Did Auburn freshman DeRon Furr leave football team because he was bullied?

[DKW 86 7,727]

Ray Melick obviously needs something to show he can kiss bama ass. Seems to be picking on some real nonsense to get the arrests etc off the front page of the sports section. I guess he thinks he found it. I am really not even mad, it is just too pathetic for words. This is football players practicing in 100 degree heat for goodness sakes. Sad is all it is...

Did Auburn freshman DeRon Furr leave football team because he was bullied?

Thursday, August 07, 2008

No one who has been around the game of football is surprised when a drill or scrimmage turns into a fight.Then why are you writing this one Ray?

Particularly in August. It's hot. Helmets and shoulder pads make it hotter. Large bodies knocking each other around make it hotter still. Add in yelling coaches, and it doesn't take much to reach a boiling point.

"Football is a fight," said Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville. "Every down is a fight. Every practice is a fight. Especially in August."

Last Saturday some kind of fight Ray, arent you really saying that you really dont know anything about this fight? You cant even characterize it. broke out on the Auburn practice field among a group of defensive backs that included freshman DeRon Furr and sophomore defensive back Zac Etheridge.

"That wasn't a fight," Tuberville said. "It was more of a tussle." Yeah Ray, CTT was actually there! He knows because he saw it, you didnt remember?

As might be expected, there are conflicting reports on what happened. Only people we hear questioning it were folks that werent there and need something to write about. One witness said two or three players were involved in ganging up on Furr. Another witness said it was only a case of Etheridge shoving Furr to the ground and a couple other Tigers standing over the freshman and yelling at him.

Some reports have Furr requiring help from trainers to leave the field. Others say the only thing injured was Furr's pride. So far everyone there says basically this.

Everyone agrees Furr was not going as hard as everyone else. Etheridge admits starting the scrap, telling reporters the intent was to send a message to loafing young players. "It was just setting an example to the freshmen," he said.

Furr, unhappy with his overall situation at Auburn, later left the team. Rated by some services as a four-star prospect at quarterback, Furr graduated early from high school to get a head start at Auburn, to go through spring practice and to establish himself as the quarterback of the future.

Instead, Furr found out he did not have a future at quarterback. So he agreed to move to defensive back.

"It was his deal," Tuberville said. "But he probably really wanted to play quarterback. I'm sure that was tough for him to accept." We can all accept that. But you need to be a team player and do what is best for the team, NOT YOU!

Furr is hardly the first freshman to get to college and discover he'd made a mistake. It happens - it is happening - on practice fields all over the country, from rec leagues to the NFL.

What is disturbing about the Furr incident is Etheridge's claim of intentionally going after the freshman to send a message. Some of us with experience playing and coaching would call that LEADERSHIP Ray. Sorry you cant see that with your Crimson glasses on.

It's one thing when two players go at each other in a drill, with tempers flaring and they stay after each other after the whistle. But if a player or group of players decides to physically pick on a freshman because they don't like the way he does things, that is not fighting; that's bullying.

There are football coaches who have been known to encourage fights among players, believing it does indeed "send a message."

Tuberville says he is not one of those. He has been a coach in the for about a decade. This is the first we have ever heard about something like this. His life would say he is not that kind of coach, not that it would be that bad of a thing. They do call him a winner tho. .

"We don't encourage anything other than competition," Tuberville said. "Our rule is that no other players are to get involved in a fight; that helmets stay on; and the coaches break it up. I don't want to see players fight. I'd rather they use that energy to compete with each other the right way."

Competition is what is supposed to weed players out.

Picking on someone because he's weak is just being a bully. Ray, was Coach Bryant a bully at The Junction?

Ray Melick's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Write him at rmelick@bhamnews.com.

Like I said, I am not even mad about this one. it is just too easy to ridicule for the crap that it is.

[Hoopie 6]

One more point. If there had anything out of ordinary with the tussle, then some of the numerous reporters that were at the practice would have reported it. Most reports from that day didn't even mention the tussle.

[DKW 86 7,727]

One more point. If there had anything out of ordinary with the tussle, then some of the numerous reporters that were at the practice would have reported it. Most reports from that day didn't even mention the tussle.

Exactly...

[PChamp119 96]

I read this article earlier. I do agree that he seems to be bashing Auburn in this article. I don't agree with his stance on how he addressed some of the issues, but I don't think he was way off.

