Nearly a half a day after the news went public, Lane Kiffin has finally addressed the arrests of three of his players publicly… and pretty much said nothing.
(That unusual movement you may have just felt was the earth shifting slightly on its axis.)
Kiffin told reporters this afternoon that the status of wide receiver Nu’Keese Richardson, safety Janzen Jenkins and defensive back Mike Edwards are on hold following their arrest on charges of attempted armed robbery.
“We’re gathering all the information in, and until then we really have nothing for you,” Kiffin said according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
Far be it from me to give Coach Kiffin advice, but this incident is not exactly painting the university in the best of light. The football program needs to get out ahead of all the negative publicity already rolling in, and they need to do “something” as they attempt to gather all of the facts.
No, the players don’t necessarily need to be booted from school post haste — that whole “innocent until proven guilty” thing comes to mind — but some action needs to be taken to show publicly this is being taken very seriously. An action like indefinitely suspending each and every one of them.
Sure, an indefinite suspension won’t silence all of the hoots and catcalls coming in from all across the nation, but it would dampen the arguments that Kiffin and his new regime are sitting on their collective thumbs and placing winning above class and integrity.
And, yes, I damn-near typed that last sentence with a straight face…
It is entirely reasonable to suspend them indefinitely until they can sort this out.
Given the fact that the police leaked out the tape, it is pretty clear that they aren’t being sympathetic to Kiffy’s program.
If nothing else, the AD should be wise enough to step in and suspend them indefinitely.
Obviously Lane Kiffin will discipline his team – or not – however he feels.
DukeOfDway:
Classic…well played!!! Best post yet on this sordid mess!!!
hey ma, what do loquacious mean?
My recommendation: suspend them for a half game against a cupcake opponent. Good enough for Spikes.
You can’t say Kiffin hasn’t returned 10RC to glory. While he can’t actually beat Florida in football, he’s already poised to snatch the Fulmer Cup away from Gainesville and return it to its rightful home.
Looks like Nu’Keese Richardson & Janzen Jenkins will be pumping gas.
HE should come out and say they are suspended until the legal process plays itself out. Regardless of whether they are found guilty or not, Richardson and Edwards should be told they will not be eligible to play at UT until 2011, best case scenario plays out in court. Jackson, though not involved in the brandishing of the gun, is in the same boat becasue of previous problems. The other stipulation is they have to carry a 3.0 GPA while they are not on the football team. This basically is kicking them out of school because if these three rather bail on the program then try to redeem themselves after UT gives them another chance then they are replaceable. Obviosuly, if the gun involved would not have been a pellet gun there would be none of this “gathering all the facts” non-sense. The fact it was not a real gun is the mitigating factor that makes Kiffin’s decision tougher.
The fact it was not a real gun is NOT the mitigating factor. In fact it’s completely irrelevant in the eyes of the law. The “mitigating factor” is that Janzen Jackson was a five-star recruit. If redshirt developmental prospects pulled this crap, we wouldn’t even hear the rest of the story, because there wouldn’t be one.
“My recommendation: suspend them for a half game against a cupcake opponent. ”
Yes! Excellent! Bravo.
Maybe he can blame it on SEC officiating. (Actually SEC officiating is bad enough that he might be right.)