Definitely makes it hard to lose the stigma we have that we recruit thugs as much as anyone in the country. Of course no high school coaches would ever lie about their guys character. But in all probability, if the kid can play these college coaches just look the other way when recruiting them and hope they don't screw up. It is a crap shoot.
I wasn't aware that was a stigma we were trying, or needed, to shake. To my knowledge, no one affiliated with UT is claiming moral high ground in recruiting. Recruiting is what it is. Too many of these guys come from neighborhoods and cultures that make them susceptible to trouble. I suppose in a perfect world, every kid we recruited would be a Josh Dobbs but I don't know if that's possible unless we move to the Ivy League.
I don't have a problem with coach's recruiting when their players screw up, as long as they didn't have a history. AJ Johnson, for example, was a player of impeccable character, by all appearances, anyway. Who saw his incident coming? If a coach takes a gamble on a kid that is known to have behavioral problems and that gamble backfires, then the egg is on the coach's face.
Too bad about Pearson. He could've definitely helped this year.
