There are times when I really hate college football. This shouldn’t be one of them.
It’s early June. The latest batch of signees are enrolling this week. It’s a time to start analyzing strengths and weaknesses, to look forward to the schedule… hell, it’s not to early to get a headcount on my group going to the Cocktail Party so I can start making reservations.
Instead, I have to wallow through the mess at Baylor and now this.
One game against South Alabama.
That’s the suspension Mississippi State announced for incoming freshman defensive end Jeffery Simmons, who was caught on tape punching a woman as she lay on the ground in March. Unless an evaluation reveals warning signs that inspire Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin to lengthen the suspension, the Bulldogs’ top-ranked incoming recruit basically will serve the same penalty as a player flagged for targeting in a game.
“That’s an interesting way to put it,” Stricklin said Wednesday, “and that’s not how we compared it.”
But that is the message Stricklin sent Mississippi State’s athletes when he settled on one game. A man punching a woman is the same as a targeting foul or a first positive marijuana test. No big deal.
Staples isn’t exaggerating in the slightest there. Stricklin referred to the person who did this…
… as “a pretty docile young man”. That action, by the way, is described in the school’s official press release as “… in an effort to break up a domestic fight between his sister and another adult woman, he used physical force against one of those involved in the altercation.”
Gah.
Even worse, Stricklin’s made this decision despite having any real understanding of what Simmons is capable of.
“Which is why it’s really important we have a complete understanding of what his risk factors really are,” Stricklin said. “I have a surface understanding and on the surface, I don’t think Jeffery will have any issues. But I want someone who is a professional and is trained in this area to tell me that also.”
That, I’m sure, is of tremendous comfort to every woman on Mississippi State’s campus.
What’s truly remarkable about this decision is that Baylor’s situation is still fresh on our minds. In fact, “fresh” may not be an adequate description. They’re still issuing statements and people are still resigning in Waco.
And don’t think the folks in Starkville are deaf to that. Just check out Dan Mullen’s profile in courage.
That’s not the most nauseating part of this. That would be reserved for some of the calculations behind the decision to allow Simmons to enroll and play at MSU (after that one-game suspension, that is).
Yeesh. And that’s probably part of how you get Greg Sankey’s blessing.
Comfortable, eh? Thank goodness satellite camps weren’t involved.
Everyone involved in this deserves condemnation. And none of them should ever try to lecture anyone else again on morality.
At a certain point, school officials must decide and declare what kind of behavior they deem unacceptable. The one-game suspension Mississippi State announced Wednesday shows how much the Bulldogs actually care about this issue. “It sends a message that there is going to be a consequence,” Stricklin said.
It sends a message all right. Don’t punch women, because you might miss the South Alabama game.
I need a shower.
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UPDATE: When you’ve lost Mr. Conventional Wisdom…
My belief is that we have reached a point in our culture where we must take a stand and say that protecting women from violent behavior has to trump everything else. We have to let women know that we care about them more than we care about a damned football game.
Get The Picture 
Maybe Jeffery Simmons self-identified as a woman that day so it was just one woman hitting another woman
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No excuse for what he did, but…
He was defending his sister. This is after he has pulled that woman off the top of his sister and watching his sister get punched in the face twice.
He should have ended it when he pulled her off. He had no right to punch her at all, much less when she was on the ground.
But this wasn’t a girlfriend, and he’d tried to break up the fight peacefully before this. Video without context bugs me.
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Yep. Seems like his only choice after peacefully trying to break it up didn’t work is to stand over her while she lay on the ground and rapid fire punch her in the face.
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I clearly said he made the wrong choice. Did you miss that?
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Actually, you didn’t “clearly [say] he made the wrong choice.” “No excuse for what he did, but…” And “He should have ended it when he pulled her off” and “he had no right to punch her at all, much less when she was on the Ground. But…” We didn’t miss anything you said: your “no’s” or your “but’s.”
It’s your qualification that I think bugged Brownesman. It’s your complaint that “video without context bugs” you that bugs me. With the full(er) context you provided, I this is still bad–no “buts” or qualifications about it.
Should they let him into school? Should he be able to play ever? Can he turn around? I think all the answers can be yes, again with context, evaluation, and even help for him. That’s one opportunity colleges (and particularly athletic departments, with all their resources) have, is to actually provide help to these children (yes, children) to teach them and grow them. People make bad decisions; we have the capability of learning from them with guidance. I do think, though, that the guidance must include consequences for the actions. Call me a Richt-lover in this instance, but I think he was in the ballpark by saying that football players want to play football, so you take away their ability to play in a meaningful and that’s one meaningful consequence to a kid on the team. One game isn’t meaningful.
