Andre Officially Gone
In a statement released by Andre Smith via the Montgomery law firm of Thomas, Means, Gillis & Seay:
"I value deeply the opportunity I've had to play for such a prestigious program and to have the support of such a prolific coach in Nick Saban. After much consideration, I am proud to announce my intent to become eligible for the next National Football League draft. Alabama football will always hold a special place in my heart."
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Thanks Andre
for coming to Bama. You did not cost us the Sugar Bowl, we did that to ourselves.
However, if you had played last night maybe we could have run it in 1st qt., kept our D off the field long enough to make some adjustments, and put in the end zone in the 1st Qt,a nd worn them down. Who knows if you had played it may have gone differently. Johnson might not even have been hurt since he would have been at LG.
But, this defeat was on the team that dressed out, not Andre Smith.
If you played last night
Paul Kruger might not have been freakdancing on John Parker Wilson’s ass for four quarters. The O-Line continuity might have been there. Boswell and Ross would have been on the sideline (though I can’t say this experience won’t help them for the future); Davis and Johnson would have been in their normal spots, and maybe we could have scored on our first or second possession instead of falling behind and panicking.
But, hey, we’ll never know. If you had played, we might not have won, but our offense wouldn’t have ANY excuse. You were our best player—the undeniable catalyst—and you weren’t there for us in the biggest game of your time at Bama.
We all forgive you. But we really wish you (or your family) had used better judgment.
I've lost a lot of respect for Smith from all of this.
What he has done over the past week has been completely selfish. He knew the rules. I appreciate what he did for the team the past couple of years, but wait till the season’s over to worry about the NFL. Finish what you start.
I wish
Andre—or his family—would have waited until today to make contact with an agent. Going back to my time at Bama, I’m still bothered by this sort of thing. Andre was a great player and we were lucky to have him.
But Jeez, man, couldn’t he or his family have waited? Prosecute the agents involved to the furthest extent of the law. Make these A-holes learn a lesson.
Sorry
I still need to vent.
Attention: Bama players
In case you guys haven’t noticed, we’ve had our fair share of run-ins with the NCAA over the past fifteen years. We earned “repeat offender” status, which in the college football world’s eyes is about as honorable a brand for a football team as it is on a pedophile in the real world. In case you don’t catch my drift, don’t be a freakin’ ignoramous (like Luchesi, who can’t tell Amontillado from Sherry) and if your family doesn’t understand this or can’t wait for you to play one more damn game before riding your coattails to easy street give me their number so I can call and explain it to them.
It’s quite simple, guys, don’t break the rules. The thing that pisses me off most is this doesn’t happen to other teams. Perhaps restraint is something they have congenitally, or perhaps they’re not total idiots and their families are smart enough not to engage in this sort of thing.
Don’t bend the rules. The entire state of Alabama hears your farts. You’ll get caught talking to agents. And for the record, you should have signed with Drew Rosenhas.
Best of Luck
I will remember him for everything he did to help this team have a great season. I will also remember him for being the first big time prospect to come to Alabama after our probation ended.
andre was a beast and will be remembered as such
as regretful as the situation was the past few days has been, i really can’t feel as upset with the guy as… say jimmy johns. smith made a mistake (but an agent made a bigger one) and paid for it. he learned, the team learned and, i’m pretty sure, the agents have learned this ain’t gonna happen again. but, as kenny points out, andre was one of the first guys to start us back on the road to where we are right now. he’s got nothing but my respect for that alone.
all in all, much like the painful loss on thursday, i’m marking this whole post-season up to experience. this remains a very young team and they have learned some hard lessons since the euphoria of the iron bowl. i fully expect this all to be part of the reason folks should be even more frightened of us next year.
and, along those lines, we were gonna have to replace andre next season anyway. we took a step toward that in the sugar bowl. a faltering difficult step but a move forward nonetheless.
good luck in the nfl, andre. you deserve it.
