Nick Saban sends message in suspending Alabama football player found with pot
Alabama suspended freshman football player Tony Mitchell after he was arrested with what police called a "significant" amount of marijuana following a traffic stop in Florida and is facing a charge of possession with the intent to sell and/or deliver.
As a result, Crimson Tide head football coach Nick Saban is taking a hard line.
"Everybody's got an opportunity to make choices and decisions," Saban said of his decision to suspend the defensive back.
"There's no such thing as the wrong place at the wrong time. It is what it is. But there is cause and effect when you make choices and decisions that put you in bad situations."
Saban's choice of words was notable given what Alabama men's basketball coach Nate Oats said last month about star freshman Brandon Miller and his alleged connection to a shooting that killed a woman earlier this year.
Oats found himself receiving criticism after he told reporters that Miller was in the "wrong spot at the wrong time."
Police claimed in testimony that Miller brought a gun to a teammate, Darius Miles, that was later used to kill a woman. Miller has not been charged.
Oats later apologized for his statement and Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said that the school was not completely informed of the situation before the basketball coach spoke publicly.
A four-star recruit from Alabaster, Ala., Mitchell was ranked as a consensus top 10 ranked defensive back nationally and a top 15 player from Alabama.
Highly regarded as a recruit since middle school, Mitchell initially pledged to Tennessee before switching to Alabama, where he committed in June.
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