Photo courtesy of Jonathan Moreau of Flickr.com
It’s bad if a video of you smoking marijuana from a bong gets posted on social media . It’s pretty bad if you’re wearing a gas mask in the video. It’s worse if you’re a top NFL Draft Pick, and arguably the best at your position coming out of college. It gets even worse if said video gets posted 10 minutes before the draft starts. And worst of all, when trying to respond to this video, you admit you got paid to play college football at your alma mater.
Welcome to the 2016 NFL Draft!
Offensive Tackle Laremy Tunsil accomplished all of this on April 28, the night of the NFL Draft. He was projected to be the top overall pick about a month ago, then started to slip in the projections because he got suspended at University of Mississippi, and was injured this past year. There is no denying his ability on the football field; however, questions started to loom about whether Tunsil’s talent on the field is really worth the problems created by his activity off the field.
Apparently Tunsil was “hacked” by someone: the two prime suspects, as of May 4, are his stepfather and an ex-advisor. Regardless, if he was hacked, how does this type of video get posted 10 minutes before the draft? Either change your password, or make sure there isn’t a video of you doing something stupid in the first place.
ESPN Commentator Jon Gruden made a great point on live TV during the draft, judging Tunsil for the video. “This whole social media thing makes me sick,” Gruden said. “You got to be a reliable person to stand up here on the stage if you want to be a first–round draft choice.”
It is true that Marijuana might soon become legal in this country and that it is not as big of a problem as other drugs that have more severe effects. However, I agree with Gruden. When you have character issues to begin with, you really need to clean up your act if a team is going to invest millions in you.
That’s what happened with the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens were rumored to have Tunsil favored as their first-round choice. However, that video forced the Ravens to choose Ronnie Stanley instead. The same could be argued with Tennessee choosing Jack Conklin instead of Tunsil.
Eventually Miami, the party capital of the U.S., drafted him with the 13th pick. He would have been better suited in some small, obscure city based on his video, although that city is not Cleveland, as Johnny Manziel has already proved you can have fun there.
Tunsil also put his alma mater Ole Miss on blast by saying that he accepted the notion of “pay for play,” a policy that goes against everything the NCAA stands for. Photos were leaked on Tunsil’s Instagram account detailing conversations between coaches and Tunsil regarding this notion of taking money from programs. Also, in his post-draft interview, when asked if the exchanges were about getting money, Tunsil said, “I’d have to say yeah.”
Essentially every major college football program has some sort of NCAA violation or “pay-for-play,” it’s not a secret. College football is a dog-eat-dog world, and the SEC is notorious for violations. Ironically, Ole Miss football is currently being investigated for NCAA violations under current coach Huge Freeze, some of which involve Tunsil’s recruitment, and they just got off probation for violations that occurred in 2013. This latest photo of conversations is not going to sit well with neither the Athletic Director nor Freeze.
In one night, Tunsil lost millions in bonuses and endorsements, he admitted to NCAA violations at his alma mater, and possibly ruined his college coaches’ careers. He should fit in nicely with all the players in the NFL (like Greg Hardy, Ray Rice, and Aldon Smith).