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“He should have ended it when he pulled her off. He had no right to punch her at all, much less when she was on the ground.”
That’s pretty black and white. He’s bugged because the context bugs him. For example, there’s a reason “outrage merchants” in political media are so careful to control context – context requires people to calm down and think instead of just react.
I agree, one game isn’t meaningful. It’s not even close to appropriate.
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and then you said “but….” and then concluded that she probably deserved it like every mouth breathing leg humper over in starkville is doing right now. Like they did in waco and knoxville.
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Are these our champions? Are these the new breed that we cheer on? Do we sit in the hot sun after a ful weeks work, spend our money, stand in line, donate, hope, discuss at length?
I’m sorry, I don’t want to cheer for a “Cops” episode reject. What happened to character and class?
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What do you feel his punishment should be?
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Basically a redshirt year. And on campus effectively on probation.
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This seems fair to me..one game, a joke.
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We’re all focusing on the price the kid should pay, but shouldn’t the school pay a price for deciding to take the risk? At a minimum, take out an insurance policy in a sizeable amount to cover potential damages in the event a signee with a checkered past commits a new act of violence. Beyond that, make signing off on accepting a kid like this documented and public, with the penalty that if the signee is convicted afterwards, everyone who was involved in admission approval, including the head coach, the AD and the school president, lose their jobs over it.
Do that, and I bet the math gets a lot more straightforward.
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If your goal is to make any kid with a black mark in his past untouchable, then that would work.
How do you separate the Allen Iversons from the Jonathan Taylors of the world? Are eliminating the Jonathan Taylors also worth eliminating the Allen Iversons? I honestly don’t know the answers to those questions. I’d like to think the system can do a better job of distinguishing between the two, but I’m not going to pretend I would know how to achieve that goal. And given past history, it’s clear that schools are going to get this wrong a lot more often than they get it right.
I personally think domestic violence is a habit, and I would love to meet the psychologist who thinks a college football program can “cure” a guy of that sort of habitual response. I also know that Saban has three psychologists on retainer, so maybe he was simply following their judgement (which is not to excuse his decision at all – even Alabama fans knew how that was going to turn out and were stunned when Taylor showed up).
Ideally, you would hope that responsible adults in the criminal justice system and the school administration could in combination make good decisions for the public’s best interests first and then the youth. Yeah, I know. “Ideally” and “realistically” in this instance are probably irreconcilable.
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I understand what you’re trying to say, but Allen Iverson is, by most accounts, a terrible human being: http://deadspin.com/allen-iverson-has-destroyed-the-legacy-of-allen-iverson-1708683536
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And to think that ADGM would have hired Mullen if he had the power makes me ill.
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If this ever happens at UGA, it’s going to be tough to stand behind the school. I hope we’re better than this, but just saying that I’m not sure we wouldn’t try to pull the same crap.. and that uncertainty is almost as bad as watching it actually happen.
My question is this…is there a situation where we (the public) would say that he could be admitted to the team? If he were benched for a year with that eligibility burned as well? And demonstrate his commitment to correcting his behavior? The only direct example I can come up with is the Michael Vick scenario. Dude committed a heinous crime.. payed his debt to society and was allowed to come back to football. As much as I despise what Michael Vick did, if he paid his debt to society (in his case, jail time) and if he was truly reformed after that, did he not deserve a second chance? I know responses to that will be varied, but I would say that the league had everything it needed, had done everything it needed to do, and had enough to hang it hat on that.
So what about this kid? Understand we’re a long way from understanding if he’s ‘reformed’, but we start with him paying his debt to society, then at the conclusion of that, evaluating whether or not he’s likely to repeat his mistake. I also recall a kid UGA had on the roster that Mark Richt gave three chances after some domestic violence incidents (can’t remember his name at the moment). He wasn’t sniffing playing time, and Richt took some heat for awhile for keeping him on the team, but his rationale was he was trying to help him by keeping him in the program. After the third time, it was time to cut ties. The kid wasn’t learning from his mistakes. Times have changed since then, certainly, and I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but Richt didn’t get raked over the coals for it back then either.
So, forgetting MSU’s current stance on this, in what circumstances is it ok for him to come back? Should this kid get an automatic death penalty of never being able to play collegiate football in the attempt to save a school’s own image? or are we committed to trying to reform his behavior? I’m not advocating either way, just curious what everyone thinks with such varied examples out there.
