🏈 Two POS Barner Players

[russb8903]

I don't think so. Everyone goes after the same players, they come from the same pool, so the makeup is going to be largely similar. We have had players who committed domestic violence, robbery, and DUI. We've had drug dealers, not to mention numerous petty drug possession charges. Those are just what I thought of off the top of my head. That isn't to say we have a bad program, but rather that most schools are about like the others. For everyone to act like AU is particularly thuggish because of this incident is embarrassingly hypocritical. It's Barner behavior really.

 

[BamaFan334]

Auburn players are the same as UA players, the same as UGA players, the same as Michigan players, or any other player. This whole thread stinks of "when a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that three of his fingers are pointing at himself."

I think you're on a roll here where you just wanna hear yourself talk. Spare us the whole "judging" and "look in the mirror" pep talk, because that doesn't apply when someone has committed a crime against another member of society. They didn't get caught buying a six pack at 19 using a fake ID, they involved an innocent party that never initiated a confrontation. When there is a trend, there is evidence behind it to support the trend. Miami ran a very loose program twice in it's short history and look at what it provided in terms of player behavior. Not every school's players were the same at those times. Some schools turn a shoulder to it all and some turn boys into men and expect more. So jumping on these guys is well within reason for their actions. Auburn should be criticized as well for attempting to have a secret apology accepted to where the media wouldn't catch wind. That's not teaching anyone a lesson. Much like how we all thought the Cameron Newton saga was handled, poorly by Auburn.

 

[planomateo]

Something I'm curious of.

How does a public apology mean more than a private one? I'd rather have an apology that was legit vs one that was forced.

 

[TerryP]

@russb8903 players killed.

 

[russb8903]

@TerryP From what I recall, the AU players killed in 2012 were mostly in the wrong place at the wrong time. So only the most recent one will I grant you. But I'm not willing to point fingers because they have had one worse incident. When we have had a number of incidents on par with this one, acting morally superior is rather laughable. I hate Auburn for their false sense of moral superiority, I'm certainly not going to sink to their level.

 

[russb8903]

I think you're on a roll here where you just wanna hear yourself talk. Spare us the whole "judging" and "look in the mirror" pep talk, because that doesn't apply when someone has committed a crime against another member of society. They didn't get caught buying a six pack at 19 using a fake ID, they involved an innocent party that never initiated a confrontation. When there is a trend, there is evidence behind it to support the trend. Miami ran a very loose program twice in it's short history and look at what it provided in terms of player behavior. Not every school's players were the same at those times. Some schools turn a shoulder to it all and some turn boys into men and expect more. So jumping on these guys is well within reason for their actions. Auburn should be criticized as well for attempting to have a secret apology accepted to where the media wouldn't catch wind. That's not teaching anyone a lesson. Much like how we all thought the Cameron Newton saga was handled, poorly by Auburn.

Look, if you don't want to defend your position that is fine. You are absolutely wrong that the "pep talk" doesn't apply here, because you have missed it's aim. I'm not saying a wrong is right. From our perspective, if their supposed assault was as foul as she claims, they were in the wrong, no doubt about it. What I'm saying is that it is laughable to have a high and mighty thread acting like the actions of these guys are representative of the AU team, while seemingly ignoring that UA players have done worse.

And plano is right that the manner of apology business is nonsense. The media shouldn't be involved, there is nothing about this that is newsworthy.

 

[UAgrad93]

Whether the PTSD is combat related or not, whether the apology is public or not, these "student-athletes" are going to be held to a higher standard than Joe student. The incident is "news" because football players from a institution of higher learning (cough, cough) are involved with harassing a veteran with a service dog. The Barners jump up on their box and speak of "family" and being treated like family and it being home to them. We on the board have no clue what this veteran went through to be diagnosed with PTSD nor do we know what exactly transpired at the trailer park in the cow pasture other than what we have read.
I do not believe that all schools recruit ALL of the exact same players. I think Coach Saban and his staff do make the extra effort to find kids of the highest character. I think he has hit on a heck of a lot more than he has missed. Some of the incidents or misses can be kids being kids and not growing up to just being a downright problem.
I always look at the kids that our staff has targeted or offered and see just how many we battle it out with the Barn to try and get them to join our University. The numbers may surprise you. Out of the roughly 120+ offers that we handed out in the 2015 cycle, the Barn offered only about 40-50 of them and vice versa.

