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Will No Nonsense Nick Saban Take the Cowards Way Out?

Make a choice coach.

Late last night, or depending on how you look at it, early this morning, two Alabama football players were arrested on drug and weapons charges. This isn't the first or the last time this has and will happen at Alabama, but one of the players figures to be a key cog on this years team. In fact, he is a projected starter, preseason All American and will be a first round pick in next years draft. That players name is Cam Robinson and he is a starting offensive lineman on the team, left tackle if I remember correctly. The other player, Hootie Jones, is a back up safety that was expected to compete for a starting job this fall. Jones would, or will, be in the rotation come this fall, but his name doesn't resonate unless you are an Alabama fan or a crazy college football fan, such as myself. Cam Robinson is the big name that is involved in this whole story.

So, first things first, the drug charges. It was weed, and it is a throw away. We as a country just need to decriminalize weed ASAP. It is not a gateway drug. It doesn't cause many ill effects. It just makes you hungry. Now, I'm not a smoker myself, but I know people that enjoy weed and they are very great, very nice, very fun people to be around. They show no signs of being deviants or criminals. They just like to get stoned. The weed charge is dumb and I could care less that these two 20 year olds were getting high.

The weapons, that's another story. I'm very anti gun. I think guns are incredibly dangerous when in the wrong hands. Guns are made to kill or seriously injure people. They are not toys. They are real things that cause real problems. This is where I start to get angry and curious as to what the mighty Nick Saban is going to do. The Jones kid, I wouldn't be surprised if he is kicked off the team, winds up at some junior college and in two years is making his way into the league. Saban will say goodbye to him, but he will catch on elsewhere and, if he is smart and lucky, he will turn his life around and stop playing with guns. Jones will be an afterthought.

The question is what will Saban do with his preseason All American, his QB's blindside blocker, his captain of his enormous offensive line, his next future first round pick? Will he suspend him? Will he make him miss games and practices? Will he cut this kid loose? This is the same head coach that came out and blasted the NCAA for allowing Jim Harbaugh to run satellite camps, stating it was bad for the kids. Will he do what is right for this kid and teach him a lesson, or will he give Robinson a slap on the wrist and only make him miss a few summer practices? If history has taught us anything, I can almost guarantee that Saban lets Robinson slide. Sure, he will make a big deal about giving him a "suspension", something like missing some summer workout sessions, but I would be willing to bet a lot of money that Robinson will be on the starting offensive line when Alabama kicks it's season off in early September. Saban will say he has learned his lesson and that he is a changed kid, But let's be serious, if Robinson were a back up, like Hootie Jones, he'd be kicked off the team. But, since Robinson has all the preseason accolades and acclaim, Saban will, once again, contradict himself and let this kid play. Robinson will not miss a single second of game action.

These kids, and I will assume Robinson was the ringleader, were found with unlicensed weapons in the car. That is a felony. They also had all the weed, but that is a ridiculous charge and hopefully the police let that slide and only focus on the guns. So, why do two twenty year olds need unlicensed firearms? That's one of two main questions, the other being, what will Saban do, but I'm pretty sure I've already answered that and I will answer it some more in my conclusion. I just don't get why these young kids think it's necessary or cool to have guns. There is nothing cool about that at all. Also, they are division one football players, I'm sure they could win any fight physically if need be. They are big dudes that no one would mess with anyway. Some will say, what if someone else pulls a gun on them, and that is a valid point, but that doesn't happen nearly as much as some stupid accident involving guns. I choose to believe that these kids had guns for recreation purposes and not for safety. That's when guns become scary and when something unfortunate happens. These children, and yes they are children, do not need guns ever. They weren't hunting or going to a shooting range or on a skeet shooting team, they had unlicensed guns. They were clearly trying to be cool. They were being idiots. They were acting like spoiled rotten college kids that think they are above the law. They were being stupid.

Now, it's up to Nick Saban. The mighty Nick Saban. The same guy that channels like ESPN and Fox Sports lavish praise on for his take no crap attitude. The guy that challenged Jim Harbaugh(and lost I might add, the ban on satellite camps was lifted). The guy that wins titles. The guy that never cheats, ha ha ha, that sentence was almost impossible to finish writing. What will he do? As I said above, I think the back up safety, Hootie Jones, he will be gone. Jones will be the casualty from this story so ESPN can talk about what a great leader Saban is, you know, typical ESPN bullshit reporting. But, Cam Robinson will see little to no discipline. He is a big time player and Saban is too afraid to really stick it to important players on his team. He has a fear of his fan base turning on him, so he will do nothing to truly discipline Robinson.

Therein lies the main problem. College sports are a business and becoming a joke, if you are a pro level prospect. The kids that are going to go to the next level can get away with almost anything. If you are a good athlete, you are above the law, at least according to coaches like Nick Saban. This is a travesty. This Robinson kid, and Jones for that matter, should face felony charges, but they won't because they are good football players. Something very similar to this happened to former Missouri QB, Matty Mauk. He was caught on camera snorting cocaine, and it was only until he was deemed not as good a player anymore that he was cut. But, don't cry for him because he will be back on a football field next season at Eastern Kentucky because they still believe in him. No wonder athletes have god complexes with the way they are treated. Matty Mauk should be in jail and Cam Robinson and Hootie Jones should be going to court for a felony weapons charge, but since they are good at football, they get fourth, fifth and sixth chances. That stinks. It's funny how this stuff all seems to happen in the SEC. I guess football players are truly above the law in that sham of a conference. Shame on Alabama, Nick Saban, Cam Robinson, Hootie Jones, ESPN, Fox Sports and college football retroactively for the way they will sweep this very big charge under the rug and not talk or report on it. Everyone involved is guilty, but I put the most guilt on Nick Saban.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He longs for the day when we hold the adult coaches more responsible than the children that play for them. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.