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No man should eve hit a woman. Ever. Under any circumstances. For any reason. Do it once and you’re done. Got a mother? Got a wife? Got a daughter? Try to justify any other attitude to them.
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I certainly understand what you’re saying, man. I have a mother (obviously), two sisters, a wife and three sisters-in-law. The thought of any one of them being hit by a man more than turns my stomach. But your “not ever under any circumstances” pronouncement is hard for me to agree with. Because I’ve known some real bad-ass Rhonda Rousey-type women in my life. And if, for instance, one such woman were to attack me or my wife at, say, a football game, etc., I might have to clock her.
The truth is that a woman can attack a man with such vicious intent and violence that he may rightly feel his life is in danger. In such an instance what do you want the man to do?
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If it’s someone I love and care about, i’m not going to be able to set aside objectivity, no doubt. Which is why I shouldn’t be involved in deciding whether they’re ‘reformed’ or not down the road. But it sounds as if you believe someone can’t be reformed from this kind of reprehensible behavior. That we should lock them behind bars for the rest of their lives? Prohibit them from ever bettering themselves and find a job? At the core, the question is was it a bad emotional decision or is it an innate problem that’s beyond reform?
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See below — you’re looking at things from a very narrow lense.
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unless that woman’s trying to kill me……just sayin’
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I would think that the student body at UGA would not admit him. Hell, they told a kid that was here already (Grant) that he wasn’t admissible after he was disciplined by his school for getting a blow job in the HS men’s bathroom. It looked like racism was involved at the time. So we took it a step further and said it was reprehensible and he shouldn’t be around our student body. Guess Miss St ain’t got one of those.
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Tough situation. But the optics of one game suspension are horrible.
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It’s not tough at all. No man should eve hit a woman. Ever. Under any circumstances. For any reason. Do it once and you’re done. Got a mother? Got a wife? Got a daughter? Try to justify any other attitude to them.
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As someone who is sickened by this video, and strongly condemns domestic violence of any kind, I couldn’t disagree more with your sentiments. Although somewhat rare, they are instances where hitting a woman for self-defense reasons only are justified.
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While I’ll grant that hypothetically what you’re saying might be true, in my 58 years I’ve never once been privy to or even heard of a single situation where a man needed to hit a woman in self defense. There are always ways to defend oneself or restrain another without punching them. When I was still a young whippersnapper I attempted much the same argument on my father. What, I asked, if a woman were threatening to shoot me? Can’t I defend myself by hitting her in that situation? Chief said to make damn sure I never gave any woman a reason to want to shoot me. Otherwise I was just going to have to stand there and get shot. Somehow I’ve managed never to find myself in that situation.
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I’m with you Paul. Never any justification for a man hitting a woman.
Simple as that.
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Please…give me a break.
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Good point. If a woman aims a gun at you, you should just weep at the fact that the morally superior sex has judged you unworthy to continue living. Amen
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Unfortunately we simply don’t take violence against women seriously in this country. There is never any excuse for a man to hit a woman. Ever. Under any circumstances. Yet when Ray Rice literally knocks out a woman on an elevator then drags her out into the hallway he still has his defenders. This guy gets away with behavior like this while Baylor is still imploding. Sickening. No man should ever hit a woman for any reason. Ever. Under any circumstances. It doesn’t matter how drunk you are. It doesn’t matter how stressed you are. It makes no difference what’s happening. No man should ever hit any woman. Period. There is no excuse for it and it should never be tolerated. Not even once. A man hitting a woman is not a ‘mistake’ nor is it an ‘unfortunate behavior.’ It’s never okay and it should never be tolerated. Again, not even once. This kid should not get to play football ANYWHERE. No one with any respect for women wants him on their team. If you would take this kid that says very bad things about you. Heck, I wouldn’t admit him to my school.
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Me thinks Paul is actually a woman
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Is that supposed to be an insult?
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Not at all; it seems he is dogmatic in his not under any circumstances. What if a woman was beating his daughter?
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So it takes a woman to be dogmatic about violence against women?
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I’m not falling for your cross examination questions Mr. Lawyer.
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That’s because you meant it as an insult, but don’t want to be called on it.
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I suppose you will simply have to take my word for it but I am a 58 year old man. I have been a regular here for quite some time. I was raised, by my father to believe you never put a hand on a woman. Period. I still believe that.
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I plead the fifth.
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I would find a way to restrain that woman without hitting her. It can be done.
