrading his future academic and career options? (Hard to type that without laughing the thought.)

        None of us have any idea what Grant was asked, told, had suggested to him, etc. What we do know is Alabama still has half a dozen players needing to be cleared before a deadline in less than 2 months. Not that that detail would affect how the situation of possible 5th-string transfers would be approached by the incredibly upstanding paragons of ethics that are Nick Saban, Mal Moore and friends.

        I love how college football, especially in the SEC, demands that we all act completely clueless about the realities of the game. Fun stuff.

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        • Steve
          June 10, 2011 at 9:51 PM

          They are athletic scholarships, not academic ones. That’s the reality. By the very definition of the NCAA these kids aren’t owed anything more than anyone else is. If I can’t hack it for the reasons I received a scholarship, I lose that scholarship, too. That’s the reality. If you want to talk delusion, it’s the self-righteous suggestions that these kids lives are being ruined because they don’t get to play football at whatever school they want to. Millions of kids never get the chance to prove they deserve a football scholarship anywhere, much less the school of their choice. Where’s the outcry on their behalf? Getting cut (which you are insinuating without anything remotely resembling proof) is disappointing, but it’s not unethical or unfair.

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  4. travis
    June 10, 2011 at 8:07 AM

    Dammit, he did it again! I refuse to go all the way to youtube. It’s not fair! There’s injustice, oppression, and suffering everywhere.

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  5. Dog in Fla
    June 10, 2011 at 9:21 AM

    One the questions I always ask is, ‘What can we do to make your college experience better?’

    Make the ducks shit in the yard more?

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  6. Ubiquitous GA Alum
    June 10, 2011 at 9:29 AM

    What I found interesting was this from St. Nick … “Petey Smith was probably not going to play – had some behavioral issues that he had to work through academically and decided to move on,” Saban said

    As compared to Richt when asked what led to AJ Harmons transfer for “personal reasons”, “That’ why they call it personal>’

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    • Texas_Dawg
      June 10, 2011 at 8:36 PM

      Who knows if Saban is even telling the truth about that? Smith will likely never have any way to respond and likely wouldn’t even bother to as he’s a black kid up against the God of Bama Nation and his legions of worshippers.

      Saban knows how easy such lies are to tell:

      http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704243904575630593438793612.html

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      • Steve
        June 10, 2011 at 10:00 PM

        I think it’s safe to say Saban lied to all these kids because that one time four years ago he said he wasn’t going to coach at Alabama and then two weeks later he did. I’m assuming that’s why you’re suggesting he was dishonest, and not because a kid said he was shocked that Saban would say he had academic issues at Alabama (shortly before he flunked out of Southern Miss).

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