Andre Jones who was a 5* DL from El Paso in the recruiting class of Feb 2007. He could have gone anywhere, but commited to Mack Brown and Texas and enrolled in UT early to get a head start on his career as a Longhorn. Unfortuneately one day in the Spring he ended up with a upper classman who was commiting a Felony (Armed Robbery). He held a gun during the robbery. He has been in the justice system ever since then and finally has agreed to a plea deal and now hopes that Texas and Mack Brown will take him back. As I understand the article linked below if he does what the deal requires he could end up avoiding the felony conviction. I wouldn't want him back on my teams (Texas or Notre Dame) no matter how bad the team needed DL's and both Texas and Notre Dame need them. Over on Texas boards the sentiment is mostly, see ya...but there are some who feel that he should be given a second chance as a walkon not a scholarship player, that if he stays on the straight and narrow, keeps his grades up and earns his way on to the field then he could possibly get his scholarship back. How about you guys? Second chance? Andre Jones
I think everyone deserves a second chance if they are sincere. I'm not sure that I would want him back if I were a member of the Texas administration. He should probably get a second chance somewhere though.
Hmmm... I'm all for second chances, but using a gun makes it a different deal for me. That's well outside of the "boys will be boys" type of stuff you expect college kids to get into. Tough call. If he does catch on with someone, I'd expect a VERY short leash, and zero tolerance for any foolishness...
I think it's a case that he needs to move on to another situation. Maybe go to Jr. College and show that he has cleaned up his act. Or LSU is a possiblity I guess.
Seems to me his being a football player probably got him a sweet deal for a serious offense. He's already gotten a second chance.
Gip makes a good point. I keep thinking of the story posted recently about Bear Bryant and what his player had to go through to have a second chance. Bryant put him through that grind for a reason, to see if he had the character to turn his life around. This kid has shown nothing so far. Using Gip's rationale above, before I'd give him a third chance, I'd make him go through some type of character proving/disproving gauntlet not unlike the Bear's.
He probably had a good lawyer who was able to make the case that his client was a formerly good kid led astray by an evil upper classman and didn't really understand the consequences of what he was doing. Somewhat true actually, he was an good student in HS, graduated early with good grades, enrolled early, never been in trouble previously, etc. His cohort in crime though had already been in trouble with the law and was no longer on the team. How the two got together is beyond me.
I believe in 2nd chances if as Corey stated they are earned. What that means in this case I do not know enough to say. I think there are ramifications of not giving people 2nd chances to do what they do well. Whether that is at Texas or not would be up to the people there. I wouldn't want my school to go out of the way to recruit him. If he showed up there on his own, paid his own way for a while, made good grades and proved to be a decent citizen then I would probably say ok.
Bill after re-reading that article on Bear Bryant and thinking about things I would be ok with letting him practice with the team but not play and setting up parameters in terms of classroom performance and doing the things the judge lined out for him in terms of community service. Sometimes that community service is taken pretty lightly and not monitored very well. I would want to have something in place where he did something meaningful for his community service and demanded that he actually do and do it well. Then after a year if he's done a good job in the classroom (not just get by) and has done his community service with outstanding reviews and worked hard as a walkon member of the team I would let him back on the team and continue to demand excellence in the classroom and in every other area. If that seems too tough or too harsh or takes the fun out of being a carefree college student then I'd ask him to find another place to play and wish him luck. Terry
I don't know if I am in the mainstream here or not. I value my privilege to own and carry a gun for protection. It is moronic moves like this one that turns public opinion against that privilege. There has to be a line drawn in the sand that severely punishes these acts. I might be for giving him another chance after he spends a few years locked up to realize he has crossed the line. Yes, MCG, I consider this worse than a bag of pot.