So Akeem Hebron plans to transfer to Georgia Military College and the cozy relationship between Georgia and GMC will apparently continue. Aside from this recruiting season, when three GMC players -- DE Jarius Wynn, DT Corvey Irvin and OT Vince Vance -- signed with the Bulldogs, Milledgeville is where Georgia has stashed several players with disciplinary problems in the past.
Odell Thurman immediately comes to mind. After his redshirt year in 2001, Thurman was suspended for a year and went to GMC before being allowed back in 2003. Josh Johnson went to GMC in 2005 after a disciplinary suspension, but never returned to Athens. The former No. 9 linebacker in the country out of Stephenson High signed with Marshall and recorded 72 tackles last year.
Now it's apparently going to be Hebron, who was ranked the nation's No. 8 linebacker last year before redshirting at UGA in 2006. If he keeps his nose clean over the next year, he can be back in 2008.
It's interesting to see the school rules actually enforced on a football player to the fullest extent of the law. The school strengthened its alcohol policy last September, changing the punishment for an alcohol offense while on probation from where it "may" result in suspension to making a suspension the minimum punishment. Call me crazy, but I kind of thought they might find a way around it and Hebron would get a multiple-game suspension instead.
So what do you think Georgia fans? Is this punishment excessive? Are you glad to see the rules enforced equally on a football player? Does the practice of stashing kids who've gotten in trouble at GMC trouble you or is that the best way to keep them close to home and still teach them a lesson?
15 comments:
I am glad to see football players held up to the same standards as regular students, but I also feel that the policy itself is fairly ridiculous. No college kid should be held to standards like that, regardless if he puts pads on or not.
Get ready for this too impact a lot of students at UGA. You can die for your country but you can't drink a beer. Just another revenue stream for the powers that be in Athens. What a joke!
Of course the punishment is excessive particularly when comparing the standards set by other schools in the SEC...Although I'm sure the consequences for a 2nd violation were hammered home to Hebron, it still doesn't excuse the fact that the punishment doesn't fit the crime
if the rules stipulate that 2 offenses within a certain period of time get you kicked out, then how could it be construed as excessive? coach richt directly stated that hebron knew the rules but couldn't follow them. sounds to me like he's learning a valuable life lesson, albeit a difficult one. to all of the detractors, i would tell you that you need to change the rule if you don't like it, but don't complain when the rules are enforced legally. and no, matt stafford didn't do anything legally wrong toting a keg over his head. he didn't get caught and is innocent of anything in the eyes of the law. i can guarantee you that coach richt would have had some serious consequences if stafford had been guilty of and arrested for what happened at the race.
To Anon above, the fact that a rule is "legal", and just because it's explicitly stated to everyone's knowledge, has absolutely *zero* bearing on whether or not a punishment is excessive or not.
ward, it would be excessive if you cited specific examples where someone else, doing the exact same thing within the same period of time, got a lesser punishment for it.
if the rule states a certain punishment and you say you understand the rule and agree to abide by it, how can it be considered excessive?
Anon 3:26
By your logic it would be OK if you were executed for underage drinking, as long as you knew that was coming.
Having notice of a punishment doesn't absolve the punishment from being excessive.
I think you guys are arguing two different points. Is the punishment the correct one as that's what's stipulated in the school's code of conduct? Yes. But then there's the debate over whether the punishment suits the crime. Yes it's what's stipulated, but it does seem a bit harsh.
I have the convenient position of not having to decide what's a proper punishment or what's excessive and only to report what happens when it does. Knowing the shenanigans I was a part of when I was 17 to...well, pretty much now...I have a hard time saying what's right and what's not. I'm glad I don't have to be in charge of other people's discipline, seeing as how I have none.
Don't forget about Randall Stoopes and Dana Graydon.
Stoopes was a con man. At GMC, he was a model cadet and a team leader. He conned his way back into Georgia and got booted off the team during his first week back.
Dana Graydon was terrible. He couldn't even crack the two-deep at GMC. Graydon made me wonder about Georgia's talent evaluators. Georgia pretty much gave up on him and wouldn't have taken him back if he made top cadet and perfect citizen.
That's very interesting. I wonder how long this loose alliance has existed between the two? Somebody who's been around Georgia longer than I have (2000), help me out here.
We signed Jermaine Smith and Keith Drayton out of GMC in '95. Smith turned out to be a player and is still in the league.
Hopefully, this will quiet anyone saying that UGA doesn't discipline it's players. We're suspending guys for getting caught drinking while other schools are "investigating" incidents where their players fired weapons into the sky. Coach Richt is doing things right, and we should be thankful for that. In the end, that will breed the kind of men that win, on the field and off.
I have posted this before but my wife & I were at the Colorado game last season and were in Oglethorpe dorm with our son before the start. There was a young male student outside the dorm in front of the O House dining hall who was more intoxicated than anyone I have ever seen. He had laid down in the parking lot because he couldn't stand and was throwing up all over himself. We seriously thought he might choke and die and so did the staff. They called the UGA police and when they got there - THEY SAID "WHY DON'T YOU CALL A CAB AND GET HIM BACK TO HIS DORM!" The young man could easily have died. The UGA police then sat in their car and watched while his mortified blind date got a cab and put him in it. The dining hall staff then took a water hose and washed off the sidewalk where he had been. Is he still alive? Who knows. But the Oglethorpe Dining Hall manager can verify my story. Dr. Thomas Johnson Class of '74
Its always a good move for a player with a negative attitude to go to GMC. Look at Pope's attitude and performance after he spent his time at Hargrave. Get ready to see an impact player in Hebron starting 2008
Ohhh.. Im sorry... I thought its a General Motors Corporation. I'm sorry I just have a concern regarding GMC lovers for their GMC window regulator. Thanks anyway..
But the truth is... I believe in you guys(GMC not General Motors Corp). Goodluck guys. And more power to your GMC.
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