Risk on Chapman not worth the reward
September 01, 2007
This coulda, woulda, shoulda been an opportunity for Alabama coaches to evaluate all of ithe Tide’s defensive linemen.
With first-teamer Brian Motley lost with a broken ankle at a position already thin and inexperienced, every defensive lineman was preening for a chance to play.
But Nick Saban couldn’t take a chance on Josh Chapman, the prized freshman from Hoover.
Chapman’s academics were called into question by an investigation into Hoover High School. Allegations of grade changing called several transcripts, including Chapman’s, into question.
As of Friday, Alabama did not confirmation that Chapman was approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse. The coach said he likely wouldn’t play.
“First of all, I don’t think anybody should know anything about Josh Chapman’s academics,” Saban said. “That’s a violation of a kid’s rights, and it’s a shame that anybody ever got that out That’s no. 1.
“No. 2, I’m going to talk to Josh Chapman, probably (Friday), and then make a decision relative to the information that we have as to what is the prudent way for us to move forward relative to Josh Chapman.”
Saban said the frustrating thing is, “He really didn’t do anything wrong. We really didn’t do anything wrong.”
Clearly, the problem is at Hoover, which has had more than its share in the offseason.
“This is an internal situation at their school. It all goes to the clearinghouse and we get that information,” Saban said. “The thing about it is, there are other options for guys to qualify that he didn’t have the opportunity to take advantage of because of an error. Somebody’s error.”
The risk of playing Chapman may not be worth the reward against WCU.
“If there is potential for the guy to be ineligible, which we need to get information from several sources on, then the prudent thing for us to do is maybe not play him in this game,” Saban said. “But that decision has not been made. We haven’t got all the information. But we’re going to do the most prudent thing relative to what’s best for our team, without penalizing the young man.”
Saban is a man who loves options. Taking Josh Chapman out of the mix takes one of those options away.
It shouldn’t matter against Western Carolina.
But I bet it matters to Chapman, who would love to play tonight.
