Gene Jelks Interview

[PitMaster]

I did not watch, but was Stan Kreimer credited for being in charge of Wardrobes?

 

[danb]

I listened......as a 42 year old Crimson Tide fan, (lifelong) I remember vividly his play, and his saga afterward.....

The interview leaves me thinking he's obviously grown up, and trying to move on....but, if it's true that he lived 8 years homeless.....after all the opportunities he had bestowed of him, I can only say that he was a prima donna, with talent, that got butt-hurt when life didn't go his way, and bitterly lashed out with BS lies to hurt the University.....instead of moving on in life like we all have to....

Join the "life didn't work out the way I thought it would club" bubba....Many young folk have had that rude awakening......but when you betray, and try to hurt momma, there just ain't no coming back home....

 

[GeorgiaTider]

Forgiveness is not amnesia. Forgiveness is not an emotion. It is a decision. Some people ask forgiveness and then expect you to forget what they did in order to shift the guilt or blame for their actions.

Sometimes, even if you think you can eventually forgive....you can still never forget.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

People need to realize I can forgive a child abuser but not let him near my child. Fine Gene, you're forgiven, get lost.

 

[danb]

Thinking about all that, it only makes sense that he's coming out in the last 4-5 years......Bama is basking in the success of the Saban era....we're on high Tide right now. He thinks that since Bama is rolling now, people will be more forgiving....and forgetful.....of the misery that we endured in the aftermath after the sanctions that he helped to levy......

He's broke, and is living in the past fantasy world of his then, storybook career...(and he was, a stallion running back, back then.....)

Let's write a book, let's talk about how coach...(insert your hated coach here) screwed me out of the Heisman, and a profitable pro career.....lets get sympathy now from fans who are riding a wave of success and are too preoccupied with today, to worry about 25-30years ago..........That's Jelk's MO in 2015.......

 

[CoastGhost]

History is littered with people on the wrong side. Mr. Jelks wants to tell his side but no matter what he says, it will be opposed to my side. I wish him well ... in Lee County.

 

[4Q Basket Case]

Jelks is erroneously equating forgiveness with absolution.

I'll forgive to the extent that I don't wish any more bad things for him. But I won't forget, and I don't want him around any more than I would want to associate with any traitor.

He's learned the same lesson others like him have learned...if you betray your side, the enemy might take what you can offer them, but they don't trust you any more than the folks you betrayed...after all, they know your nature better than anyone.

Gene Jelks gets only limited forgiveness from me, and no absolution at all. If he wants that, he'll need to talk to God.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

Too bad it all happened. I don't have time to watch the interview right now, but I will say the coaches didn't do Jelks any favors by making him a defensive back. That should have never happened. He was an absolutely GREAT running back. But there are no excuses for betraying your Alma Mater, and making the deal to boot with your arch-rival. That's just the worst.

At the time Jelks was injured, he had lost more than a step. He lost his speed advantage, the next man up was both bigger and faster. It was thought that Jelks could help us at Defensive Back. Jelks was angry at loosing his RB slot, so he sold out Alabama for money provided by Auburn.
He made his bed, let him sleep in it.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Jelks was deluded in the first place if he thought he was an NFL prospect or Heisman candidate. Sure, he had a great 1985 Iron Bowl but so did Clay Whitehurst, Al Bell, and Van Tiffin.

 

[gtgilbert]

Too bad it all happened. I don't have time to watch the interview right now, but I will say the coaches didn't do Jelks any favors by making him a defensive back. That should have never happened. He was an absolutely GREAT running back. But there are no excuses for betraying your Alma Mater, and making the deal to boot with your arch-rival. That's just the worst.

NO - he wasn't a great running back. He had a great game once against Auburn. Even before the bad injury, he'd fallen way behind Hump in carries due to other nagging issues. In 85 they basically split touches, but in 86 Humphrey had TRIPLE the number of touches. whether it was the injury or not, the bottom line is he didn't progress physically. He arrived a small guy (170) and left a small guy (174), where Hump put on 20+ pounds (from less than 180 to more than 200) and stayed just as fast in his time at bama. The coaches were right, Jelks wasn't going to get into the pros as a 174lb RB - he was always dinged up even in college so no reason to think that small of a guy would hold up as a pro RB. His best shot was at DB, and he did really well at that position - second on the team in INT's. If he'd have applied himself there he probably could have stayed in the NFL for a long time as a DB and returner.

 

[imauafan]

NO - he wasn't a great running back. He had a great game once against Auburn. Even before the bad injury, he'd fallen way behind Hump in carries due to other nagging issues. In 85 they basically split touches, but in 86 Humphrey had TRIPLE the number of touches. whether it was the injury or not, the bottom line is he didn't progress physically. He arrived a small guy (170) and left a small guy (174), where Hump put on 20+ pounds (from less than 180 to more than 200) and stayed just as fast in his time at bama. The coaches were right, Jelks wasn't going to get into the pros as a 174lb RB - he was always dinged up even in college so no reason to think that small of a guy would hold up as a pro RB. His best shot was at DB, and he did really well at that position - second on the team in INT's. If he'd have applied himself there he probably could have stayed in the NFL for a long time as a DB and returner.

