Notre Dame quarterback Demetrius Jones has walked away from the team and is seeking to get out of his scholarship. Imagine, after accomplishing the dream of just about every catholic schoolboy–starting quarterback for Notre Dame and after only three games, he is going to walk away.
Normally, I would jump all over the kid, call him a quitter and talk about character and the need to step up and lead your team. Not here. This is about his personal safety and I think he is making a good decision. Any quarterback that is forced to stand behind an offensive line that has given up a nation leading 21 sacks and 31 tackles for a loss in only three games needs to seriously consider his own health and well being.
You can talk about glory, commitment to the team and whatever else you want, there comes a point where self preservation takes over. If Jones wants to have a future career, not just in football but a career in anything, he needs to get out of Notre Dame now.
According to the Associated Press, Jones didn’t even tell Notre Dame coaches. He just didn’t show up for the bus to Michigan last weekend. Instead, he spent the weekend at Northern Illinois watching to see if, unlike Notre Dame, they actually put an offensive line on the field.
All the secrecy and controversy over who would start for Notre Dame this year and now the quarterbacks can’t get out quick enough. Rats jumping from the Titanic had a better chance than a quarterback on this team.
That leads me to anther item that needs to be considered. Why don’t we hear Notre Dame fans calling for the head of Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis. When they pushed Tyrone Willingham out after only two years, I didn’t want to think that race had anything to do with it but now I’m not so sure.
Weiss has survived the last two years with players recruited by Willingham. Most of them graduated last year leaving Weis to develop his own team and it doesn’t look like he can do it. A great college coach can not only put out a winning team but can rebuild each year, bringing on new talent and developing them into great players. If you can’t recruit at Notre Dame, you won’t be able to recruit anywhere.
Notre Dame made a big mistake pushing out Ty Willingham and it has left them with a no win situation. If they keep him on, not only do they suffer what could be a long a trying time for Notre Dame, it becomes very hard to justify the firing of Willingham. Those that scream race start to look like they have a point.
If they push Weis out, who will they get to replace him? Two coaches in five years? Yeah, that sounds like a good program to step into.
The beauty of it all…while I will spend the rest of this season struggling to find the Buckeyes on television in the Mid Atlantic, thanks to a very lucrative television contract, I will be able to find every single horrendous Notre Dame front and center on my basic cable linup.
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