Amid all the positive vibes coming from the UT football team over the last several weeks, there has been a storm brewing under the surface. The messageboards lit up a couple of months ago regarding Knoxville DE/TE Daniel Hood (no known relation to me though we share the same last name). Hood was involved in a brutal rape when he was 14 years old. The details involve a plunger handle and duct tape. It was truly a horrendous crime and the sort of thing that makes you feel a bit queasy when you read about it. However, Hood was 14 and was acting under the influence of his 17 year old cousin who is doing hard time for the crime. The victim was Hood's cousin. The victim has gone so far as to write a letter of recommendation to the University on Hood's behalf. Still, the crime is a bit hard to swallow. After the incident Hood was placed in state custody and enrolled at Knoxville Catholic High School where he sported a 3.8 GPA and scored a 27 on his ACT. Kiffin and company saw fit to give him a second chance and I guess I'm OK with that but if it were Alabama that gave him a scholly instead of Tennessee, I can't honestly say how I would feel about it. It's a tough case. What do you guys think? Correction, the 17 year old involved in the crime was apparently a friend of Hood's not his cousin. http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/may/05/catholic-star-gets-ut-football-scholarship-despite/
I saw that story. No doubt what he did was terrible, but given his age and the subsequent apparent rehabilitation, I have no problems with giving him a second chance. Plus it certainly appears to me that Tenn and KIffen went the extra mile to make sure the kid was ok. There are no guarantees though and if this kid doesn't realize the spotlight that will be on him and stay the straight and narrow he'll leave a lot egg on Tenn and Kiffen if he slips up.
I would be a bit uncomfortable and want the coaches to put him on a very short leash with a quick boot if he slipped. Reminds me a little of how I felt about Randy Moss when he came out of H/S during which time he and some other kids kicked a fellow student into critical condition. Not only was the kid outnumbered but they continued to kick him while down. That never sat too well with me.
It is tough to throw away a child at 13 or 14 years old. The details of his crime, as I understood them last night, was that he watched the crime but did not stop it. In fact, I just finished an article on ESPN earlier this morning that said exactly that. That doesn't make his role any less significant but I keep saying these reports saying HE raped the girl...and that was just not my understanding of the events. I find it almost troubling that many of the people standing in judgment of the kid, or calling for his unearned 'short leash' all seem to be fans of rival schools to the Vols. I don't think they would say the same if he went to their school. I don't buy the Randy Moss comparison. Randy Moss never truly rehabilitated, he just made it through to the NFL. He was still seeding women and assaulting people until he could afford proper legal counsel. I remember his recruitment to ND and I couldn't believe the reports I was reading (that were often as recent as a few weeks old) in which Moss almost killed some guy at a bowling alley... That doesn't seem to compare to what this kid did at all. It appears that he has learned his lesson. He'll never truly be able to repay his debt to the victim. Of course, that won't stop idiot fans and reports from taking their 2 lbs of flesh whenever they can. I hope this kid understands the weight he will carry.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4146057 1. Yes that is only a portion of the article. 2. That puts the crime in a different light, at least for me. His crime appears to have been of cowardice if the reports are true. At 13, that is a tough call... or has anyone forgotten what it was like to be 13?
Corey...don't turn this into what it's not...a rival witchunt. It sounds like the kid was somewhat participatory and at the very least he had bad judgement when it came to friends to be sure. I am just saying I personally would be uncomfortable if this kid was UF and I would want Meyer to keep a close eye...especially due to all the scrutiny. Turn that into whatever you want I guess. On Moss...I discussed my judgement of his actions as I heard about them before his college career and before anything else he may have done. I just felt he was trouble waiting to happen.
And aside from this isolated incident, what leads you to believe that this kid is 'trouble waiting to happen'?? As horrible as his inaction was during this incident, what else leads you to compare him to a guy who was arrested (literally) dozens of times for violent crimes, robbery, drug offenses etc... Like I said.. the people barking about this the most all seem to be from UT rival schools. Im not turning it into anything. They are... Its see thru.
He was 14 years old and has apparently been on the straight and narrow since. To deny him his chance at this point could send him in the wrong direction. I don't see any problem with him playing.
You lumped him in with Randy Moss. He was 13 at the time of the crime... I have no issue with this. The remainder of what this kid has to answer for is beyond the scope of our jurisdiction.
Yes I did and I still do with respect to the fact that the kid bears watching with a leash a little shorter than most. What happened puts a ? mark on his character assessment and if allowed to go unchecked and he screws up the lack of close monitoring will cause plenty of ill comments toward the Tenn coaching staff. That's not saying he IS Randy Moss.....or that he shouldn't be allowed to play for the Vols. I am only saying that if he were at Florida I wouldn't want the coaches to be made to look stupid or too lax by this kid not toeing the line so I would expect them to watch him carefully.
Fair enough, I just don't see any comparison to this kid and Randy Moss. That isn't to diminish his role in watching a violent sex crime of his cousin take place, but I see a clear seperation between that and a repeat violent offender with a long standing drug habit. I am sure you don't get your daily dose of Southern football media, but things are off the chain down here in Dixie. To listen to the print and radio media people you'd think this kid committed every aspect of this crime single handedly. It's just wrong. When we discussed this in our office, I had stated that I think it would be best for the kid to go to Carson-Newman. Had the kid done that, this wouldn't be a national news story. People would be letting all parties involved get on with their lives and the healing process. Hell, the victim herself wrote a note supporting him and the opportunity that has presented itself for the kid... Why can't a bunch of crazy ass SEC fans do the same?
What a absolute, positive, horsesh*t (sorry Bill Im breaking my abstinence from it) statement. What do you think we are doing here? The fact that this kid will never EVER be just known as a Tennessee football player destroys her entire thesis. This kid will FOREVER be known as the "Tennessee football player that raped his cousin" And what is terrible about that, is that he isn't the one who raped her. He allowed it to happen. You guys may not see the difference in that, but I certainly do. It was a crime he was convicted and paid for...and will pay for the remainder of his life. While not diminishing the suffering of the victim, there is a chance she will find a way to put this behind her. There are plenty of rape victims who have. They move on and they start new for themselves. He will never truly be able to start new because this will always follow him around. All we need to know about the 'expert' here are the following statements: which sorts of supports my thesis that the kid was a 13 year old coward, who was too worried about impressing his older peer than saving his cousin. What we do have is (and please note somebody that this is me standing up for an SEC program here) a school that literally investigated and interviewed every single person involved in this incident and the boy's life. They went back and interviewed former therapists, the lawyers and judge at his trial. They did a 2 month long, exhaustive background check to make sure that this kid has in fact changed and grown from his past. (How different were you at 13 vs 19?) What we truly have here is another sensationalist POS sports writer contacting someone on campus who has absolutely nothing to do with anything whatsoever and writing a slanted piece on it. F*ck you Dennis Dodd, I sincerely hope you never have any young member of your family make a tremendous mistake that they try to come back from... Why don't we just take this kid out back and put a bullet in his head? That would be the only thing good enough for people who AREN'T involved in this situation.
I don't disagree with your basic premise and don't believe in denying people their chance to change their life. I wish him the best.
Please don't take that at all as an attack on you Bill. I think Dodd is a tool and he continues to prove that time and time again.
No problem Corey, unfortunately way to many writers fit your description. The Gators have had a couple of articles written about them that should say bad things about them, but they just keep pumping out the garbage. Mike Freeman of Sportsline is another guy who fits your description.