Since Nick Saban has arrived at Alabama, there have been eight Tide players arrested. The recent spate of players (Jimmy Elder’s robbery, team captain Rashad Johnson’s altercation, Prince Hall’s suspension) problems has been almost off the wall in terms of offseason troubles. There are two people, or rather groups of people, to blame for this, of course. One is Nick Saban and his coaching staff, who have to be the one to set their foot down and not let stuff like this happen. The other is the players themselves. In Elder’s case, he robbed some Bama students at gunpoint, all for $26. Why, as a football player at a major university and with opportunities abounding, would you do that? I don’t know. There’s stupid and there’s really stupid. The crimes themselves, while bad, are not really what I have the most problem with. It’s Saban’s response.

Saban held a press conference today to discuss all of the legal problems his players have been having. He’s taken the “necessary” measures with suspensions and the like, but when you say something like this…

“Rashad Johnson is a fine person, one of the leaders in our peer group. He has affected more players on this team in a positive way. He’ a fine student, over a 3-point grade point average and I would be very pleased with my children had the character of Rashad. He put himself in a (bad) situation and got caught up in the middle.”

…that’s just ridiculous. The kid was out at 3 am and got arrested at a bar for pushing down a security officer. How can you tell me that you would be proud of your daughter if she was at a bar, drinking, at three in the morning, and got arrested. He is the team captain. Yes, stick up for your player, but you cannot go that far. You just cannot. He is the team captain and he has a 3.0, but that behavior should not ever be accepted. It’s might be a “mistake”, but that is not good character and in no way is that something to be proud of.

People can talk all they want about stuff like this that goes on in college towns but the truth is it did not happen as much with the football team under previous coaches. It’s funny to listen to a certain radio host in Birmingham promote the theory that Tuscaloosa police are Auburn fans out to get Bama players. Look, it’s happening, and no one at Alabama should be proud of it. But you have to be careful in your condemning Bama, because at some point someone here is going to make a really stupid decision and get in trouble, and it will be thrown right back at us. Hopefully it will be later rather than sooner, because I really do believe that Tommy Tuberville recruits kids with character.

What the football team does off the field is not representative of a university and it’s population, but it is something that gets a lot of publicity and players have to realize that what they do reflects on the university. Hopefully Tommy Tuberville instills the pride of Auburn in his players and they can respect that and make Auburn look good while also enjoying their college experience. Right now, they’re doing a pretty good job compared to a certain school across the state.