Running back Erik Hardeman was arrested last week on felony drug charges when he was found having 20 grams of cocaine, 2 oz of mar1juana and $3,774 in CASH on him. Many people had high hopes for Erik as a running back next year to replace Cedric Benson. At what point does the UT athletics department decide that there is a crime epidemic among the ranks of its "student-athletes"? Is something being done about this? If I were a donating alum, I would have to think twice about giving this year, due to the PR this stuff is creating. Just going off the top of my head, here is a list of student-athletes who have been in trouble with the law in the past couple of years: 1. Larry Dibbles - weed 2. Aaron Harris - weed 3. E. McCollough - weed 4. Selvin Young - weed 5. Cedric Benson – criminal trespassing (his weed charges were dropped) 6. Erik Hardeman – weed and cocaine 7. Brock Edwards – aggravated assault 8. Jason Klotz – beat his girlfriend 9. J. Brent Cox - arrested in Dallas for public intoxication / bar fight 10. Justin Simmons – arrested in Dallas for public intoxication / bar fight Not to even mention the PR that Ricky Williams is bringing to the school wearing his UT sweatshirt while simultaneously telling 60 Minutes about his drug usage. What is going on? http://www.statesman.com/sports/con...ions/tuesday/sports_147c9d6074b220ad00bd.html
i have to admit i was pretty bummed to see ricky wearing that Texas sweatshirt in that 60 minutes piece. all we need are more reasons for the rest of the country to hate Texas (the university.) this athlete crime-spree is disturbing, to say the least.
Many people who don't follow UT very closely, apparently. At the point it becomes considerably worse than this. UT comes off quite favorably in comparisons with other large public universities when it comes to off-field incidents among student-athletes.
The only thing bigtexxx is doing is helping the reputation of UT athletics among non-UT supporters on this board! Keep it up!
i agree with kagy, UT is not the worst in the bunch. that said, the problem is "student-athletes." they contribute to huge profits for their institutions and should be paid accordingly. and giddyup, no, i don't think anything is being done about this.
Brian, I can't believe you can say that people didn't have high hopes for Erik. He was very highly rated coming out of Pville and many fans were counting on him to step in (along with the oft-injured Selvin Young) next year to replace Cedric. Who are the other alternatives? Freshmen? Not likely unless you got AD in your recruiting class (Charles isn't AD). UT comes off favorably compared to other large public universities? Wow. Are you saying that makes it right?
1. A kid is awesome in football in high school. 2. In high school everybody treats him like a celebrity because he can play football. 3. When he is about to graduate, he gets free trips to check out campuses around the nation. 4. College coaches are telling him how great he is. 5. Picks a college, becomes a God on campus. 6. Can party, get chicks, drink, do whatever because he is a football player. 7. Doesn't really have to study, he passes class just because he exists. 8. Everyone treats him like royalty. 9. Gets free food wherever he goes to eat in college town. 10. Gets "favors" from local businesses. 11. Gets a "summer job" in which he never shows up but makes $25 an hour. 12. Somehow drives a $40,000 SUV even though his family is from the projects. 13. Overall treated like the best thing since sliced bread. 14. Free tuition 15. Free R&B 16. Free EVERYTHING. And when these kids get in trouble, we're supposed to be surprised? They have gotten away with everything since their first JV game in high school...of course they are going to get in trouble...at almost EVERY major college football program in the nation.
He was very highly rated coming out of Pflugerville, but he'd done nothing to impress the coaches. Thus the need to recruit as many RBs as we're bringing in. Hardeman wasn't being counted on for much of anything next year. Actually, yes, in the context of reality. Among the small cabal of programs that set the national championship as their goal, incidents of illegal off-field behavior are universal. What sets programs apart from one another is the frequency with which the incidents occur, the types of incidents that occur, and the athletic department's response. For the most part, I'm satisfied that there aren't an undue number of incidents at UT and that the athletic department does a good job of disciplining those involved.
Don't worry UT your buddies at the Ohio State University will keep the NCAA off your case. In case you haven't heard our starting QB (Troy Smith) took something from somebody (no exact details yet) and is inelibile for the Alamo Bowl as of yesterday. Teh timing is perfect because the NCAA was just here (the week before Michigan) to again look into the Clarett thing. It really does suck, seems like for the last 6-7 years we've had our share of mostly minor (arrests mainly) and a big investigation (Mo Clarett) and now since the NCAA is investigating it seems like more and more things keep popping up. The good news is most of the players are good guys. They never run stories on teh team visiting Children's Hospital but at every school there is a couple players who make stupid decisions.
Charles isn't AD. They say he's faster. He also averaged more yards per game against better competition(5A vs. whatever Palestine is...4A, I believe) after missing the first three games with a shoulder injury. I'm not saying he will match AD's production this season, but he is a certified, bona fide badass. Besides, Selvin wasn't really a scrub either. Of course he's not saying that makes it right. If all were right, no such incidents would happen at any university. That's unfeasible, so limiting the number of such incidents is all the university can hope to do.
Wow. WHY am I NOT SURPRISED at the name of the threadstarter??? Bigtexxx: Yet another typical thread.
as someone that never went to the university of texas and doesn't have any ties to the school.... seriously bigtexxx, what's your obession with UT? Didn't you go to Rice, or am I wrong on that? . If so, why is it that everytime I look up you've started a new thread on UT?
I am a HUGE horns fan. You guys are right. This is a terrible problem. Mack Brown MUST address this. He MUST stop these guys from getting caught or there will be problems.
Now that was funny. I've never seen a non-Longhorn so interested in Longhorn athletics. Maybe it rotates- in 2005, will bigtexxx pick up his interest in Ohio State?