 

[BamaFan334]

Look, if you don't want to defend your position that is fine. You are absolutely wrong that the "pep talk" doesn't apply here, because you have missed it's aim. I'm not saying a wrong is right. From our perspective, if their supposed assault was as foul as she claims, they were in the wrong, no doubt about it. What I'm saying is that it is laughable to have a high and mighty thread acting like the actions of these guys are representative of the AU team, while seemingly ignoring that UA players have done worse.

And plano is right that the manner of apology business is nonsense. The media shouldn't be involved, there is nothing about this that is newsworthy.

I don't think anyone on this thread thought DJ Pettway was an innocent bystandered or damned the police for arresting him. I also don't think anyone called for the Captain of Police's head when Kenyan Drake was arrested for the minor infraction he was involved in. I do agree that a lot of people enjoy it when they can joke on Auburn and keep score with these things, but that's just good ole fashion hatred amongst rivals, it goes on everywhere in the country. What I do think is that Auburn has put winning above class in their latest attempt to overthrow coach Saban and everything he is building. And from so ethi g my dad told me a couple years ago, Auburn is the most penalized school in the country through the NCAA. So with that being said, yes I think to some extent you can provide the opinion that it is the Auburn way of doing things. Trooper Taylor's actions, Cameron Newton etc.

I am not a huge media guy as they have been proven to lie, stretch the truth, and do whatever it takes to create ratings. BUT, I also think actions of these entitled athletes should be heard in the court of public opinion as a form of disgrace and a way to show them they're not invincible. Or that this is not only news in their little bubble of Auburn and other fans will hound them for it. I kind of see your opinion on it not being a media matter as it being swept under the rug. I have a daughter, and about to welcome a second one, and if I ever get wind of anyone treating them like that, I'm gonna light them up. You just don't treat another human like that unless it is provoked or deserved.

 

[TerryP]

@TerryP From what I recall, the AU players killed in 2012 were mostly in the wrong place at the wrong time. So only the most recent one will I grant you. But I'm not willing to point fingers because they have had one worse incident. When we have had a number of incidents on par with this one, acting morally superior is rather laughable. I hate Auburn for their false sense of moral superiority, I'm certainly not going to sink to their level.

From what I'm seeing, it's not a case of pointing fingers because of one incident. IF we take this story alone, do we see repeated behavior? Yes, the first time with Dismukes and his racial tirade in the restaurant in Auburn—against a female, btw.

Should this past shooting incident be on an island unto itself? Well, in a sense, I guess. Mitchell was carrying and we see from court testimony is was a gunfire exchange. But, then there's both situations at the same place, following fights at a party, where we had players from the same program, and it ends in gunplay.

I go back to thinking about things like "we're dealing with the same core of people;" both in coaching and recruiting classes.

I go back to thinking about Auburn hiring a security group to police its own dorms where players are housed on campus.

Like you, I try to exercise a lot of caution when looking at stories like this one. I know I've said, repeatedly, as soon as we start pointing to something that happens at another school we're almost destined to see it at our own. Nick getting arrested on drug possession...we see Altee dealing with the same. We've seen similar stores out of UGA.

We haven't seen a recurring theme, trend, history, whatever word you want to insert here...with other schools around the SEC.

It's interesting to me that there were admitted disciplinary issues under Chizik and those are part of the reasons we saw him "released." But, the move of hiring Gus removed these issues when he was at the very core of them being at Auburn in the first place? As we've been told, repeatedly, the success of that program in 2010 was due to Malzahn, remember?

If we step back a decade we can say the same thing you're saying here. All schools were dealing with issues. BUT, there was a reason Tennessee found its head coach as the namesake for a mythical trophy awarded due to discipline issues. There was a preponderance of them in Knoxville. We saw the same thing with Meyer at UF.

It's due to these things we've seen, not imagined we've seen, that led me to say that was a broad brush stroke. And, if I may add, things we've seen repeatedly.

One last thought: In UT's case...in UF's case...and in cases at UA, have we seen a mob like mentality trying to delve deeply into the victims lives in order to discredit their stories? Again, like you, I encourage caution in this story. But after a while you have to start saying, "wait a minute here."

 

[russb8903]

From what I'm seeing, it's not a case of pointing fingers because of one incident. IF we take this story alone, do we see repeated behavior? Yes, the first time with Dismukes and his racial tirade in the restaurant in Auburn—against a female, btw.

Should this past shooting incident be on an island unto itself? Well, in a sense, I guess. Mitchell was carrying and we see from court testimony is was a gunfire exchange. But, then there's both situations at the same place, following fights at a party, where we had players from the same program, and it ends in gunplay.

