Luckily for Tim Williams, Nick Saban didn’t have time for suspensions.
NFL teams have been well aware for months about what Alabama pass rusher Tim Williams admitted to the media on Saturday: that he failed multiple drug tests while he was at Tuscaloosa.
Williams said he failed “a few” tests in his four years at Alabama but would not confirm what drug the positive tests were for or exactly how many he failed…
Despite the multiple failed tests, Williams was never suspended. But he was forced to sit out the first half of the Kentucky game last season for the misdemeanor gun charge.
And you think Nick Saban doesn’t have any standards.
[Insert Georgia Way comment here.]
Get The Picture 
Reminds me of that old movie “Damn Yankees”
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Many of our rivals in the SEC play by different rules, and by different, I mean none.
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I’m stealing that.
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Drug tests, he failed a few, but then again, too few to mention.
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Cue up the “I don’t expect choir boys. I want championships” comment on this thread. Once again, behavior we would discourage in our own children we’re all too willing to look the other way if the guy is a 6-5, 315 pound defensive end who runs a 4.8 40.
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Honestly, I think an 18 year old should be able to smoke a little weed if they want too…but it will be a while before the South agrees with me…I know, 21 where it is legal now…but my point stands.
Playing, practicing HIGH, now that is a different story…like I said above, some schools enforce rules, some don’t.
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I have always thought the 18 vs 21 debate was silly as both are completely arbitrary. I think it should be when you graduate high school. Then have some arbitrary age such as 21 for those that drop out. It serves as a reward for finishing and a negative reinforcement for quitting. I think it would be especially helpful in our poorest and most disadvantaged communities. How many dropouts would have stuck it out if they knew they would have to wait an extra 3 years to buy weed / booze?
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Actually, I recall the states which still had an 18 yo drinking age were forced to raise it to 21 by the Feds, pushed by MADD crowd. They were threatened with loss of federal highway funds, same pressure used with seat belt laws that did not suit them.
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Yes, it was highway funding extortion. It was the MADD crowd. That is also how they pushed the universal 0.08 BAC limit for DUI (Georgia and many other states were 0.10). There is a big push by the MADD crowd to have the limit lowered to 0.04. Of course, the MADD crowd doesn’t give a shit about the driving part. They are just neo-teetotalers.
Even still, 18 is completely arbitrary. That is why I like the idea of linking it to the completion of secondary education.
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I’m not sure that 18 is arbitrary, depends on what point in history you get your reference. It is my feeling that if a person is old enough to enlist in the military, they’re old enough to do anything out there that is legal.
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I don’t know, he’s in college. I smoked pot in college and I expect my kids will as well. I view us more as giant hypocrites. I think Saban’s got it right in this case.
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I’m sure you wouldn’t encourage your son to do it. All I’m saying is that I suspect Saban has a different set of rules depending on your role on the team.
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I don’t think Saban “encouraged” players to do drugs. Saban, Kirby, Richt, Meyer, etc are football coaches, not surrogate fathers. College students are adults, they can make their own decisions. I guess my only issue is; why are athletes tested and students on academic, music, dance, need based, etc. scholarships not tested? To me, what students do on their own time is their business, they are, after all, adults. If they want to take the risk of arrest, health issues and all the other bad things associated with drug use, it should be their decision. If their drug use affects their performance in the field of their scholarship, they should lose the scholarship. If a student can maintain grades and performance and not get arrested, what difference does drug use make.
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I don’t think they should be tested for anything other than PEDs. I didn’t say Saban encouraged him to do it. I imagine Saban wasn’t happy about it coming out. I stand by my position that Saban would probably discipline a 3rd stringer while looking the other way at a key contributor.
I don’t think any commenter here would want his/her child to abuse any substance whether that substance is legal or not.
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Just looking at the difference in body types coming into the Bama football machine and what leaves the program after 3 or 4 years your PED stance might not agree with the one in Tuscaloosa.
And who you are matters on what you earn when you get in trouble in multiple places.
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Come on now.
Deer antler velvet is completely natural, it’s like eating venison. 😉
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Using and abusing are two different things…
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I’ll admit I don’t want any of my children to use a number of substances including tobacco and MJ. I want them to respect the use of alcohol. I don’t want them to abuse any of them or endanger themselves or others with their use.
I’m glad Kirby stepped in with Ledbetter and his apparent problem with alcohol even if that meant he missed multiple games.
Bottom line is there are parts of the “Georgia Way” that should be respected even if it puts us at a on-field disadvantage. I don’t condone drug testing after spring break. As I mentioned above, I don’t think it’s the NCAA’s or the university’s business if a student-athlete smokes a joint. When it impacts on the field performance or is apparent the person is endangering himself or herself or others with that usage, it absolutely is appropriate for the university to step in.
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This^ is why there needs to be a mandatory policy forced on all schools by the NCAA. The truth is the Auburns and Ole Misses of the world will abuse anything not bright line clear. There should be an NCAA clearinghouse for this type thing too so the schools can’t suppress it like Bama has.
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Mayor, I guess my point is that the NCAA should have a strict testing regime for PEDs, and the NCAA and its members shouldn’t test student-athletes for other “recreational” drugs (illegal or not).
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This is the attitude that, unfortunately, prevails among the current generation of “adults”. Discipline, respect for rules/laws, respect for the right traditions, all have been corrupted by this attitude. You know the rules, you follow them or you’re busted off the team/school. Sorry, GenX, but our generation made the rules.
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I wonder if that Brandon Chicken guy got game.
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Brandon Chicken was his weed guy……the gun charge was related to the USPS delivering the failed drug test results just prior to him having to submit another drug test sample just before kick off.
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We have a couple of Williams on our roster. McGarrity can suspend them a few games to make up for Saban.
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Every day, we are reminded of the PR opportunities our SEC brethren miss in leveraging the sanctimony that plays so well in large sections of our region.
With each of these unfortunate reminders, we recognize the unbridled PR excellence demonstrated by the Georgia Way.
As we anxiously await the return of our student-athletes from our spring academic break, we once again are preparing to recommit ourselves to the moral excellence of which the entire Bulldog Nation can be justifiably proud.
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I used to think you were someone just being funny, but lately I’m really starting to be concerned you are an authorized spokesperson from the administration.
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Poe’s law in action.
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Saban just wants to win and he has been most successful doing it. What’s the old “saw”? The end justifies the means?
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Anybody show this to the new Attorney General?
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He has recused himself because he spoke to Nick Saban–twice.
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I have stated consistently that I feel MJ should be legalized, and controlled, the same way alcohol is in our society, while “hard drug” use is hammered. (And we don’t even know if these failed tests was all MJ.) But the playing field should be leveled, and we should not ignore that a person who continually violates rules is not being well prepared for success in life. Sure, he may still get a huge contract from the NFL, and last long enough to get a decent pension from his time there, but ending up dead in an alley with money still coming his way doesn’t meet my definition of success.
There should be penalties by Saban and the athletic administration for failed tests on drugs and alcohol….otherwise, why test them at all? A person who cannot successfully dodge drug and alcohol tests better than Mr. Williams has done, has a problem, and needs help. Excusing his inability to control himself means he is headed into deep water later in life with the blessing of those who might have made a difference. That isn’t because I am from a different generation, it is sharing what I have seen from similar situations in my business and personal life.
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Does this mean McG going to fine former bama coaches Kirby, Tucker, and Schumann?
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Yes.
We have already alerted local law enforcement.
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