Why do so many Alabama Crimson Tide football players drive nice cars?

Submitted by Maizen on

Derrick Henry:

Dre Kirkpatrick:

Ronnie Harrison

Jarren Reed:

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - Police say Alabama defensive lineman Jarran Reed was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Tuscaloosa police say Reed was stopped early Sunday after hitting another car while both backed out of parking spots. Police say Reed drove a 2011 Dodge Charger toward the parking lot's exit before he was pulled over. 

Ha Ha Clinton Dix:

The night before Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was set to leave Alabama headed to Florida to visit his family, he loaded his car with all his essentials: clothes, shoes, an iPad ... and money.

Overnight, his 2012 Dodge Charger was broken into. The Alabama standout safety was easy prey for robbers, with his doors left unlocked and his vehicle loaded with valuables, including about $200 in cash, a source close to the situation told Sporting News.

Altee Tenpenny:

GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) — A 20-year-old college football player was killed in a one-car crash in Mississippi, a local coroner said Wednesday. Altee Tenpenny was pronounced dead at 6:57 p.m. Tuesday at Delta Regional Medical Center in Greenville, Washington County Coroner Methel Johnson told The Associated Press. Tenpenny, who played at Alabama in 2013 and 2014, was taken to the hospital after he wrecked a 2008 Dodge Charger near the community of Glen Allan, Johnson said.

Trent Richardson (not a Charger but...)

On August 28th, 2011 Alabama running back Trent Richardson was pulled over for speeding in Chilton County, Alabama. The Crimson Tide star was going 85 in a 70 and the officer noted that he blamed the "large rims" on his vehicle for the speeding violation. What was the vehicle? A 2011 GMC Yukon which retails for in the neighborhood of $40,000 even without the added expense of new rims. Raise your hand if it makes sense that an "unemployed" athlete at Alabama with two children, no job, and a non-wealthy family could afford a brand new SUV. Put your hands down Alabama fans. Trent Richardson could be flying in his own private jet and you'd talk about how it's perfectly reasonable for him to avoid traffic this way. 

DJ Fluker:

Trey Depriest:

I Like Burgers

June 4th, 2016 at 3:32 PM ^

Let's not pretend Michigan doesn't have something like this too. I remember when I was in college and went to a movie with some friends, I watched the entire Michigan OL roll up in newer model SUVs. Each guy with his own SUV like a scene out of Swingers.




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TrueBlue2003

June 4th, 2016 at 6:08 PM ^

yes, you're exactly correct.  Many Michigan players drive very nice cars too.  My roommate in college was on the team so I've explained how it happens on here before and here goes again:

A large percentage of the team in the 2000s drove brand new SUVs (Cadillac Escalade's, Chevy Tahoe's, etc) and equvilantly nice cars and I'm sure that's still the case.  It was done 100% within compliance (and c'mon this would be way too obvious if it wasn't compliant) and here's how:

"Full" scholarship athletes get tuition, room and board paid for.  So tuition is free and they get a monthly stipend for room and board.

Most regular students spend most of their typical room and board "budget" on rent (which is high in Ann Arbor compared to other places in Michigan), food and entertainment.  These guys wanted to buy cars and made sacrifices in other areas of their budgets.  Many of them lived in Ypsilanti and paid $200/mo in rent whereas many students paid $600/mo+ to live walking distance from class (and that's the average rent on which athletes' monthly stipend is based).  They also get meals provided at the football facilities and don't do a lot of partying and going to the bar and things that other students are doing.  So they spent the difference in rent and board on cars because that was their priority. $500/mo will lease you a really nice car and that's what they preferred compared to living close to campus.

Perfectly compliant, perfectly fine to do.

Glen Masons Hot Wife

June 4th, 2016 at 6:20 PM ^

Not when I was there....

In fact the best players didn't have cars or drove absolute pieces of shit on wheels.  I saw that parking lot pretty much every day.

Braylon had a newer Explorer, but from what I understand, his Dad does pretty well for himself.

Believe it or not some of these players do actually come from parents with money.  Not pretending to know all the details but I don't think we should point the finger at ourselves if we're not even sure we're guilty of the same thing.

I Like Burgers

June 4th, 2016 at 8:47 PM ^

The general point is that no one knows shit. Sometimes players drive nice cars, sometimes they drive beaters.  And sometimes, players who are set to make millions or at least several hunderd K in a year or two don't care about short term debt, and get a nice car.

Or in OP's case, a $27k car...which is really only like $400-500/month on a 6 year loan.

GoWings2008

June 5th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^

Having parents take care of things like a car is more common, I think, when the kid is on scholarship. For me, when I got accepted to the Air Force Academy, my folks bought me a car since they didn't need to use the money they'd saved for tuition.

Sports

June 4th, 2016 at 3:13 PM ^

Also, lots of young people tend to like the charger because it has the styling a muscle car but is also quite affordable. I love to pile on Bama like everyone else, but this looks like a case of "young athletes like cars that look powerful." Denard drove one when he was at Michigan and tons of other M team members had them when I was there.

buckeyekiller1

June 4th, 2016 at 3:18 PM ^

I think the NCAA has more important things to worry about than Bama players getting free cars. Somewhere in the north players are stretching an extra 15 minutes and must be stopped! And have you heard that some players want cream cheese on their bagels? What the fuck is that about?!? The NCAA must focus on stopping these major injustices before they get to minor things like free cars, cash bounties for players, or rape charges.

Obviously /s

stephenrjking

June 4th, 2016 at 10:29 PM ^

The likeliest scenario regarding cars (and the one that has actually been documented in places where this has been caught) involves local, friendly dealerships allowing players to use nice cars for no or little cost for months at a time. Thus issues with "dealership tags" and so on. Part of the suspicion raised in the OP is the possibility that one Tuscaloosa dealership (Dodge dealership, obviously) may be allowing a number of players to use cars.

Bag Man money is another possibility, but that is less likely to regularly express itself in the form of an expensive car because the money could be used for lots of other things, both by the player and his family. Plus, bag man money does tend to be local, and a lot of the bag man stuff seems to be smaller-time stuff. Rent payments, that sort of thing.

The kind of money necessary to support a $500/month car payment is not delivered in a bag to a doorstep. We are talking six-figure payment arrangements. That might be happening, but that's not bag man level. 

Sllepy81

June 4th, 2016 at 7:32 PM ^

check a corvette. A charger is equivalent to a camry, accord. It's a 4 door family car. It's a police car for god's sake. Heck Pryor driving a 370z at Ohio state was more suspicious. If your goal in life is to own a 06' charger then you're not aiming high at all.