On Laremy Tunsil Comment Count

Brian

So the thing that everybody knew happened did happen.

As revelations go it's small time. Tunsil didn't get suspended for seven games for nothing.

Here is the best description of the admission. Tunsil went in front of the media almost as the Instagram stuff was posted and said these things in this order:

Then Tunsil was asked about the Instagram posts. He said he’d just found out about them, and reiterated that he’d made a mistake. Asked by reporter as to whether there’d been an exchange of money between Tunsil and a coach, he first responded, “I wouldn’t say that.” But when pressed a few moments later, he said, “Those messages?” almost as if he hadn’t understood the previous questions. “Those were true. Like I said, I made a mistake.”

Asked again if there had been an exchange of money, Tunsil then responded matter-of-factly, “I have to say yeah.” A further question about whether he’d met with the NCAA was being posed when Milam appeared from behind a curtain, cutting the session short. “He’s got no more comments. Thank you guys so much,” she said, tapping the offensive lineman on the shoulder, whisking him away and leaving media as baffled as Tunsil apparently had been.

Tunsil said it twice and was clearly referring to the Instagram posts since "those" is not a way you'd reference the bong hit. That's about as clear as it'll ever get.

Good for Tunsil, more or less. Dude got paid, got to the NFL as a mid-first-round pick, and got to do a gas mask bong in front of a Confederate flag. I guess that's empowering?

I don't have any issue with Tunsil's priorities. I assume 80% of college football players have taken hits off a novelty bong. I'm assuming his family is not particularly wealthy; it's a logical decision to get paid when you happen to be an incredible prospect in a field that has a professional career that lasts on average 2.6 years. Maybe don't film yourself doing a thing that you know the NFL is irrational about, but the only proper response to tut-tutters is to roll your eyes.

Meanwhile I can get behind following that up with an honest admission he got paid to go to a university with negligible football history and Confederate flags behind every bong. I'll only be vaguely irritated at Tunsil if he walks back those admissions. He doesn't owe anything to Ole Miss; a look inside the sausage factory can only speed up the day when people can give money to college football players over the table. There is a point at which the NCAA must admit that they have no ability to prevent people from getting paid and drops the whole charade.

And what a charade it is. Whenever I bring this up and advocate near-total deregulation of money headed to college football players there is a pushback from people who say

  1. but then people with money will have influence on football programs and
  2. but then college football players will have the money.

I look at these people and wonder why they think 1 isn't already true—even at programs trying to stay between the lines—and why 2 is a problem. The text message exchange is an attempt to get a bill paid for his mom. We have zero issue with 18 and 19 year olds getting paid in any other sport; paternalistic concerns they might do something harmlessly stupid with the money are nonsensical since then the players are merely back where they started.

Ole Miss got greedy. The reason that Ole Miss might actually take a fall here is because they got greedy. They had a story why they might acquire Robert Nkemdiche—his brother was already on the team. They had zero plausible story why they'd acquire Tunsil or Laquon Treadwell, out-of-state five stars with zero connection to a program that hadn't done anything since the 1960s. Tunsil in particular seems to have come with some serious family baggage that may explain why Ole Miss was able to outbid others:

Suspicion for the hacks quickly and naturally fell upon Tunsil’s stepfather, Lindsey Miller, with whom Tunsil has been engaged in a lengthy and nasty legal battle.

Last June, Tunsil was arrested on domestic-violence charges after a fight with Miller. Tunsil told police that his stepfather had pushed his mother, and he punched Miller to protect her, and pressed charges against Miller. Miller told police that Tunsil hit him at least six times, that the attack was unprovoked, and that the argument started over Tunsil having impermissible contact with agents. NCAA investigators interviewed Miller over his claims that he had proof of rules violations committed by Ole Miss.

A month later, Tunsil and Miller agreed to drop the charges against each other.

This past Tuesday, two days before the draft, Miller filed a lawsuit against Tunsil, claiming Tunsil assaulted him and defamed his character. The suit alleges “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

If you're Alabama you can just move on to the next kid. (Or maybe not.) Ole Miss can't, and that may be their undoing. And it should be. While paying players is morally fine it is also against the rules.

Hi, Hugh Freeze. If there's ever been an example of a guy who just along for the ride it's Hugh "muh families" Freeze. Dude is an anonymous high school coach before a one-year apprenticeship at Arkansas State and then Ole Miss. Upon his arrival they start recruiting like they matter, and he bitches about having to work.

Gus Malzahn is a great comparison here. Malzahn also came from high school and also had a one year apprenticeship at Arkansas State before getting the Auburn job, but beforehand he was OC at Arkansas and Auburn and Tulsa and had excellent success at all those places, getting chased about because sometimes those places are insane. Malzhan got his job because he's a good football coach, and if Auburn's paying some guys to come that's only part of his success. Survey says they are, but not egregiously.

Freeze has nothing to his name other than the ability to not observe cash payments to high-profile recruits, and over the past year his program has seen one Nkemdiche fall out off a balcony whilst high, the other Nkemdiche leave the team and get hospitalized twice with "personal issues," and now the Tunsil thing. One of the appeals of the Ole Miss program appears to be a total lack of adult supervision. The NCAA changing official visit policies so that parents can come along will not be a help to them.

