"ice was supposed to be the start of putting all A&M’s off-the-field problems behind. Manziel and Everett would play in the third quarter after serving half-game suspensions, then Ennis and Raven would return for Sam Houston State and by the time Alabama hit town, all the talk would be just about football. That’s not possible after what happened Saturday. Before kickoff, Sumlin announced he had to suspend four more players, each for two games. And instead of Manziel grabbing headlines for three touchdown passes in turning a seven-point lead into a 52-31 blowout victory, the buzz Sunday was about his nonfootball actions that ended with him getting an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and benched. What in the name of E. King Gill is going on? More importantly, when will it end? The two-game suspensions of senior middle linebacker Steven Jenkins, sophomore cornerback De’Vante Harris, junior defensive end Gavin Stansbury and redshirt freshman wide receiver Edward Pope for violating athletic department rules and regulations is concerning and disappointing. Last season, Jenkins along with junior safety Howard Matthews were suspended for the Louisiana Tech game for violating a team policy. Also last year, Steven Campbell and Christine Michael were suspended for the SMU game for violating team rules. With the suspensions of Ennis, Everett and Raven, that’s 10 players, including a repeat offender, to miss 14 and a half games over a span of 15 games. Some will joke those numbers are reflective of the other programs in the Southeastern Conference, but it’s not a laughing matter to Sumlin. He’s known as a disciplinarian, yet his players keep breaking rules. Maybe he needs stiffer penalties. And what about Manziel’s antics? He appeared to be signing an autograph in space while jawing with one Rice defender, a bad spinoff of him being found guilty of an inadvertent violation of NCAA rules concerning signing autographs that led to his half-game suspension. Then just talking to defenders wasn’t enough after throwing his third touchdown pass, so he pointed toward the scoreboard, drawing the penalty. It also drew the ire of Sumlin who with his best call of the day benched his star quarterback. Manziel allowed his emotions to get the best of him. No doubt the Rice players were taunting him, but that’s no excuse. “No matter when the comments are he’ll be playing every week with people chirping and [talking back] is not OK,” Sumlin said. As the leader of the team he’s got to have thicker skin considering his summer. Teams that can’t beat him on the field, which will be just about all of them, will try to get the best of him in a war of words, just as Rice did. He’s also given the opposition one more reason to win. Can you imagine how many times Alabama’s defensive players are going to watch the tape of Manziel jawing at the Rice players? Manziel’s actions were selfish as was whatever the other players did to get suspended. They can say what they want, but their actions have been damaging to the team and the program, something that Sumlin says they talk about all the time."
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 14:06:34 +0000
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