I disagree, Jelks was a great back. Would he have been an NFL back had he stayed healthy? Probably. Perhaps not a great RB due to his size but he could have played in the NFL. He had beaten out Humphrey in 85 as the starter and was the primary RB in our offense. As I recall he was ahead of Humphrey and doing well in 86 until he was injured but then Humphrey took over he never looked back. They were a very, very, very good duo and I believe the 1986 season would have turned out much better with a healthy Gene Jelks to share the load with Humphrey.

 

[Alabama22]

NO - he wasn't a great running back. He had a great game once against Auburn. Even before the bad injury, he'd fallen way behind Hump in carries due to other nagging issues. In 85 they basically split touches, but in 86 Humphrey had TRIPLE the number of touches. whether it was the injury or not, the bottom line is he didn't progress physically. He arrived a small guy (170) and left a small guy (174), where Hump put on 20+ pounds (from less than 180 to more than 200) and stayed just as fast in his time at bama. The coaches were right, Jelks wasn't going to get into the pros as a 174lb RB - he was always dinged up even in college so no reason to think that small of a guy would hold up as a pro RB. His best shot was at DB, and he did really well at that position - second on the team in INT's. If he'd have applied himself there he probably could have stayed in the NFL for a long time as a DB and returner.

I stand corrected. Thanks for the information. I lived in Georgia and North Carolina during that period, and got very little information on Alabama football (no internet back then, and little radio or TV coverage locally). So I wasn't aware of all the nagging injuries with Jelks. My main reference, as most people like me, was the Alabama/AU game in 1985.

 

[TideMan09]

I disagree, Jelks was a great back. Would he have been an NFL back had he stayed healthy? Probably. Perhaps not a great RB due to his size but he could have played in the NFL. He had beaten out Humphrey in 85 as the starter and was the primary RB in our offense. As I recall he was ahead of Humphrey and doing well in 86 until he was injured but then Humphrey took over he never looked back. They were a very, very, very good duo and I believe the 1986 season would have turned out much better with a healthy Gene Jelks to share the load with Humphrey.

Yup..There's no denying Jelks was one of the best RB's we've ever had before his knee injury, he had runs that made go "Whoa", I'm sure glad he's playing at Bama & then he blew out his knee really really bad..I remember reading articles that were saying they didn't know if he would be back at all..Bama has always had the best of the best when it came to orthopedic surgeons & they did well enough to get Jelks back on the field..Back in the 80's athletes just didn't come back from that injury & keep the speed or cutting agility they had before the injury..What made Jelks a great RB was his ability to cut on a dime never losing speed in the process & he left many defenders jock strap on the football field with that cutting ability..But..What made him such an effective RB was gone after the injury..

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I disagree, Jelks was a great back. Would he have been an NFL back had he stayed healthy? Probably. Perhaps not a great RB due to his size but he could have played in the NFL. He had beaten out Humphrey in 85 as the starter and was the primary RB in our offense.

No, he didn't. He got more touches the last month of the season because Humphrey pulled a hamstring during practice between the Memphis and MSU games that limited him the rest of the season.

Humphrey had 99 carries for 502 yards (5.1); Jelks had 93 carries for 588 (6.3). But Jelks got 352 of those yards in two games - Miss State and Auburn - when Humphrey was injured. Bobby got nearly all his yards for the season before November and Jelks caught up only because Humphrey was injured.

Jelks wasn't the primary RB - Craig Turner, the fullback, had more carries. The starting back, in fact, was Kerry Goode, who (again) got injured early in the year. It could easily be argued that two injuries - Goode and Humphrey - gave Jelks the opportunity. And it was Humphrey, not Jelks, who returned kicks, too.

As I recall he was ahead of Humphrey and doing well in 86 until he was injured but then Humphrey took over he never looked back. They were a very, very, very good duo and I believe the 1986 season would have turned out much better with a healthy Gene Jelks to share the load with Humphrey.

He wasn't really 'ahead' of Humphrey, they were sharing the load. Then Bobby had a couple of 200 yard outburst games and that was all she wrote.

But I ascribe to the Ric Flair philosophy - if you're a great, you'll find a way to show it to somebody. Jelks is delusional to have thought he was somehow a Heisman Trophy contender based on one game that owed its accomplishment to the other guy's injury.

 

[gtgilbert]

I disagree, Jelks was a great back. Would he have been an NFL back had he stayed healthy? Probably. Perhaps not a great RB due to his size but he could have played in the NFL. He had beaten out Humphrey in 85 as the starter and was the primary RB in our offense. As I recall he was ahead of Humphrey and doing well in 86 until he was injured but then Humphrey took over he never looked back. They were a very, very, very good duo and I believe the 1986 season would have turned out much better with a healthy Gene Jelks to share the load with Humphrey.

Humphrey was the starter, and had more touches in 85. In 86 in the first couple of games, Humphrey had more touches (Jelks slightly more carries, but Humphrey had more catches). At 174lbs I just don't see Jelks even getting a shot in the NFL as a TB; maybe a WR. He'd proven he wasn't durable in college at 174, so why would the pros think that would change. Even back then the average TB was over 200lbs. His best shot was at DB. Even perkins thought that before curry came in and mad the move