It's to the point where the NFL notices:

Multiple sources told The MMQB that Tunsil’s off-field behavior was becoming increasingly worrisome and reason for some teams to remove him from their draft boards altogether. Much of it had to do with the culture at Mississippi, sources say.

A Freeze implosion here would be richly deserved. Whether the NCAA has the ability to deliver it is very much in question, unfortunately.

Comments

gwkrlghl

April 29th, 2016 at 12:11 PM ^

I'd love to see it happen, but I will fall out of my chair if anything ever happens to Ole Miss. The satellite camp ban shows what conference has the most influence on the NCAA

buckeyekiller1

April 29th, 2016 at 5:44 PM ^

And the string of comments above in this thread are why I love this blog. I literally laughed out loud at work reading them. I doubt many other college football blogs have this kind of witty banter on their boards. People here at work can look at me all they want, that's some funny shit right there.

Tex_Ind_Blue

April 29th, 2016 at 2:31 PM ^

Ummm, a large part of India is still so busy trying to earn the basic living that they are not aware of Hitler and the atrocities he committed. Yeah, think about that. So they would be surprised if a "white person" takes afront at the good luck symbol in their homes. I am not going to put up that symbol in my house, but it is still a part of the religious functions. 

And, conferederacy was built on slavery. Hindu religious belief wasn't built on anti-semitism. 

cheese and chalk. apples and oranges. 

Let's move away from that discussion on this blog, shall we? 

Nolongerusingaccount

April 29th, 2016 at 12:14 PM ^

I agree that paying players makes sense. Michigan has one of the biggest money cannons in the country. It's stupid to pretend that college football is purely an amateur pursuit. If other teams don't hesitate to play outside the arbitrary amateur rules, and there is no enforcement, those rules.need to be rescinded.




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6tyrone6

April 29th, 2016 at 12:28 PM ^

actions by saying this might hasten paying players, teams like Michigan, presumeably  playing by the rules, should press the NCAA to enforce these rules now. These teams that are breaking the rules should be punished harshly. Then if the collective NCAA decides that paying players is the direction they want to go then change the rules. Why can't all the other schools protest, punish these SEC asshats now. UM got busted for practicing too long and then attacked for traveling for spring practice!!!! When will we stop rationailizing, what everyone knows the SEC pays it's players, see Cam Newton, and start to protest like they did about satelitte camps to the point where the stupid NCAA has to do something, like when they banned satellite camps!

Nolongerusingaccount

April 29th, 2016 at 12:41 PM ^

My guess is that many other schools don't want to look underneath their cupboards. I agree that I wish there was better enforcement, but it's hard to imagine enforcement at a level that would make this fanbase satisfied. I would rather get rid of the rules if enforcement is not going solve the issue and turn into.




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Jackie Moon

April 29th, 2016 at 1:09 PM ^

I am not a big fan of paying college athletes.  

The NFL makes it a bigger problem then it should be.  The NFL uses the NCAA as a free minor league development league.  The 3-year rule is arbitrary (as well as the NBA's 1-year rule).  MLB and NHL seems to have less problems in that regard.

If we extend your logic here, high school players should be paid and the NFL draft should be eliminated.

Ali G Bomaye

April 29th, 2016 at 1:31 PM ^

"If we extend your logic here, high school players should be paid and the NFL draft should be eliminated."

What's wrong with either of these things?  I doubt there's much money available for high school ball, but if someone wants to pay a player, how is that hurting anything?  And eliminating the NFL draft would be great.  Players should be able to choose where they want to play.  As soon as a player declares for the draft, he can sign with any team that has salary cap room.  

Jackie Moon

April 29th, 2016 at 3:03 PM ^

I never said it was wrong.  I prefer the amateur nature of college athletics.  The idea of an arms race in NCAAF does not interest me in the least.  If players start getting paid in college then, for me, college athletes lose their luster of being students first and become employees and college football becomes an inferior professional product.

jmblue

April 29th, 2016 at 3:03 PM ^

The issue is financial.  Many athletic departments are currently struggling to balance their books (e.g., EMU) and if athletes were to be paid a salary in addition to their scholarships, that would be a huge extra expense, especially since Title IX likely would require all college varsity athletes to get paid.  The result of that would probably be the closure of a lot of sports programs.

 

 

trueblueintexas

April 29th, 2016 at 9:38 PM ^

If a couple had a new large house in the nicest neighborhood with two new luxury cars and a new swimming pool only to find out they were massively in debt, would you say they were struggling to balance their checkbook? I have no sympathy for colleges that can't run a non-profit organization to break even when there is plenty of money floating around.

BuckNekked

April 29th, 2016 at 4:37 PM ^

I dont think players should be paid outright. I do think athletes should be able to profit from their likeness, sell their own memorabilia or endorse products. There should be a way to help kids families keep the lights on. There should also be a per diem thats commesurate with having a full time job.  I also believe that the the model used for the drafts in the NBA and NFL should be scrapped in favor of the hockey or baseball models.

The problem with paying players is there is no draft to maintain competitive balance and not all players are equal nor are all sports. I believe it will open a can of douchebaggery that nobody will want to navigate and create a  division between the haves and have nots similar to what we see in some of the European soccer leagues where 2 or 3 teams win every single year. It is a slippery slope that could destroy all the fun that the college atmosphere creates and the pro leagues could never hope to copy.