Re: Reuben Foster Says He Will Only Visit 3 Schools
Unless Foster comes to Alabama and the disciplined approach to life in general, not just football, I don't think his story is going to end well. And it might not even if he does.
His public remarks are just so self-centered and myopic, he gives no indication of thinking about anything but his own short-term pleasure. That doesn't play well anywhere, but some coaches (Richt and Malzahn to name a couple) will tolerate it in order to get the undeniable talent.
If anybody can harness that talent to a disciplined approach, Saban can. But I'm not sure that's possible.
One other thing that scares me about extreme short-sightedness is that it's the thought process that makes you vulnerable to NCAA violations around accepting improper benefits and dealings with agents.
Please understand, I'm not saying that's happened. I'm saying that wanting what you want right now, not really caring about who else is affected, and rubbing faces in the fact that your talent gets you a lot of tolerance for that behavior, is entirely consistent with taking money, trips or whatever now, and not worrying about the consequences for a whole lot of people. And it doesn't even have to be rogue Alabama boosters. Remember when the boogs set up Mark Ingram and Julio Jones on that fishing trip? If stand-up guys like that would fall for it, people with less-disciplined approaches to life are even more vulnerable.
All that to say, if Foster comes to Tuscaloosa, he will be in a structure he desperately needs. I'm not 100% confident he would conform to that structure. But I am 100% confident that if he doesn't, he will be out of town on the next bus.
If he doesn't come to Tuscaloosa, I see an Isaiah Crowell-type outcome. If he does come, he has a chance, IF he conforms to The Process.
