So long Jimmy. We hardly knew ye. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Are you serious? I'm just as in shock as everyone else. But, I can't say that I'm really that surprised either. The kid was always trouble. He had a shitty attitude, never did things the way they were supposed to be done, and now has people talking about the coach - the same guy that's given him chance after chance to clean up - as somebody that maybe doesn't have control over his program. What a complete joke. I do know that most of the fans are happy with what Coach Saban is doing - myself included - and think that this will, eventually, blow over. For example...check out the poll from Tidesports.com's forum.
I think that says quite a bit.
Regardless, it's interesting, to say the least, that Johns was very open about his extracurricular activities to anyone on campus except the football team, at least according to the investigators that promptly arrested him yesterday. This was something Johns did in private and he kept the football team out of it, so he knew what he was getting into at least. Read up on more from Ian here.
The thing that bothers me is how supportive his family is. Read Gentry's article about it here. Are you kidding? Dealing cocaine is a lot more than "he just got mixed up with the wrong crowd." That's the most ridiculous thing I've read. Until I read this...
"He'll be back," Thomas said. "I have that much belief in him. He's a good kid. He's in real good spirits. He knows he messed up. He's not sad at all. He wasn't crying or anything like that.
"He made a mistake, like all young people do. He's young. Everybody makes mistakes. I've made mistakes and I've come back to lead a nice life. He's a young boy and he's going to come back. Knowing Jimmy like I know him, he knows he made a mistake. When you pick the wrong crowd to be around, that happens. Everybody goes through that." What the hell is wrong with people nowadays? No, not everybody goes through this. Yes, people make mistakes. People don't normally make felony mistakes that can cost him maybe 25 years in the slammer. This is the kind of thing that ruins lives. It's not something that's just no big deal. Everybody makes mistakes. This is a joke.
Finebaum's latest article is pretty interesting. It talks about how much people loved Shula up until that last loss to Auburn, and how everybody support Coach Saban right now. It still seems a bit strange to even be talking about this.
BamaSportsReport.com points out quite a bit of information about what we actually have at linebacker, and how frightening it really is. Read up on it here. Could you imagine if Rolando's motorcycle accident had been worse? Yikes.
So, after the dismissal of Jimmy Johns, that puts us down another scholarship. My father and I sat down the other night and went over the numbers as best we could. Remember yesterday when I said the number of 5th year seniors on this team would be very very very small? Yeah, still is headed that way. Here's how this is shaking out. In September of '07 we had 85 guys on the roster. You can count them. Exactly 85. We had two guys transfer in the middle of the season (Alex Stadler and... I can't remember - if you know, hit me up). Then, in January, we had two signees enroll early, so we're back to 85.
We had 14 seniors graduate. 85 - 14 = 71. So now we're at 71 players. We had 22 incoming freshmen enroll in June. 71 + 22 = 93. So in June, without counting casualties yet, we're at 93. The roster has to be trimmed down to 85 by August.
We lost BJ Stabler (medical), Charles Hoke (medical), Cody Davis (medical), Chris Lett (medical), Tremayne Coger (personal), Lionel Mitchell (medical), and Jimmy Johns (dismissed). That's 7 kids right there. 93 - 7 = 86. So currently, we're down to 86.
Here's my guess on what's going to happen. The 6 signees that we have left that haven't enrolled are Matchett, Murphy, Ingram, Hood, Ray, and Lewis. Hood and Ray are playing professional baseball. Lewis has enrolled in community college. Murphy is still at Hargrave trying to get his grades up. So that leaves Matchett and Ingram.
I believe that Will Oakley will end up taking a medical scholarship. They tried to use him as a playmaker in the spring, and he didn't get done what they needed. He's basically worthless to the coaching staff (and that's not supposed to be mean) as a playmaker, and with his broken foot, he'll be off the roster. So now we're down to 85. Then Zeke Knight, as much as I hate it, will go on medical scholarship. I just don't see doctors clearing him to play with his heart condition. So that puts us down to 84. I'm not sure who else might drop, but it could be one of the freshmen - either Matchett or Ingram. I can't remember which one is currently in summer school, but there's definitely work to be done.
So, if only one of those kids gets into school, then we're sitting at 85 scholarship players. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, because this was drawn up from a Lindy's book and our collective brains.
Comments:
Let's not forget Bryant scholarships and grayshirts.
I would be shocked if the roster situation were not already worked out, and some of these extras like Johns disappearing could mean that someone who was going to be grayshirted now gets a scholarship first semester. # posted by Pete : 10:58 AM
I think Ingram is already on campus and its Devonta Bolton along with Matchett that are waiting to get in and you also forgot about subtracting Jeremy Elder. Don't forget about the Prince Hall saga either. # posted by leebenp : 1:01 PM
Haven't forgotten the Prince Hall saga, but from everything that I'm hearing, he's getting back in good graces with everyone. Jeremy Elder was the other one that left last season.
I think you're right - Saban's had a plan in place for the roster for quite some time. I don't think that the Bryant Scholarship is going to be that big of a help. As explained to me by some people "in the know" - if we recruited a player (i.e. Wesley Neighbors) then he cannot receive just a Bryant Scholarship. He would have to count on the 85-man roster.
Thanks guys! # posted by Memphis Tider : 2:27 AM
This article explains in great detail exactly how the Bryant Scholarship will help:
http://alabama.scout.com/2/226526.html
To say that it will have no impact is certainly not true. At the end of the day, if the staff has to, they can use this scholarship to their advantage. # posted by Pete : 2:45 AM
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