SB Nation User Blog: TopDaddy

...and this is how RichRod treats players.

TopDaddy — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:07:59 -0000

The personification of class...

September 5, 2008

Witherspoon left to wonder by Michigan
By KEVIN MINNICK
Courier-Post Staff For two months, Marcus Witherspoon was just like any other freshman student-athlete at the University of Michigan.
After graduating from Holy Spirit High School, the 2007 Courier-Post Defensive Player of the Year went to Ann Arbor to begin the next phase of his life. As an All-State linebacker, he got to school as early as possible to prepare for his first college football season.
Everything was going well. He took summer classes, spent time working out with strength and conditioning coaches and lived in a dorm. He was on the depth chart and looking to make an impact.
The players were great. Everything was good. "I didn't have any problems," he said.
Then came July 28, and his world as a newcomer with one of the nation's most historic programs came to a crashing halt.
"I was there for two months -- two months," Witherspoon said from his Atlantic City home. "Then they tell me out of nowhere that something was wrong. That's what I don't understand."
Michigan said Witherspoon was ineligible, that he had failed to meet the NCAA's initial qualifying standards and had not been cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse. Despite being on campus, attending classes and being treated like any other football player on scholarship, he was no longer allowed to stay.
"It will probably come as a shock, but (head coach Rich Rodriguez) didn't say anything to me," Witherspoon said. "The assistant coaches told me.
"It wasn't fair with what happened. I was supposed to take some classes, and everything would be good and I could go back. That wasn't even the case.
"I was told to do certain things. I did them -- everything they asked me to do -- and still, at the end, it didn't go through. It was crazy."
Witherspoon was told he needed to take an additional online course (affiliated with Brigham Young University) and that the course needed to be taken in New Jersey. He returned to South Jersey while the rest of the team was in preseason camp, completed the course and was prepared to return to school just as training camp was wrapping up.
While his status with the program was now uncertain, Witherspoon was prepared for whatever the coaching staff would decide. Having missed so much time, he knew it was possible he might have to redshirt this season.
But in the days leading up to his return trip to campus, Witherspoon was told by Michigan officials that he could not come back until he was ruled eligible by the clearinghouse.
He hasn't been back, and even more bizarre is that Witherspoon has had no communication with the staff. No one from Michigan was available for comment.
"When I came home, I didn't hear from (Rodriguez) or any other coach. I tried calling him. I guess with the season ahead -- I don't know," Witherspoon said. "Somebody could have called, informed me. I didn't get any response. They haven't called me yet. He still hasn't called me to this day. It's out, I'm transferring, and he still hasn't called me."
Now, Witherspoon is trying to decide between Rutgers and Tennessee. He plans to enroll in one of the two schools next semester and play football next fall.
"Things didn't work out (at Michigan), but I still have two good options," he said.

Reach Kevin Minnick at kminnick@courierpostonline.com

Speculation (from the Cookites): Saban treats players like they don't matter.

Fact: Rich Rod treats players like they don't matter.

Serious question...

TopDaddy — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:37:10 -0000

The banter back and forth in BamaReturn's Fanpost has posed a question in my mind that I would like other's opinions and answers to. That question being:

"Would you rather have your team have a strong and storied history and legacy with icons that are the epitome of college football, while being in the midst of a sub-par, and overall disappointing decade with all the potential of returning to prominence in the near future; OR would you have your team have a not so storied legacy with flashes of greatness in the past, but an overall mediocre history, coupled with currently being one of the elite teams of this century with no end in sight?"

I realize that's a little wordy, but you probably see what I'm getting at. If you can't have both at the same time, which do you take more pride in? Being one of the elite in history, or being one of the elite right now? I honestly am having a hard time being unbiased about this because of the current, and long standing, situation I find myself in as a Tide fan, but I think I err on the side of the strong legacy and just hope for the best in the future. But at the same time it would be nice to boast a NC right now and say screw the past, we're the best now. Thoughts?

Favorite Bama YouTube Video...