Good, cant say im hurt by u leaving
and i will continue to but blame on u for what u did. JPW went from having YOU on his blind side to some backup who had a holding and false start penalty and let JPW get hit 3 times in the first quarter. Yes that f’d with his head knowing u were not over there. Thank u andre for being a selfish self center prick, i preciate it
Hell, no! A tie is like kissing your sister!
how can you blame him
Andre was one of the only players not to quit last year. The bowl game wasn’t going to help him anymore and he could have risked being injured.
You can’t blame him for taking the money.
Its not about him leaving for the NFL
Thats why players go to big time teams…to get to the NFL. Its in the way he did it. One more game wouldnt have killed him. Injury is a risk every time you suit up. Playing one more game wasn’t going to hurt anything.
When you are an Alabama fan you are expected to hate Auburn, I hate Tennessee because I want to.
Comer
You seem to be handling this well…I thought we’d get at least one really good rant from you…
When you are an Alabama fan you are expected to hate Auburn, I hate Tennessee because I want to.
give me a few days
im still hopped up on pain meds from my operation and im bout to have to fire a girl who is stealing from my cash drawer and that has got me pissed off enough right now, and i got my bonus on the first for making my numbers so im riding that wave and im kinda dating this girl and she is a total sweetheart alabama fan, and hot.
Hell, no! A tie is like kissing your sister!
I actually meant that as a complement...that you hadn't lost it yet
Others didn’t take it so well.
Dating an Alabama fan thats hot…always a promising situation
When you are an Alabama fan you are expected to hate Auburn, I hate Tennessee because I want to.
yeah and my 20,000 bonus for hitting my numbers
really helped with my attitude but this bitch that works for me stole 500 bucks to pay her premiums and backdated the payment because her stuff canceled, well last night she totaled her vehicle (and since she hadnt paid it was cancelled for a month now, hince why she backdated the payment) and is blamming me saying i took her cash when she gave it to me to pay for it a few months ago. what she doesnt know is my premium fund is not off by a penny and now magically its off 500 (how much she owed) over night…….hmmmm………think im pissed off about the game?
Hell, no! A tie is like kissing your sister!
Zandor, are you implying that he took the money so that he wouldn’t have to play in the game and possibily get injured? I haven’t seen a report about that, but would find it interesting. I think most of these guys are very interested in getting the money and moving on. I can’t blame them, I would always leave early if I was going first round. I went to college to get a job, they’re going to college to get a job. Same purpose, different “major”. However, I still think he would want to play in the last game of his college career and close out a great season.
Question
The last thing I heard on this whole talking to an agent issue, was that it was an uncle. For several days, it has been said that it was a family member, not Andre. Of course, I have said if I were in the position, I would end every phone call or visit home with “don’t talk to anybody,” but that is just me.
My question here is, how can an uncle even represent Andre legally in a contract negotiation? And if he cannot, how can it even be an issue if he(the uncle) talks to an agent? Wouldn’t this mean that ANY person off the street could talk to an agent right before a game, posing as an “uncle,” and cause the same problems? I would have assumed that the only person that couldn’t talk would be Andre, or anyone who represented him(his attorney), or if he wasn’t of age—his parents/guardians.
I know that most of what has been released hasn’t been “official,” but can anyone help me out here?
googlenews search for "lloyd lake + USC + reggie bush"
legally his relatives cant act on his behalf or negotiate for him, but they can compromise-cancel out his eligibility (if the NCAA or scholastic institution care that is….)
so great job extended family, you likely cost him (and presumably yourself since you’re all up in his bidness it seems) a cool million or more in signing bonus money. the NFL is taking a somewhat harsher stance on perceived “character cases”, and it’s truely truely a shame that andre will probably be lumped into that group, but it will no doubt be a factor when it DOES come time to sign that contract.
by tempebamafan on Jan 4, 2009 12:52 PM CST up reply actions
if it was a family member,
then having to suspend him for that is the most retarded thing in the world. A family member concerned about the money isn’t going to care about the Sugar Bowl. Andre can’t control that. So if it was a family member, then somebody really needs to do something about this. Punish the agent, but the player shouldn’t be held accountable for something like that.
but if his family, or his friends, are deemed to have "received benefits otherwise unavailable to student body as a whole"
and the university is deemed to have knowledge of it, and still allows him to play, then we are FUBAR. FUBAR, FUBAR, FUBAR.
if it was a family member doing what has been speculated, then saban did the only thing he could do. fall on the grenade and hope it makes us stronger down the road.
