Saban blames NFL for Sugar Bowl defeat

Nick Saban, the Alabama head coach, isn’t blaming players for their lack of preparedness going into the 2014 College Football Play-Off semi-final loss to Ohio State. He’s not blaming himself. Or his coaching staff. Nope. He’s blaming the NFL. “I just felt like, in our experience last year, our team chemistry from the SEC Championship game to the playoff game was affected by something,” he said. “I think that to have a December 15th deadline from when a junior can submit for a draft grade and then you get that assessment back sometime right before or right after Christmas, and then you have a playoff game coming up on January 1st or 2nd, and I think it’s my obligation as

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Saban: Taylor will not be reinstated

Nick Saban, the head coach of Alabama, has said that Jonathan Taylor will not be reinstated in Tuscaloosa despite the defensive tackle’s girlfriend recanting her accusation of domestic violence on Saturday night. “That decision has already been made. He won’t be back with us,” Saban said in an interview with ESPN.com. The University added that Taylor won’t be to continue studies as a student in Tuscaloosa either. “Jonathan Taylor is no longer a student at The University of Alabama and is not eligible for readmission.” Taylor arrived on Alabama’s campus as an early enrolee to the team after spending a year in Mississippi at a junior college after being dismissed from the University of Georgia after being arrested for domestic

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Nick Saban: Stuck Between Rock and Hard Place

  Nick Saban is stuck between a rock and a hard place in the Jonathan Taylor situation, and both sides don’t look attractive to the Alabama head coach. It emerged on Monday that Taylor’s girlfriend had recanted her story about being domestically abused, and she was arrested. Prosecutors are still convinced that something went on, and questions about that night vary. There’s also been some really interesting comments from domestic abuse lawyers on Reddit about story recantation that you MUST look at, if you get the chance. Anyway, this has led people to wondering: “Well, if he’s innocent of attacking the gal, then why hasn’t he been reinstated?” First of all, Saban and his staff – like the rest of

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Alabama RB dismissed after drug arrest while on suspension

Alabama has dismissed running back Tyren Jones after he was arrested in Tuscaloosa on Monday, continuing a horrible streak of arrests for the Crimson Tide. Jones – who was already on suspension from the Alabama team for “conduct not the standard of the Alabama football program” -was arrested for possession of marijuana after his car was stopped for speeding just before midday on Monday. The officer found the marijuana – as well as digital scales belonged to the man in the car with Jones, Brandon Lee Hansberry. Jones was charged with possession of marijuana second degree. This is the third arrest for Nick Saban’s team in four days, following the arrest of Jonathan Taylor on domestic violence charges and Geno Smith

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Nick Saban: Sorry not Sorry

Nick Saban has apologized to the press for the way the Jonathan Taylor situation has worked out, but not for actually bringing the player to the school in the first place. “I’m not sorry for giving him an opportunity. I’m sorry for the way things worked out,” Saban said at a press conference. “I’m not apologizing for the opportunity that we gave him. I wanted to try to help the guy make it work. It didn’t work. So we’re sorry that it didn’t work and we’re sorry there was an incident and we’re sorry for the people that were involved in the incident. But we’re not apologizing for what we did and we’re going to continue to create opportunities for

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Pull No Punches: Nick Saban owes Alabama fans an apology over Taylor debacle

Nick Saban likes to tell people that he loves to give out second chances. He was passionate in the pre-SEC Championship Game press conference about letting DJ Pettway back after booting him for getting arrested for robbery. He said at the press conference: “There’s always a lot of criticism out there when somebody does something wrong, everybody wants to know how you’re going to punish the guy. There’s not enough for 19 and 20-year-old kids, people out there saying, ‘Why don’t you give them another chance?” He added: “Where do you want them to be? Guy makes a mistake. Where do you want them to be? You want him to be in the street or do you want them to

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No Third Chances: Alabama dismisses Jonathan Taylor

Jonathan Taylor, the former Georgia DT booted from Athens after domestic violence charges who then enrolled at Alabama, has been booted by the Crimson Tide after being arrested for domestic violence charges. According to ESPN: “Police officers responded to a call near Alabama’s campus to speak with a woman who told police she was assaulted by her boyfriend at approximately 6 p.m. Saturday. After speaking to the woman about an altercation that took place at her residence, officers located the suspect at the residence and spoke to him about the incident. Officers found probable cause to arrest the suspect. The 24-year-old woman had minor injuries to her neck from the assault, according to the police report. The officer also noted

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Right Richt: Jonathan Taylor booted by Georgia

You know what? We’re not actually being sarcastic when we say “Right Richt”, because any guy who strangles or strikes his girlfriend or any female (as it seems sophomore D-Lineman Jonathan Taylor did in the late hours of Monday night) should be booted from a football team and if we’re honest, should not be allowed to transfer, unless it’s to jail. Well, after this second run-in with the law in one off-season, the 6-4, 340lb  Taylor was dismissed by the Georgia Bulldogs today. He was released from jail at 11.45am and was packing up his stuff by 1.30pm today. Mark Richt obviously wasn’t screwing around. The news release detailing his booting came at around 3pm, according to reports. There isn’t

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Georgia D-Lineman arrested: Dismissal pending?

Georgia starting defensive tackle Jonathan Taylor has been arrested on a felony charge of aggravated assault. Taylor – who was part of the group who arrested and charged with ‘theft by deception’ for depositing his stipends twice – was jailed early this morning after allegedly strangling a woman in his college dorm room. According to the Athens Banner-Herald, “There was evidence that the female victim had been “possibly strangled by the offender,” in the incident in Taylor’s dorm room….There was evidence that the victim and another individual had been involved in an argument in McWhorter Hall, police said. Officers determined an established relationship and “co-habitation” with Taylor and the victim…” “There were visible signs of injuries around her neck”, police

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