TopDaddy — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:24:22 -0000

Kickoff is fast approaching, and it's time to start getting mentally fired up about the upcoming season. One of my favorite ways to do this is to watch a bunch of compilations of Bama football on YouTube. My request here is for everyone here to list or link the Alabama Football video that fires you up the most (doesn't have to be YouTube, I guess). I'm talking about chill bumps from start to finish, fighting back the tears because the tradition of Alabama Football just overcomes you. That kind of video or highlight is what I'm looking for here.

I have not seen any great one's lately, but this is the best I've seen in a while. I really just like the song. Just 39 days till kickoff. Let's get fired up...

NCAAF helmet quiz

TopDaddy — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:45:36 -0000

Quiz 1

Quiz 2

50/50 on both for me, but I'm just a freak about college football in general. Don't cheat, and be sure to post your score. It's things like this that make the next 47 days and 9 hours a little easier.

And I would not be able to get to seventy five words if it were not for this incredibly long and very unnecessary and off the subject sentence.

Did y'all know...

TopDaddy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:42:59 -0000

That in the 2003 Alabama class 2A State Championship Football game, Mike Dubose coached Luverne High School against Randolph County High School. It was evidently a fairly close game, but the game was won by a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown by a wide reciever for Randolph County to rob Dubose of a state title. That wide receiver was Ezekiel Knight. Knight signed a letter of intent days later to play for The Tide. Crazy...

Steele withdraws from draft...

TopDaddy — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:50:07 -0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/news/story?id=3446325

Not a whole lot written about it here. It just mentions it briefly, but this is good news regardless. Maybe he'll stay healthy enough to do some damage for us this season.

I don't recall finding out what his draft projection was, but regardless, I really don't know what he was thinking trying to go in at this point in his career.

Perilloux to Jax St.

TopDaddy — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:28:30 -0000

Do they really think that all his off the field troubles are going to end? I realize that as a D-1 FCS school, you have to be drooling at an opportunity like this to land a "big time" skill position player, but this might just backfire and leave the Cocks in worse shape. Thoughts on this and any situation like it where troubled D-1 players typically have no problem finding a D-1AA or D-2 school to accept them...

Do these players actually learn from their mistakes? In Perilloux's case, I doubt it...

Poll question...

TopDaddy — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:31:27 -0000

Which institution of higher learning do you think has the most NCAA major infractions for all sports? And by "most", I mean most on this list. Answer first, then check out the results on the link. Very interesting what the results are...

https://web1.ncaa.org/pdf/convert?pdfurl=http://goomer.ncaa.org:2020/wdbctx/LSDBi/lsdbi.lsdbi_mi_rpts.mostinfractionsrpt

[editor's note, by Todd]
Link fixed. Also, it's a link to pdf file so you might do just as well to "save target as" and download it.

(You may need to copy and past the entire website, because I don't think the whole thing will get hyperlinked for some reason)

Thanks to Capstone for sparking my interest...

Poll

School with most Major NCAA Violations

I'm no statistics major, but...

TopDaddy — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:04:26 -0000

... The gender poll is currently at 89% Male and 10% Female, so that means 1% or approximately 4 RBR readers are undecided on what their gender is. Come on people, if we can't even lock down what gender we are, we're gonna be in trouble come Novemeber. Pick a side...

(This post was not meant to be taken seriously in any way, shape, or form. The contents herein are not necessarily the opinion of this network. No animals were injured during this post. Viewer discression is advised)

Julio Jones to testify in capital murder case...

TopDaddy — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:35:34 -0000

[editor's note, by Todd]
Bumped from the diaries.

http://blog.al.com/bamabeat/2008/02/julio_jones_expected_to_testif.html

He wasn't involved, but was supposedly with the victim earlier in the day. Still kinda crazy though. I hope that this isn't a sign of what's to come. I realize he didn't do anything wrong in this situation, but the people you associate yourself with will eventually catch up to you if, in fact, they are a negative influence. From what I've heard, he's had it pretty tough throughout his life. Hopefully the Capstone will be a positive experience for him...