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In some (albeit rare) circumstances, no it can’t. Again you’re looking at things from a very narrow lense and/or haven’t witnessed or been exposed to female aggression. A relative of mine is a law enforcement officer, and I’ve heard quite a few stories over the years involving a rather large/strong female beating a female and/or male to within inches of death, in which equal defensive force was the only means of survival.
The worst fight I ever witnessed (Ybor City/approx 12 years ago) involved a clearly drugged or under the influence female, who easily weighed 240, punching a much smaller male’s head while pressed into a street curb with blood splattering everywhere. Several male by-standards couldn’t pull her off of him, and it finally took a punch to the side of the head in order to daze/restrain her.
Again, these are rare circumstances no doubt, but to say that a woman should never be punched under any circumstances whatsoever is a bit narrow minded.
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I’m sure law enforcement sees and has to deal with things I can’t even imagine. People under the influence of drugs, whether male or female, can and will do things that seem to defy the laws of nature. I think you have given a couple of credible examples here. I do, however, think these are extremely rare situations though. I’m still going to live my life believing no man should ever hit a woman. That’s the way I’m going to act. It’s the way I was raised. I’m sticking with it. I have too much respect for women to do or think otherwise. As far as the specific situation being discussed here, I don’t think what this guy did comes anywhere close to being justifiable under any circumstances. The kind of man that will beat a woman in the face as she lies on the ground? There is never any excuse or justification for that and he deserves no second chance in my opinion.
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But some women don’t have enough respect for themselves and wouldn’t blink an eye about harming others — why would you then put them on a pedestal regardless? I don’t know about you, put I treat people as individuals and react accordingly based on their actions. If someone is harming my 3 year old son, I will use any means necessary to secure their safety — I don’t care if they are female, male, white, black, etc.
I guarantee you if some seemingly possessed MLB or DE sized woman was attacking your mom/sister/wife/daughter (or son, brother, etc.) in some grocery store parking lot, in which you yelling at her to get off while pulling on her to no avail, you’d take any appropriate action as necessary. That includes kicking, punching, chocking, using a blunt object, etc. in order to quickly end the violence being forced upon your loved one.
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You might be right. I hope I never have to find out. None of us ever know precisely how we will react until we find ourselves in a particular situation. I think I’ve made my opinion pretty clear. My faith tells me to treat people with love and respect regardless of how they act or whether or not they deserve it. Actually, especially if they don’t deserve it. So far, I’ve been able to live that out. I do believe it’s worth the effort. I’ve taught my children the same. Obviously we have a responsibility to protect each other, especially our loved ones and children and the elderly in particular. Life often presents us with difficult decisions. We have to learn to learn to live with our choices as well as the consequences thereof. I think it’s the lack of any real consequence that offends most folks in this situation. Me, I’m offended primarily by his actions. I realize this is a polarizing topic and it’s not typically the kind of debate we normally get into around here but I do appreciate the discussion.
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I’m certainly offended too and strongly feel he should never play a down of CFB whatsoever…for any team. I simply took umbrage with your carpet statement that no woman should be punched under any circumstances whatsoever. I too live by similar principles as you and have had no real confrontation since my college days, but friends of mine haven’t been so lucky, where they simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and thus had to take physical action to secure their own safety from dire harm. And just because I personally haven’t been in such a situation gives me no right to essentially scold others for not acting in accordance with my beliefs or previous life experience (inexperience, actually).
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I wouldn’t be able to get my arms around either one of them…I would have had to just step in between and take the beating for my sister.
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You’re speaking out of emotion and blind faith. Have you actually looked at statistics? Have you looked at criminal sentences for men and women convicted of violent crimes? Yes, women actually commit violent crimes, regardless of what your dear old dad told you.
The facts are that violence against women is treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than violence against men by orders of magnitude.
Now, I’m not addressing the specific video on this post, as other posters have said, it appears that wrong doing abounds both during and after the acts. But just to blindly say, “no matter what,” isn’t a particularly intelligent argument.
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Shame on Scott Stricklin. Shame on the SEC office for giving the ok. Mississippi State and the SEC woke up this morning with black eyes. Truly embarrassing.
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It’s crazy to me, because I know so many State fans who were lording Ole Miss’s infractions over them. I figured State would go above and beyond to keep their nose clean. Instead it looks like they tried to “sneak” this decision past everyone, hoping everyone was distracted by Baylor, Ole Miss, etc.