NCAA rule tweaking?
Doesn’t this seem like a PERFECT example for the NCAA to see why this rule should be defined very clearly? Or maybe the NFL deciding that they ONLY speak with direct reps and not extended family members or friends?
The player shouldn’t be held responsible and neither should the university! For EXTENDED family??? Come on! I can actually see the parents(holding them accountable) and was very upset when I thought it WAS his parents, after gushing over how great they were at the tropy presentation. I do NOT think the player or universities should have to also keep an eye on the assorted aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmothers, grandfathers, etc. of every player on the team. There needs to be some clarification it seems.
when they outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns
when have this sort of system in place, only reggie bush and USC get to cheat.
Woulda coulda shoulda
Andre Smith could have had a legacy at Bama as one of the most respected and loved players of all time. Now he is thought of as either not-so-smart at best, to destructive to an entire team at worst. So short-sighted. Delayed gratification is the hallmark of all successful people.
marycontrary
Its
best just to make a clean break. He doesn’t have anything to gain by coming back, finally this will allow us to officially start talking about the makeup of the ’09 team without him.
Thirty-Six to Nothing
What sucks is
I will forever think of Smity as the guy who contacted an agent and played a part in our loss to Utah.
He had 3 great years at Bama and have given us some fond memories. I hate that my last memory of him is negative but thats how i feel. Anyone else feeling that way?
When you are an Alabama fan you are expected to hate Auburn, I hate Tennessee because I want to.
I do
feel that way to a point. I think its like dating a girl for 3 years, once you’re emotionally and mentally done, you’re done even if you haven’t ‘officially’ broken it off. If was at that point then I’d rather him just not even suit up.
Thirty-Six to Nothing
In time
It is another of those “in time” situations. Right now, that is ALL we can think about him, but in time the good will surely out-weigh the bad in the case a Andre Smith. When stats are recalled and highlight film is shown 2-3 years from now, it won’t sting as badly as it does now.
Think of it this way, his back up played for 7 minutes before an injury took him out of the game…….could have been Smitty if this whole thing hadn’t gone down!
but you can't say that just because Johnson got hurt
that Andre would have. With Andre playing, it most likely would have been a different circumstance and it wouldn’t have happened. Andre might have gotten hurt during the game, but not at the same time or whatever. And i would have rather him go out that way (as long as it wasn’t a serious injury or anything) than the way he did without even playing. I wouldn’t be thinking bad about him right now if that was the case.
Witholding judgement
if your family was to blame for costing us our first Sugar Bowl in 1.5 decades, then I’ll cheer you, Kenneth Darby and the Rams on unless its against the Titans.
If you spoke to an agent, then your dead to me. (Along with Deshea “South Panola High School” Townsend
I totally feel the same way about Townsend...
I’d like to strike his name from any rosters, stat sheets, records, etc like he never played here since that’s what he’s pretending and would prefer. Works for me Deshea, you a$$hole.
As for Smith, I don’t care if it was someone in his family. When you’re in a position where you KNOW you’re going to be a high draft pick, you educate EVERYONE around you what NOT to do. If this was done purposefully to avoid playing and getting injured, then he should have told Coach Saban BEFORE bowl practices started that he didn’t want to play. Then the reconfigured O-line would have had more time to jell.
The fact that he hasn’t been man enough to apologize for the situation REALLY pisses me off too. If he doesn’t feel bad about it, he’s not the guy I thought him to be the last 3 years. Caldwell said he was “kinda remorseful”. What the hell does that mean?
I remember how proud I was when he donned the houndstooth hat on NSD and I loved him from the start. I will find it VERY hard to cheer for him in the NFL. Time will NOT change this last memory of him for me. The sad thing is – will he care how anyone thinks of him when he’s making the BIG bucks? Prolly not.
"I hate everything orange"
It's all about Crimson - ROLL TIDE!!!
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