I think he pretty much was trying to look at it from both sides here. But in the end, he did go after Etheridge and I firmly believe that was wrong. Was Zac right / wrong - that can be up for debate and is up to each person to decide.

But he is out of line in calling Zac a bully. Furr is not weak. He is a stud. There was no bullying (at least not that I heard about). Even if it was a fight where some players watched - I don't call that bullying. That is what a fight is. Just because he got the crap kicked out of him doesn't mean he is weak or that he was bullied. A bully would be Sen'Derrick Marks going after the punter because he is short on milk money.

[FootballFanatic 4]

Simple facts are that players went too far with each other. Player quit. Coaches won't talk about it.

All that = problems.

Im not sure if they are big problems or small but they are problems.

[AU1941 6]

This article is a prime example of why CTT should close ALL practices. Let these media hounds in and that gives them to right to write anything they want.

[kwagoner 214]

This article is a prime example of why CTT should close ALL practices. Let these media hounds in and that gives them to right to write anything they want.

They'll write what they want anyway.

[PChamp119 96]

This article is a prime example of why CTT should close ALL practices. Let these media hounds in and that gives them to right to write anything they want.

Isn't the point of this article that those in the media can't confirm what happened at practice?

If they weren't at practice, there'd be even more questioning by the media of what "really" happened. At least with practice open, there is a general idea. This info may have never came out and we would've only had known that Furr transferred (and wouldn't have known he missed practice).

[AUBURNJAC 53]

Yeah, this is complete B.S. I read the article and see absolutely NO POINT to it whatsoever. All it is, is a bobo honking bammer trying to make something out of nothing. A utterly and complete waste of time and paper. Go **** yourself Ray! And have a good day!

[AU1941 6]

Simple facts are that players went too far with each other. Player quit. Coaches won't talk about it.

All that = problems.

Im not sure if they are big problems or small but they are problems.

I don't think it's a "problem" with the coaches or the players. The "problem" is giving the biased media access to practices that, IMO, should be closed.

[FootballFanatic 4]

Simple facts are that players went too far with each other. Player quit. Coaches won't talk about it.

All that = problems.

Im not sure if they are big problems or small but they are problems.

I don't think it's a "problem" with the coaches or the players. The "problem" is giving the biased media access to practices that, IMO, should be closed.

I think its a problem. Student gets beat up by 3 students (possibly) or gets mishandled and the coaches don't step in to fix the problem before it gets to aforementioned point and it looks problematic.

I am not saying I know everything that went down, but it looks bad. The coaches can't comment due to binding legal issues that may or may not ever happen.

So far it just sucks from top to bottom. There is enough meat here to get reporters to comment on it and try to figure out what happened so don't blame them for posting stories. Heck, its even on ESPN and SI that the player left the team after a reported fight occurrred.

Saying its all the media's fault has a hint of Bammer smell to it. If there is something to hide in this situation than maybe we should be upset.

[abrnfanatc 6]

It's just too bad that a 200 pound bully has to take it out on such a little guy (225 pounds)...

Good job of reporting Ray. Maybe in your next article you can write about how that big bad police car window bullied Brandon Deadrick last summer.

[Grider 1]

This article is a prime example of why CTT should close ALL practices. Let these media hounds in and that gives them to right to write anything they want.

They'll write what they want anyway.

No joke.

Mellick could have been hiding in a cave in Afghanistan with Osama Bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, and Benedict Arnold and would have still thought he was in the clear to question the integrity of CTT and insinuating that he put a hit out on Furr.

He is a sports writer in Alabama. They answer to no one. Think Anchorman and add in more polyester and Phylis from Mulga instead of Christina Applegate. They write whatever spin is going to get the to keep cutting their grass, weeding the flowerbeds, and taking their old junk cars away.

The media need to come to practices; it keeps them out of the bars until after 5pm and keeps them from crossing the line between functional alcoholics and Kenny Stabler.

[Birmingham 0]

This article is a prime example of why CTT should close ALL practices. Let these media hounds in and that gives them to right to write anything they want.

Maybe you'll have some sympathy when Saban gets frustrated. Sometimes the media simply are trying to use players and coaches, and sometimes coaches take offense to having their players used by said media.

[WAR-MATT 2]

This article is a prime example of why CTT should close ALL practices. Let these media hounds in and that gives them to right to write anything they want.

