Junior Year Box Set

My next calls were to all the schools that had recruited me. I was surprised at how fickle the support was from some programs. Alabama and Kentucky backed me completely. Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State listened to what I had to say and confirmed their offers. USC, Stanford, Oregon, and Northwestern wanted to see how this all played out, but for now, I had a scholarship if I wanted it. Notre Dame pulled back their offer and said that they were worried about my character. Finally, Iowa canceled my weekend trip. They told me that if it all worked out, they’d like me to visit during basketball season. They had a no-tolerance policy against domestic violence. While I agreed with their stance, I felt they should have waited until I was at least charged, instead of just assuming I had done something.

Luckily, my dad had raised me to not burn any bridges, so I didn’t say what I really thought about a couple of schools.

I then stepped through the list of schools that had sent me information and had asked me to visit.

One school I took off my list was Missouri. For several months, black student groups had protested about racial slurs allegedly used by some white students on campus, as well as several other alleged acts of discriminatory behavior. Thirty black football players announced they would not practice or play until their university president was removed from office.

The primary reason I removed Missouri from the list was purely selfish: I was currently in the middle of my own scandal and didn’t feel the need to jump into another potential mess. The second reason was I totally disagreed with players walking off the football team. What floored me was their coach supported them. This whole incident would only destroy the team’s chemistry, and I would bet money their season would go into the toilet because of it.

I didn’t have a problem with them protesting or using other means to show their displeasure. It was the act of walking out on their teammates that bothered me. I felt that if the whole team had walked out, that would have been different. When it was reported that only the black players had taken a stand, that told me they hadn’t talked to any of the other players on the team. If you had an us-against-them attitude on your team, it was ridiculous, and you were doomed as a team. A teammate wasn’t defined by the color of their skin. A teammate was someone you worked with every day to make the team the best it could be. I’d learned that last year when Brad Hope pitted the seniors against the underclassmen.

Two schools I made a point to contact were Florida and Florida State. My mom wasn’t happy after she watched the ESPN show about athletes who committed crimes, and these two schools were the worst offenders of the teams that were looked at. The facts that it didn’t snow there and they had winning traditions were attractive.

Between calls, I read the different schools’ fan/recruiting websites. The common theme was they didn’t want a player who hit and raped the mother of his child. I couldn’t blame them. I admit I’d always assumed the worst when I read reports like mine. I wouldn’t be so quick to judge in the future.

One blog entry on a recruiting website caught my attention, and I immediately sent it to Frank. He then posted it for everyone to see. I was glad someone had some common sense.

 

‘I would also strongly urge folks to stop inferring anything either way about this situation. It is unseemly and reflects poorly on us as a fan community. It’s just as bad to accuse someone of making false accusations as it is to accuse them of domestic violence. The fear that they will not be believed is the reason many victims back off or don’t come forward at all. Let’s not contribute to that problem. It saddens me to think this might be the case here, and each time something like this happens, it damages women.