Duke Williams no-showed at practice yesterday. Status uncertain. Certainly wouldn't mind seeing him sit out 2015.
Trouble in Auburn?
- Thread starter 57stratdawg
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He did indeed miss today.
http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2015/08/auburn_practice_observations_d.html
http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2015/08/auburn_practice_observations_d.html
He is evidently suspended until he gets his issues worked out with Malzahn. Wow.
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...liams-misses-second-practice-discipline-issue
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...liams-misses-second-practice-discipline-issue
The more I read on this, I agree. It sounds like an attitude issue. He's probably been reading all his press clippings. It'll be interesting to see if they get him back in the fold and properly motivated, or if he's already checked out to get ready for the NFL draft.
If that's where he was mentally though, I don't see why he came back to Auburn. He could've gone last year and started his NFL career. That's the only part that doesn't make sense to me.
Gus better get him back in the fold. I guarantee a guy that was recruited like Duke Williams was know where some of the bodies are buried. Haven't a couple of Auburn guys aired some recruiting dirty laundry in the past?
Maybe they promised him a bunch of stuff to encourage him to come back and he was under the impression that he could do what he wants? That doesn't make sense either, but it's all I can come up with. He thought he was going to come back for a year of being treated like a king and Malzahn expected him to work hard just like everybody else. If it's not that, I'd have to guess that it's something non-football related that has his head screwed up, presumably involving a member or members of the opposite sex.
Allow me to try to clear this up...
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Now that that's out of the way, if dawgstudent will please post the Reply Tutorial for certain other posters, we'll be all set.**
1* = "No further message"
2** = "I'm being funny" (aka Sarcasterisks)
3 or more *** = Useless. I don't know why the hell people do that.
Now that that's out of the way, if dawgstudent will please post the Reply Tutorial for certain other posters, we'll be all set.**
Losing Williams is an extra blow without the leadership of Nick Marshall. Johnson is good but he won't make several of the plays Marshall and Williams made. Coates is gone as well. Williams is the type of player that bails out a QB and a team in big game situations. I would go as far as saying not having Williams adds 2 losses to the Auburn schedule, maybe 3.
I'm still high on Auburn, even without Williams.
Marshall definitely game more of a run threat than Johnson will, but I think Johnson can sling it a little better than Marshall. However, Auburn's offense did rely a lot on the arm-punt last year. They hit about 4 arm-punts last year against us, just letting guys like Coates and Williams make plays deep, and that's how they beat us.
That said, I expect a much improved Auburn defense to make up for some of the fact that Auburn's offense may not be QUITE as explosive as last year. I'm very high on Auburn. I could be wrong, but if I'm making a pick, they're my pick to win the West this year.
Marshall definitely game more of a run threat than Johnson will, but I think Johnson can sling it a little better than Marshall. However, Auburn's offense did rely a lot on the arm-punt last year. They hit about 4 arm-punts last year against us, just letting guys like Coates and Williams make plays deep, and that's how they beat us.
That said, I expect a much improved Auburn defense to make up for some of the fact that Auburn's offense may not be QUITE as explosive as last year. I'm very high on Auburn. I could be wrong, but if I'm making a pick, they're my pick to win the West this year.
Yea...that won't happen.
Players generally don't squeal, even if they get a raw deal. The reason why is because the culture of "the game" discourages snitching, and they know that if they squeal, they will mess things up for the next generation of kids coming up. They ultimately don't care nearly as much about the school, or the rules, as they do about the other players, and players give the same courtesy to the players after them that the players before them gave.
I can only think of a few times players squealed, and one time was where Auburn actually paid a former Bama player to squeal about Bama. That was at the height of SEC rivals turning each other in to the NCAA left and right. Thankfully, Slive was smart enough to try to squash that practice. That's one of the few things I think Slive did absolutely right, and I think THAT move by Slive is the main reason the SEC finally got out of its own way and started to raise its profile.
Slive came along in 2002, and the SEC started its national championship streak in 2006. I don't think that timing was a coincidence. He didn't stop cheating, but he tried to stop SEC schools from bringing each other down. We're our own worst enemy, and most fans don't realize that. They just think, "if we can get Rival X on probation, it'll be great for us", without realizing that the minute they're successful in getting Rival X on probation, Rival X is going to take aim at them, and they'll eventually get on probation too.
It's the reverse of rising tides raising all boats. The game of "turn your rival in to the NCAA" never works out well for anyone, and yes, I say that even about Xena and all those folks on our end that got into that game after you guys made the play against us in the mid-90s. It's a classic example of programs can drag each other into the muck, and nobody wins.
I think you nailed it about the culture. Duke Williams couldn't care less about Auburn one way or the other. But he's got nothing to gain by ratting them out, even if he is disgruntled, and he knows that if players start doing that it'll ruin the system for the next group of players (some of which are friends of his, or friends of friends).
And that's why you don't see players that are recruited by both rivals rat out the other.
I'm sure Reuben Foster could tell some stories on both Auburn or Alabama and possibly even has some incriminating stuff on Auburn he could use if he wanted to try to bring Auburn down, but he's not going to do that.
If Foster was your typical Bama fan, he'd want to use all that information to take down Auburn's program. Reality is though, he likely has a lot of friends that play for Auburn. He also probably doesn't have ill will toward any of their coaches, likely even has positive feelings about them. And on top of it all, he doesn't want to be seen as the guy that ruins it for the next guy.
Gene Jelks was the Bama player who ratted on them. I had to google it. He was convinced by an Auburn booster to do it out of revenge for the fact that they changed his position and "ruined his career" by his belief.
He still regrets it to this day, and he received a ton of backlash. That's why players won't do it. They don't want to be the snitch, even if they've got an axe to grind with a coach or program.
Interesting, your topic on cheating and turning your rivals in. Seems like your school has turned "the rival you don't recognize" in twice in the past 10-15 years. I guess we owe you a couple
Well, Auburn did have several former players come forward in that HBO special and nothing happened. Chaz Ramsey and several others were on there talking about getting cash after games and other benefits.
Don't think much happened there.
Don't think much happened there.
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