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Yeah, but I’ll bet that the Senator has a tickle file with Mullen’s name on it that rears it’s little triangular head to bite Mullen in exactly one month.
Amirite?
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The kid thought he could get out of his commitment and now he has to seek other means.
Can’t believe no one has said anything about a recruit being penalized I game from a team that doesn’t yet have him on campus. You mean he has made the starting lineup on a team he has never practiced with? You can’t get suspended from a game that you aren’t tagged to play, can you?
He’s their savior player. He is deified and is on the team before he is enrolled. Niiice. Seems the difference in this woman-beating episode that is now on Miss St’s plate as a part of this kid’s history revolves around whether he’s not involved romantically with the girl. No romance, no loss of respect for women. He just has his own way of breaking up a fight as a campus leader and now he can come to Miss St where all the women are not romantically involved with him (and shouldn’t ever be) and can be assumed to be fair game.
Is his sister coming with him? If so, she could come in handy if he gets involved with a woman and needs to break up, then all he has to do is stand by while his sister does his vengeance for him. Hey, a sibling torpedo. Who woulda thunk it?
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The other lady threw the first punches, threw his sister to the ground, got on top of her, and threw more punches.
I’m not defending the hitting of a defenseless woman, but the woman-beater label here is a bridge too far for me.
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It doesn’t matter how it started or how it transpired. A man should never hit a woman. Period.
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But….he beat a woman.
Your equivocating on this post is kind of sickening. Are you secretly a basketball commentor for ESPN?
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I’m not equivocating. I’m resisting the urge to do with words what this guy did with his fists: overreact.
Words mean different things to different people. When I think woman-beater, I have two faces from my childhood very vividly in my head – guys who used violence to control their relationships. Fathers of friends. One who did it regularly, one who took a more Pavlovian approach. Same effect in the end.
I’ve only punched one person in my life – my best friend. I was trying to break up a fight between two friends, he tried to kick me where the sun don’t shine, and I lost it – hit him twice in the face. Inexcusable. But waay more understandable than hitting my wife to show her who’s boss.
Blasting MSU for the one-game suspension is fine. But characterizing this guy as an irredeemable monster based on an edited video and with zero effort to understand the context of the violence is the opposite of why we go to college.
And no, I’m not saying critical thinking somehow means we never reach a point of judgement. It simply means that the judgement is measured and reflective.
I’m comfortable with my judgement here – and understand others will reach different conclusions through equally sober responses.
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I agree with you here: I believe it’s perfectly reasonable to slam MSU for not disciplining harshly enough in this case, but also think it’s unfair to demonize this player/recruit and equate him to the type of domestic abuser you describe. The context/facts of his crime just don’t lead us to that.
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“zero effort to understand the context” – What I don’t understand is why, if he was genuinely trying to break up a fight, did he allow his sister to continue beating and kicking the lady after he basically rendered her senseless? How’s that for trying to understand context? I don’t know where you are collecting you “paul Harvey’s rest of the story” facts, but seriously, the amount of mental gymnastics required to interpret his actions anything less than violent rage is staggering.
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“Blasting MSU for the one-game suspension is fine. But characterizing this guy as an irredeemable monster based on an edited video and with zero effort to understand the context of the violence is the opposite of why we go to college.” We go to college for an education. What this guy did speaks to his character and upbringing. No man who has respect for women will do what you see him doing, beating a woman in the face while she lies on the ground, It doesn’t matter what happened that we don’t see. Is he irredeemable? No human being is irredeemable. Does he deserve the chance to play football on my team or go to my school? Absolutely not in my opinion. I’ll be happy to work with the guy and get him the kind of counseling and help he obviously needs. But he ain’t coming to my school or playing on my team.
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Don’t think anyone here says it’s okay. My questions were to the GTP post’s questions for Mullen. How in hell do you suspend a guy who doesn’t yet make the team or play for it? That’s fancy footwork that Mullen is using there to be incognito for one month while not answering such questions. That’s supposed to ameliorate the situation, so that when Mullen returns, he thinks maybe it will have blown over because the guy will already be in school?
If you get anything but snark from the rest of my words, you have interpreted a bridge too far on Friday.
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Got it.
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You know, this guy would be hailed a hero of this were a violent man attacking his sister. I have no judgment since the only evidence is a video of the incident. Maybe the same conclusion should be reserved by everyone else. Or, maybe you can continue to make far-reaching conclusions based on your opinion.
