The Georgia – UCLA "Threes"

by Achilles on Apr 19, 2011 9:29 AM PDT

There has been some commotion and laugh tracks over a recent a scandal in the Georgia football program. Three of Georgia's football recruits were named in a locker room robbery incident that has blown up. T Kyle King from Dawg Sports discussed the aftermath from Georgia perspective:

These actions were foolish, the ramifications are frustrating, and the situation is sad. While it is doubtful that these young men have squandered altogether their opportunity to play Division I-A college football, they nevertheless have been moved over into the "character risk" column that could cost them scholarship offers; unless Mark Richt is anxious to try forging team unity among athletes who have been suspects and victims in the same criminal proceeding, they certainly have forfeited the opportunity to don the silver britches and play between the hedges.

What that may mean for Georgia, of course, is that, through no fault of the Bulldogs', Deion Bonner may go on to be some rival school's recruiting coup. It is a necessity that Georgia jettison these prospects; should that lead them to sign letters of intent to play for other SEC institutions, the Red and Black could be victimized twice by these events, in spite of the fact that no one who is now or ever will be in any way formally affiliated with the University of Georgia did anything even remotely wrong.

Rick Neuheisel knows all about this situation. Last year he kicked out three incoming freshmen (who hadn't started their classes yet) from the program for stealing (allegedly) fellow students' bag packs. All of them ended up in rival conference schools (Washington, Arizona and Colorado).

Now Georgia is in the same situation. The question that we can ponder whether in this kind of circumstances the conference has an obligation to impose some restrictions that would prevent rival conference schools to poach these players? It doesn't seem fair to Georgia or UCLA that they were victimized twice due to alleged misdeeds of student-athletes.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

Tweet Comment 12 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Without looking into the Georgia details

I don’t see our situation as an issue. Neuheisel decided that the three here weren’t welcome on the team. If we didn’t play games against teams we had moral issues with, or against teams with players we had moral issues with, for starters we would have no cross-town rivalry. Let’s line up the best representatives of UCLA against the players any other school may choose. If our student-athletes live up to Coach’s standards and play their hearts out as a team until the game is over, I’ll be fine with the result.

Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.

by KSBruin on Apr 19, 2011 10:17 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

+1

"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden

by OswegoBruin on Apr 19, 2011 11:01 AM PDT up reply actions

Given the recent criminal history of Georgia football players

These guys should fit right in at Georgia.

A bruin is good forever, a Trojan is only good... ahh eff it, just use tin foil

by MaltBaa on Apr 19, 2011 10:47 AM PDT reply actions

I think it should be an NCAA issue

I think it is absurd that the 3 ex-Bruins or someone like a Jeremiah Masoli get kicked out of their programs for conduct-related issues, only to hook up with some amoralistic program as if nothing ever happened. It should be up to the NCAA to ensure that its student-athletes live up to a certain code of conduct, and if and when there are issues that get them kicked out of the program, if the NCAA determines that it is appropriate, should mandate the following:

1. lose one year of eligibility
2. cannot transfer to a program within the same conference as prior school
3. cannot transfer to a program that is scheduled to play prior school in next 3 years

Schools should not be penalized for appropriately handling those with conduct-related issues. Furthermore, there should be more well-defined and impactful negative repercussions to those student-athletes whose conduct does not fulfill minimum standards. This is the right thing to do, but, of course, I am talking about the NCAA, so forget everything I just wrote.

by Blue Me on Apr 19, 2011 12:00 PM PDT reply actions

No kidding!

Never mind that it’s [alleged] theft.

That’s like losing your license to a DUI in California only to go and get a license in Oregon. Wait, can you do that?

But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.

by tasser10 on Apr 19, 2011 12:09 PM PDT up reply actions

Right

This is what I was trying to get at:

Schools should not be penalized for appropriately handling those with conduct-related issues. Furthermore, there should be more well-defined and impactful negative repercussions to those student-athletes whose conduct does not fulfill minimum standards.

Thanks for articulating that BM.

by Achilles on Apr 19, 2011 12:10 PM PDT up reply actions

It really is ridiculous

These schools, who are doing the right thing, are already getting hurt by losing the services of the offending athlete. They shouldn’t be further penalized by watching said athlete score touchdowns on them or sacking their QB over and over again the next few years. No wonder a program like southern cal handles its conduct issues with “extra laps” at practice.

by Blue Me on Apr 19, 2011 12:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Agree.

I think the NCAA needs to have student-athlete penalties apply at any NCAA institution, just like many here have called for penalties on coaches to follow them from place to place.

Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.

by KSBruin on Apr 19, 2011 1:37 PM PDT up reply actions

Agree!

i think its ridiculous that a kid has to sit out a year if he transfers for personal reasons but these kids never missed a beat. Achilles nailed it we were hit twice!

"Success is never final, Failure is never fatal. It's Courage that counts" - John Wooden.

by TheUclan on Apr 19, 2011 9:32 PM PDT up reply actions

I don't understand...

…why one team can kick a player off that team for misconduct, and another team picks them up so quickly. What if Paul Richardson had allegedly committed a crime at Colorado? Would he have been kicked off of their squad only to be welcomed onto UCLA’s? Why does it matter where you are when the violation occurs? The whole thing just reeks of one institution avoiding scandal and imposing “disciplince,” and another institution giving players a second chance. Totally ridiculous.

by hicalliber on Apr 20, 2011 8:57 PM PDT reply actions