TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Apparently University of Alabama coach Nick Saban had a few things on his mind besides facing Ohio State in the upcoming Sugar Bowl, during his press conference on Saturday.
Meeting with reporters for the last time before the team breaks for the holidays, Saban was asked about defensive lineman D.J. Pettway making the most of his second chance at Alabama and recently earning his degree.
Pettway was dismissed from the team after being on the scene of two assaults on campus, but after spending a year at East Mississippi Community College was allowed to re-enroll.
“You know, I think D.J. has done a really good job for us all year long,” Saban started with. “He’s a hard worker, he’s certainly been productive for us in the games, he’s provided a lot of depth for us, he’s been a starter at times, he gives us something in pass rush that we don’t have enough guys who can do that with some of the bigger guys we have to play with on run downs he comes in and plays a real critical role for us.”
But then the coach went in a different direction:
“I think sometimes players don’t understand how important roles are,
he continued. “You know, you’ve got a guy who plays a role in a passing situation or you’ve got a guy who is a sixth DB or whatever, and all of a sudden … that’s a critical role, that’s a critical role to get off the field on third down. But yet, just like a middle reliever or a closer, that’s not a starting pitcher, the guy may only pitch to three batters. But that’s a critical role because you’re finishing the game, that’s a critical part of the game. Sometimes I appreciate those kind of guys a lot more on the team than they even appreciate themselves. Because they all just want to play more.
“But D.J. has done a really good job with that and he’s contributed and done everything we’ve asked him to every way we’ve asked him to do it and never but been anything but positive about doing it. It was really, really good for me, and I think some of our administrators around here who … our president, who shakes hands with all our players when they walk across the stage and graduate, when we give somebody a second chance and they do well and graduate from school.”
Saban’s voice started to rise with the next part.
“There’s always a lot of criticism out there when somebody does something wrong, everybody wants to know ‘How are you going to punish the guy?’ But there’s not enough – for 19 and 20 year old kids – people out there saying ‘why don’t you give them another chance?’ So I’m going to give a speech right now about this.
“Where do you want them to be? Guy makes a mistake. Where do you want them to be? Want them to be in the street? Or do you want them to be here, graduating. When I was over there at the Nagurski (Award banquet in Charlotte, N.C.) Muhsin Muhammad, who played 15 years for the Carolina Panthers, played for me at Michigan State (was there).
“Everybody in the school, every newspaper guy, everybody was killing a guy because he got in trouble and said there’s no way he should be on our team. I didn’t kick him off the team, I suspended him, I made him do stuff. He graduated from Michigan State, he played 15 years in the league, he’s the president of a company now and he has a seven children and his oldest daughter goes to Princeton. So who was right?”
Specifically, in 1993 campus police discovered a gun in the glove compartment of his car. Combined with a previous marijuana possession charge Muhammad served jail time for a probation violation.
Muhammad played with the Carolina Panthers from 1996-2004, 2008-09, and with the Chicago Bears (2005-07). He played in 202 games with 188 starts, caught 860 passes for 11,437 yards and scored 62 touchdowns.
He created his own charity foundation, “The M2 Foundation for Kids,” and was named the Panthers’ Man of the Year award in 1999. He now helps run an investment firm.
“I feel strong about this now, really strong, about all the criticism out there about every guy who is 19 years old and makes a mistake and you all kill them, and then some people won’t stand up for them,” Saban closed with. “So my question to you is, where do you want them to be? Want to condemn them to a life sentence? Or do you want a guy to have his children going to Princeton?”
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
