Here’s the latest on the case of former Tide footballer Jimmy Johns:
1) Johns has moved back to Mississippi to be with his family, according to his attorneys. Here’s is a portion of their statement:
“As would be expected, and contrary to comments made by those claiming to be close to him, Jimmy Johns is distraught over his arrest. Furthermore, he regrets that his arrest has shed a negatvie light on the University and its athletic program. Jimmy is deeply saddened that his arrest has hurt his family and the University of Alabama family, both of whom have been positive influences in his life.”
Yesterday, we told you that a man claiming to be Johns’ “caretaker” in Alabama said that Johns had “made a mistake, like all young people do.”
He went on to add, “He’s in real good spirits. He knows he messed up. He’s not sad at all. He wasn’t crying or anything like that.”
Apparently we weren’t the only ones who thought those were pretty stupid statements to make. So rather than the “hey, everybody does it, I’m okay” approach, Johns’ attorneys have wisely taken the “I’m so sorry for what I’ve done” approach.
And that approach is a few hundred times more effective in the court of public opinion.
But I wonder, and this is purely blog-type speculation here, what kind of people might a coke-dealer be associating with in his life?
And how would those people (the ones supplying him with the coke to deal, for example) feel about him getting busted by the cops?
Might they be concerned that he might rat them out in order to save his own bacon?
And therefore, wouldn’t it be smarter for the word to get out that Johns isn’t crying himself to sleep? That he’s not worried? That he’s no punkin other words? That he’s not a snitch?
Hmmm.
2) Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News believes folks might be coming down a tad too hard on previous Bama coach Mike Shula for his recruitment of Johns.
Dave Rader, an offensive coordinator under Shula, was shocked and saddened to get the news of Johns’ arrest.
“His background check was good. The town of Brookhaven loved him. People we knew who knew him all said, ‘You’re going to love having Jimmy Johns on your team.”
Another interesting tidbit thrown out by Scarbinsky: there were five Alabama players arrested during Shula’s four-year tenure at Alabama… the Tide has had 10 players arrested in the last year under Nick Saban.