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From what the act was reported as initially (beat up his girlfriend) instead of witnessing him help break up a fight by attacking his sister’s attacker by restraining her, it differed when he elected to knock her senseless so that his sister might continue. His idea of using fists to pound a weaker fighter than him or a better fighter than his sister is reprehensible.
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What if it was a zombie attacking his sister? Or a vampire? Or a loch ness monster.
What if….
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Shake it off
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Equally disgusted by the ring of spectators watching and doing nothing, nada, to stop this. Culture of violence growing, society accepting the unacceptable, I see it almost everyday in just one metro area. We are way too tolerant and forgiving of people who act more like animals than humans. And for Miss State to admit him is crap, but then hard to argue with those who say others would take him in so no punishment is involved.
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Strongly coded language there mac…dont worry we all know what you are saying..
wink wink
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Nothing coded at all, so don’t even be stupid enough to imply there is. If you aren’t concerned about the level of violence in our society, there is something wrong with you. And if you think I don’t want it enforced equally, without regard to the individual involved, you really have no clue about how unwavering I am about that. But then, you have shown yourself to be clueless with your lashing out numerous times before.
You may not like my call for stronger enforcement or punishment, but please give any example EVER about it being targeted to any one specific person, or group. I can sat that with confidence, you will not find that because it has been my life’s code, I don’t step outside of that. You may not like the ramifications, but tough justice will be fairly administered if I have my way. Squirm if you like, but don’t question my character because of your discomfort.
It is easy to sit in your mama’s basement and throw out cheap, unfounded insults, quite another to stand up and apologize for attacking someone’s character without any reason at all. Don’t deflect with an attempt to stab someone in the back, deal with the issue involved or stay quiet.
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“It is easy to sit in your mama’s basement and throw out cheap, unfounded insults”
It certainly is Mac….It certainly is.
lulz…
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Yeah, YOU’RE the REAL racist for implying racism!
(Isn’t that the next step?)
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I believe it is customary to then say my dad could beat up his dad at which point you can skip the double dare, but not the double dog dare.
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“please give any example EVER about it being targeted to any one specific person, or group. I can say that with confidence, you will not find that because it has been my life’s code,”
Just one?
Please allow me to introduce the Thug Love (n.) thread –
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I always love when he gets going about what’s wrong in the black community.
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What is wrong is still wrong regardless of “black community” or “white community”, you are the one making the distinction, not me. But for the record, I apply right or wrong equally. It is you, and some others here, which wish to apply an unequal system of accountability. Pretty obvious, your blindness to it simply shows your bias. Try to stay on point, although that will not serve you well. Right/wrong or thug/non-thug, they fit actions, not skin color to those who do not want the labels applied the same. Look in the mirror, tis you that is blinded by your hypocrisy. I cannot say you are a racist, but it does appear you want to measure things judged on race so you certainly could be because that is the definition regardless of your ethnic makeup.
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Don’t mess with
Tough Justice
Because he’s bad
Yes, he’s bad
He’s Nationwide and
Not in just one metro area
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Why can’t they be nice like White People™.
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I don’t think the culture of violence is growing so much as we are more aware of a culture that already existed because of the internet and sensational “news” programs that dwell on it. I don’t think crime statistics (which are more accurately reported now than they ever have been) indicate that our culture is any more violent than it was twenty or thirty years ago. In many respects it is less so.
Also, a better reporting of crime has made us think that crime is more prevelant. For instance, what we perceive as a rise of sexual assault on college campuses, is actually due to the fact that the stigma placed on victims has decreased so they are more likely to report crimes. So we are more aware of what was already happening for decades.
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Well said.
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The real important piece of this story is that Andy Staples went fucking savage on strickland in that presser. I respect the hell out of staples for that and I appreciate that strickland at least attempted an answer and didnt just leave or shut it down.
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Always assume you are being filmed.
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Given the gravity of the piece, I was really hoping that someone else would have already been this guy by now. Alas…
“… it’s not [too] early to get a headcount…”
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Are you trying to write his NFL scouting report? Strong hands… powerful striker at the point of attack… relentless effort… a nasty mean streak… always close to the action… displays ability to drive individuals to the ground… comes to assistance of teammates…
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Merely offering the Senator a syntactical correction, but, yeah, as such I open myself to all sorts of mockery. I get that. 😉
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There are 5 reasons why he was admitted.
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Yep. He is their new shiny toy and they want everyone to know that they got a 5 star kid just like the Bama’s.
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oh boy…this could get weird.
Rumors on the interwebs are that this kid was given cash to come to MSU. He might have also been the reason the Bama DLine coach was fired.
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