I go back to thinking about things like "we're dealing with the same core of people;" both in coaching and recruiting classes.

I go back to thinking about Auburn hiring a security group to police its own dorms where players are housed on campus.

Like you, I try to exercise a lot of caution when looking at stories like this one. I know I've said, repeatedly, as soon as we start pointing to something that happens at another school we're almost destined to see it at our own. Nick getting arrested on drug possession...we see Altee dealing with the same. We've seen similar stores out of UGA.

We haven't seen a recurring theme, trend, history, whatever word you want to insert here...with other schools around the SEC.

It's interesting to me that there were admitted disciplinary issues under Chizik and those are part of the reasons we saw him "released." But, the move of hiring Gus removed these issues when he was at the very core of them being at Auburn in the first place? As we've been told, repeatedly, the success of that program in 2010 was due to Malzahn, remember?

If we step back a decade we can say the same thing you're saying here. All schools were dealing with issues. BUT, there was a reason Tennessee found its head coach as the namesake for a mythical trophy awarded due to discipline issues. There was a preponderance of them in Knoxville. We saw the same thing with Meyer at UF.

It's due to these things we've seen, not imagined we've seen, that led me to say that was a broad brush stroke. And, if I may add, things we've seen repeatedly.

One last thought: In UT's case...in UF's case...and in cases at UA, have we seen a mob like mentality trying to delve deeply into the victims lives in order to discredit their stories? Again, like you, I encourage caution in this story. But after a while you have to start saying, "wait a minute here."

This is a good post. I don't think I would yet consider it the pattern you do, but the part about Malzahn being tied to the Chizik issues is interesting.

 

[bamaledge]

I'll ask the obvious question, how would they know she was a Veteran?

I'm a Veteran (and I'm not speaking for other Veterans). I don't believe that her being a Veteran has anything to do with the discussion based on what I've read thus far. Now had she said, I'm a Veteran who suffers from PTSD and this dog gives me some normalcy and they continued being assholes, then by all means, use the Veteran card. I just think it is being used to pull at the heart strings.

I don't condone what these guys did, but think back to what's happened at Alabama and who we've given second chance to. How do their incidents compare to this one?

I agree with @planomateo on the question "how would they know she was a vet?" My first thought would be that she was blind. I also believe there was a little dramatization in the letter. BUT, I can't condone the harassment of anyone. Now, I would think that a public apology and some community service should suffice.

 

[PhillyGirl]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf...garding-harassment-allegations-132901518.html

Auburn released a statement Monday night regarding accusations by a woman who says she was harassed by two Auburn football players.

Ashley Ozyurt., who said she suffers from post traumatic stress disorder from a sexual assault incident while in the Air Force, said she was haggled by two players as she and her service dog walked to class last week.

According to the school, the players, Andrew Williams and Dontavius Russell, did nothing with "disrespectful intent" and Williams made noises trying to get the dog's attention from a distance without understanding the dog's purpose. Russell was walking to class.

The full statement via Facebook is below.

On Tuesday, February 17th Auburn Athletics was made aware of an incident in the lobby area of Haley Center involving two student-athletes and an interaction with a fellow student and her service dog.

Based on conversations with the students, it’s our belief that neither of the student-athletes, Andrew Williams nor Dontavius Russell, did anything with disrespectful intent. From a distance, Andrew made noises trying to get the dog’s attention. He didn't understand the purpose of the dog or realize that the student was a disabled veteran. Dontavius had no involvement in the interaction whatsoever as he was only walking to class.

Andrew offers the following message to the female student. “I want to take this opportunity to apologize for raising my voice. I was startled and totally misunderstood the situation. My mother and father who raised me both served in the military. I have tremendous respect for veterans. In the past week, I've learned a lot more about the role of service dogs for veterans and now better understand her courage to attend Auburn.”

The matter is under review by the university’s Office of Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity. We have and will continue to cooperate, and we understand the review must be allowed to follow its normal course.

Auburn has a long history of supporting the men and women who have served our country. We look forward to adding new programs and educational offerings that raise awareness about service dogs and the challenges that often impact those who serve. Both of the student-athletes affected by the incident were raised by military families and value all that Auburn does in support of the many military appreciation related activities.

Auburn coach Gus Malzahn reportedly had apologized to the woman for the actions of the players. Ozyurt said the incident had triggered a PTSD episode that forced her to leave class that day.

Both Russell and WIlliams are defensive linemen who were redshirt freshmen in 2014.

 

[planomateo]

The comments on the facebook link in the article posted by @PhillyGirl above are a telling sign about society. Sad.