Tommy Tuberville has suspended three football players indefinitly for violating team rules.  And we’re not talking about some third stringers.  The three were linebacker sensation Tray Blackmon, fellow linebacker Kevin Sears, and tailback Brad Lester.

Tuberville said that he expects Blackmon, a freshman, and Lester, a sophomore, back for spring practice.  Sears is a senior and has donned an Auburn helmet for the last time.

As usual the specifics of the violation were not announced.  Fellow linebacker Will Herring gave an interesting quote in regard to Blackmon:

“Tray is a good guy. He’s a friend I made at Auburn. I wish the best for him, wherever he goes. If things work out and he winds up back here, I hope it all works out for him.”

It doesn’t exactly sound like he expects Blackmon to be at the spring drills.  He has been suspended twice in his first year playing for Auburn.  I hope the kid can straighten out whatever problems he has.

While this turn of events will definitely impact the game plan for the game against Nebraska, there are some silver linings.

First and foremost, Tuberville is in control of the team.  Tuberville’s decision to bench three big time players - one a senior - for a bowl game shows that he is willing to put character and integrity ahead of winning.  It would be easy for him to let these three slide, but Tuberville chose to show the team that he is the boss.  I applaud him for making the tough, correct decision.

On the offensive side of the ball we may get to see Ben Tate run the ball in a big game.  Lester is a known quantity.  He is a very talented back and his role on the team is not in question for next year.  Tate, though, has only seen action in some non SEC games this season.  He has significant upside and it will be interesting to see if he can find success against the Cornhusker defense.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Saturday, December 16th, 2006 at 7:20 am and is filed under College Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.