Question from renewed/bandwagoner fan I guess:

[Dukedawg05]

As I have stated before, really getting in deep into being a fan for the first time since school this year and trying to gain as much info as possible: Question about our football student athletes:

Last night UVA had its 5th arrest of the season, their starting fullback turned himself in for stealing and Xbox last year - this is actually a felony due to the $price$, he will not be punished and allowed to continue playing until his court date after the season.

To me it is simply embarrasing what Tech and UVA have allowed and put up with from many of their athletes. Have many of our Dukes gotten in legal trouble over the last 5 year run? How do Micky and the guys handle things when someone is arrested, etc? Do we have a zero tolerance rule or always punish our guys or do we cop out like the 1A teams and punish them in the off season and then make them sit out the first game of the following year which is usually a cupcake team?

Just interested?

[dukeys]

As I have stated before, really getting in deep into being a fan for the first time since school this year and trying to gain as much info as possible: Question about our football student athletes:

Last night UVA had its 5th arrest of the season, their starting fullback turned himself in for stealing and Xbox last year - this is actually a felony due to the $price$, he will not be punished and allowed to continue playing until his court date after the season.

To me it is simply embarrasing what Tech and UVA have allowed and put up with from many of their athletes. Have many of our Dukes gotten in legal trouble over the last 5 year run? How do Micky and the guys handle things when someone is arrested, etc? Do we have a zero tolerance rule or always punish our guys or do we cop out like the 1A teams and punish them in the off season and then make them sit out the first game of the following year which is usually a cupcake team?

Just interested?

I saw that today and I was thinking the same thing - I actually don't know the answer - but I was wondering too - how do we seem to keep our kids out of trouble - extra care/watch/counseling?

[jmufan2008]

Where's Nation? Naaaaation...where are you on this one? I know you'd love to talk about the school of convicts 1 and the school of convicts 2 versus JMU

[jmuOX581]

I saw that today and I was thinking the same thing - I actually don't know the answer - but I was wondering too - how do we seem to keep our kids out of trouble - extra care/watch/counseling?

I honestly think it has a lot to do with two things:

1.) The kids we recruit are great athletes, yes, but for the majority of them to fall to us they have to be overlooked a bit in HS and therefore may have not gotten superstar/diva treatment (or may just be all around better students). Take Landers for instance - QB at Tallwood, recruited by some 1-A's as a general Athlete, wanted to play QB so he came to JMU. Right then and there he made the decision to play the position he wanted to play for love of the game, not just for pro-potential or to be on a big stage. Of course he has performed amazingly and very well may get drafted.

2.) Football is much more "high profile" at a UVA/Tech, there's probably a lot more opportunities to screw up (especially at UVA which is much more of an academic environment). Combine that with the divas that you're recruiting to the program, and that's a mix for a lot of immaturity and bad incidents.

If that makes any sense.

[madison08]

Think of Matthews as a sort of Bellicheck....He won't put up with **** and will sit you if you do and all the players know that. Even if the 'Randy Moss' acts up he will sit him. I lived next to a few of the guys Freshman year and it seems Matthews keeps pretty tight leashes around them during the seaosn.

[JMU_Nation2007]

Beamer is more concerned with winning than the well being of his players. He is not unique in this aspect but history has shown that he puts up with way too much as long as VT gets the almighty "W"

Groh...he hasn't had problems until lately really...I think he is so desperate he has adopted the Beamer stylings of letting things slide but make no mistake about it...Groh has yet to do anything to be compared to the way Beamer handles things.

I have no respect for VT's football program. The kind of players they bring to their program, their weak out of conference schedules, their attitudes on the field (watch the amount of unsportsmanlike pentalties in a VT game)...it's just a trashy and very overrated program.

Mickey...he is no saint but look at his record. Very few trouble makers during his time at JMU. No one can watch these kids 24/7 and there will always be some bad apples but VT as a program has proven itself to be classless at times.

By the way...did I mention I am not a fan of the Hokies?

[TheYellowWig10]

By the way...did I mention I am not a fan of the Hokies?

Understatement of the year

[Ghost of Dukaholic]

Every program has issues. We're lucky in that we don't have the coverage that a VT or UVA has, in that regard. That said, I think that our rate is lower because we don't get blue chip talent guys - so something we take a closer look at is character, and whether or not we think this kid has a focus on football and a good work ethic. I think generally, if you get kids with good work ethics, they'll also be pretty high character kids.

That being said, when things happen, they tend to stay in house or not get made a huge deal, because we don't have press reporting it as much. Very few stories ever hit the DNR - I think the alcohol offense regarding Clayton Matthews is one of the few I can remember in the last 6 years or so. And there have been plenty more than that....but many just don't make it out into the public.

[Dukester]

To be fair - it's probably easier for a 1AA to keep and appear clean.

Also - I think the admissions office at Tech and UVA are a little more helpful in getting key player in the door.

The more you see yourself on ESPN, the more you seem to see an "I" in team.

That said, this set of coaches has been in tact for the 2000's for the most part. The players seem to be a reflection of the coaching personalities on this team. The current coaches on JMU are not wild, and they are a fairly conservative and focused bunch compared to many other coaches. Most if not all of the position coaches have dinner with their players on Thursday nights.

I saw earlier in the year - two of Delawares players got in trouble(with the police) while intoxicated at a party at one of the assistant coach's house following a loss earlier in the day. Keeler the next week suspended both players, but spaced them out a game apart so as not to hurt the team. :shock:

Mickey would never do that. :? And if he found out one of his coaches had a party during the season where drunken players got in trouble with the law. :shock: I witnessed earlier in the year two Senior players that were simply late to practice. They had a little extra attention from Mickey for 30 minutes following practice. After seeing what they went through, I'm scared to be late to a game. :shock:

I'll also say every team from USC, to Duke, to Notre Dame, to W&M, to RU, to JMU has problems, and MOST are kept in house and very few people find out.

It's scary to know how many things at UVA and VPI we never hear about.

[JMU_Nation2007]

Notice I didn't even have to bring up Michael Vick to show the list of legal problems VA Tech has had in the past few years :roll:

Some may say "oh well [insert name here] didn't really do anything that bad"...doesn't matter...you don't see this crap associated with JMU football.

And these are just articles I found on google after 5-10mins of research. They have legal probelsm going much farther back than these.

Whitiker:
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/ ... ol-charges

Rose:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/ ... rest_N.htm

Marcus Vick (2 of many articles you could find):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01017.html
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/10777702/

Luckett:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3540748

Flowers:
http://www.techsideline.com/news_archiv ... e-1389.php

Brandon Ore:
http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=7607192

Ferguson:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-595508.html

Josh Morgan & Chris Ellis:
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/vtfootball/wb/84325

If anyone needs more articles I will be more than happy to pull of more from this team...