There are times in all of our lives where we come to crossroads, where we look back and reflect on the choices we make and chose to keep going down the road we've been on or chose a new path. LSU running back Jeremy Hill should've already faced such a choice following an incident in high school and it appears he made his choice and it was to keep going down the same path.
Only that's just one part of the story and as Gregg Doyle of CBSSports.com points out, now's the time for LSU and more importantly Les Miles to face that same choice and the new path is to get rid of Jeremy Hill here and now.
Doyle hits one out of the park in calling out a culture at LSU and within college football in general, one that values winning football games before winning at life.
As Doyle puts it:
"Hill doesn't belong at Tiger Stadium being celebrated by 92,542 LSU fans, but if the courts in Louisiana won't lock him away, far be it from LSU coach Les Miles to keep him away. Miles earns $4.3 million a year to win football games, so he's not into doing the right thing. He's into doing the winning thing — and Jeremy Hill helps him win. Hill is a great running back but a scary guy, viciously indiscriminate, guilty of preying sexually on a girl and preying violently on a young man."
What Doyle is referring to is an incident in high school were Hill and a former high school friend forced a 14-year-old girl into oral sex. Hill received probation and zero jail time for the incident (we'll revisit that nugget of info in a bit). Fast forward to recent times and you have a case of Hill violently attacking and sucker punching a kid outside a bar, only to have his buddy attempt to knock the kid out by punching him in the back of the head.
Real big man stuff in both cases. Anyone else also notice a pattern? Cause it sure seems like it's always a two-on-one situation for Hill.
Doyle continues his blistering, yet brutally honest rebuke of Miles by pointing out some great facts:
"Les Miles gave him a scholarship — Hill was a four-star recruit — and then gave him the football. Miles doesn't care what kind of person Jeremy Hill is, any more than Urban Meyer cared what kind of people were representing the University of Florida when he was winning national championships there. Miles is like Meyer (and too many other coaches) in that he wants to win, and he'll play who he has to play to do it. How many drug tests did former Heisman finalist Tyrann Mathieu say he failed before LSU kicked him out of school? Ten?
Les Miles doesn't care how bad you are. He cares only how good you are."
In pointing out Mathieu's case Doyle gives a great example of giving a guy one too many chances. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me… But fool me ten times and I clearly don't care, cause you're winning football games – that's the message Miles is sending. He could've easily mentioned the name of Jordan Jefferson, who only was dismissed from the team once the courts found him guilty.
As for the most recent incident involving Hill, which you can see here, it's clear that the chance Miles gave him doesn't matter. This isn't a case of "college kids being college kids" this is a case of a guy sucker punching another guy and clearly not caring about human life.
Yet, once again Hill managed to avoid jail time. Curious considering the guy has a history of violent acts on his record, huh? Doyle does some good investigative work and finds us a pretty compelling reason as to why Hill isn't in jail today. Both judges in his cases were graduates of LSU law school, with one of them being a highly involved alumnus. That alone isn't proof enough, but this little nugget from Doyle is:
"District Judge Mike Erwin, a 1976 graduate of LSU, carved out an exception for LSU-related football activities. When the Tigers have night games at Death Valley, the honorable judge wants Jeremy Hill to be available."
It gets worse according to Doyle:
"Sickening, really, which is why my hope for Hill's court appearance Aug. 16 before District Judge Bonnie Jackson — a 1978 graduate of the LSU law school, and a 2012 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award — is so laughable."
Sometimes in this world of sports writing and 24/7 opinions you just have to tip your cap and in this case Doyle knocks it out of the park with this final assessment:
"My hope is for Jeremy Hill to show up for court, expecting the judge to do what LSU judges and LSU football coaches have always done and tell him it's OK, only to be sent directly to jail. Do not pass go, do not play in 2013 for LSU, do not do a damn thing, you vicious predator, but sit your ass in prison while the world goes on without you."
At the end of the day Doyle gets it right, the culture allowed by sycophant boosters, alumni who care far too much about winning football games, and a coach who sets the tone by caring more about winning games than making sure his players win at life first is what needs to change. It could start with this case, sending a message to Hill and to those that will come after him that winning isn't the only thing that matters at LSU anymore. Winning at life is just as important.
