Re: LB Riley Cole De-Commits from Alabama After Asked to Take Greyshirt
Howdy. I'm still new, enjoy reading your posts, and getting used the style of discussion here. I had something to chime in with . Basically, I think some people on both sides are making more of the situation than it merits. I think some people are assuming that the grey shirt was only made known to RC in the last few days, and others believe it has been on the table for a while. Obviously it matters because if the grey shirt was never mentioned and all of a sudden comes up 5 days before NSD, that is pretty hard to swallow. But, as long as it has been on the table from early on and everyone has been up front about the possibility, then I can't say I think a grey shirt offer is a problem.
At the same time, I'm really surprised to see people calling the young man's twitter post "immature". How is it immature? He didn't say bad things about anyone, he didn't claim to have been mislead, he threw no one under the bus. He said that he didn't get a "straight answer" and so he has decided to move on. If I asked the hot girl to go to the prom two months before prom and she said "maybe", believe me I'd stick around for a while hoping, but if 5 days before prom it was still "maybe", I'd move on, too. Because there's more to life than going with the hot girl; at some point it is better to go with someone who wants to go with you. At least, I think that is what RC is saying. And, I think that is okay to say, and to say in public. Is there really more to it?
Also, these guys are dealing with publicity for the first time, and small town publicity at that. They get asked a million questions from a million people, and at some point they just have to say something on twitter to the whole world so that the other 999,990 people they don't want to have to explain it all to will leave them alone. Not to mention, recruits are asked all the time these days to tell us why they are or are not going to sign with a school. Why should RC not tell his audience what his motive are? Some may assume he is trying to put our school on public blast; I assume he is telling his many friends and acquaintances what is going on in his life. And by comparison, last week Lyndell Wilson did put a school on public blast (Florida was it?) for not talking to his mom enough! I didn't see anyone here critiquing him for immaturity. I think looking at this with kind eyes, there's not much to see here.
The coaching staff (assuming forthrightness) is just doing its job. RC is not obviously immature; he got info, he made a decision, he announced it on his personal twitter feed to notify his friends and to satisfy the masses. Boom. Done. I'd call that okay. Making choice is the essence of being mature. Immature is to blame others for the choices we make, or to blame others for the consequences of the choices we make. If some weeks after NSD this young man were to start complaining about the choice he made, saying he was slighted, or something like that, then I could understand questioning his maturity.