A DUI leaves recipients with a criminal record that affects 100% of their future employment and investment opportunities, and the consequences have been no different for Alabama’s Alfonse Taylor following his DUI arrest.
Coach Nick Saban announced in a conference last week that Alabama offensive lineman Alphonse Taylor has been “indefinitely suspended.”
Taylor was arrested late last Sunday and charged with DUI as well as leaving the scene of an accident, according to the Tuscaloosa Police Department.
Saban attempted to defend the redshirt senior after the suspension announcement Monday.
“Alphonse hit a parked car. He could have hit a baby carriage,” Saban said.
However, Saban then proceeded to explain the suspension the next day in an interview that was part of ESPN’s annual “car wash.”
“I think that everyone of these circumstances and situations is a little bit different,” Saban said. “But I think when you have a DUI, what makes it significantly different is you have put other people in danger by the choice you made and the decision that you made.”
The decision to suspend Taylor indefinitely, while a serious one, stands in stark contrast to decisions made earlier this year in regards to players facing criminal charges.
Offensive lineman Cam Robinson and defensive back Laurence “Hootie” Jones were arrested in their hometown of Monroe in May and charged with possession of drugs and weapons. Despite the charges and arrests, the District Attorney’s office didn’t sue the two men as a result of “insufficient evidence” regarding the case.
Despite the criticism surrounding the May arrests, Saban claims that he simply wants to “treat every situation differently with the players based on their history, what they’ve done, and the facts.”
On the decision to suspend Taylor, Saban hopes to help the offensive lineman learn and grow from his experiences.
“That, to me, is a little more serious in terms of what we need to do. I would like to look at what we’re doing with Alphonse Taylor not as a punishment, but as a treatment of what we need to do to help him be a better player, be a better person and to make better choices and decisions in the future, and I think that’ll help him the most.”