Isn't the point of this article that those in the media can't confirm what happened at practice?

If they weren't at practice, there'd be even more questioning by the media of what "really" happened. At least with practice open, there is a general idea. This info may have never came out and we would've only had known that Furr transferred (and wouldn't have known he missed practice).

You're right PC. Melick has to run off of assumptions because he wasn't there. Has any writer that was actually at the practice written an article like this?

[kwagoner 214]

Think Anchorman and add in more polyester and Phylis from Mulga instead of Christina Applegate.

What something with a negative light in Auburn?

Yeaaahhhhhh!!!

[280TIGER 12]

The only real injustice is Melick's poor dental plan. You would think the birmingham news would have good dental coverage. It looks like a grenade went off in that guys mouth... or like when God distributed his teeth, he just threw them in there like dice on a craps table.

[TigerEyes1914 1]

Simple facts are that players went too far with each other. Player quit. Coaches won't talk about it.

All that = problems.

Im not sure if they are big problems or small but they are problems.

I don't think it's a "problem" with the coaches or the players. The "problem" is giving the biased media access to practices that, IMO, should be closed.

I think its a problem. Student gets beat up by 3 students (possibly) or gets mishandled and the coaches don't step in to fix the problem before it gets to aforementioned point and it looks problematic.

I am not saying I know everything that went down, but it looks bad. The coaches can't comment due to binding legal issues that may or may not ever happen.

So far it just sucks from top to bottom. There is enough meat here to get reporters to comment on it and try to figure out what happened so don't blame them for posting stories. Heck, its even on ESPN and SI that the player left the team after a reported fight occurrred.

Saying its all the media's fault has a hint of Bammer smell to it. If there is something to hide in this situation than maybe we should be upset.

I think the problem was solved when Furr transferred.

[aubiescottie 1]

Melick is a well know bama apologist, every once in a while he writes a story about Auburn, but those are token columns...he stood up for Saban in the Jimmy Johns situation, but is criticizing Etheridge for showing some leadership?

[AUtigersAUsome 1]

FootballFanatic here is no problem with the team. Furr obviously couldn't take the heat. Even in band if someone was slacking you gave them hell about it. I like the way you phrase things one student getting picked on by three other students as if this happened on the concourse. It was a fight that came about from one player that is coming from being the top dog at his high school to a nobody on the defensive side of the ball huffing it so he takes a hit from a vet and gets his panties in a wad. We ARE talking about football right... not sorority rush. I think furr just couldn handle the new situation and the problem is now solved that he is gone. Fights happen every year and this is nothing to write about other than the fact the kid is off the roster. Melick needed somethin to write about to get people riled up. THE END Not Auburn's problem.

[weagl1 1,793]

Melick is an idiot and that was a stupid article. Imagine getting bullied on a football field! Now is he going to say isn't nice for Coleman to go flying around the end and knock the crap out of QB. Give me a break, it ain't for choirboys!

[mowegl 4]

I heard the coaches were bullying the players. Apparently they were yelling at them and wanting them to work hard. Is there any truth to this?

[stoic-one 1,557]

I heard the coaches were bullying the players. Apparently they were yelling at them and wanting them to work hard. Is there any truth to this?

Hadn't heard, but I hope so

[WarTiger 3,987]

Simple facts are that players went too far with each other. Player quit. Coaches won't talk about it.

All that = problems.

Im not sure if they are big problems or small but they are problems.

Oh, you were there? You saw what happened? Or, you believe everything you read in the paper and on the internet? Either way, sad...very sad. Obviously you don't have any more of a clue as to what happened than the rest of us.

This article is nothing more than a uat apologist looking for anything and everything he can to write a negative article against auburn. The media in this state do this at every turn and its been proven over and over that all they want to do is create the illusion that there are problems at Auburn. They've been doing this for years, and you only have to point to the annual rumors of CTT leaving for school XYZ.

[FootballFanatic 4]

You have to be a blind AU apologist if you don't think all this stinks a bit.

No matter who is really at fault whatever happened doesn't seem to be handled well when the coaches can only say no comment, and a kid is leaving school with no explanation.

Give me a break. I don't aggree that the guy writing the article should have done so, but whatever. There is too much that no one actually knows so it gives room for people to postulate.

In my humble opinion, this sucks.