Players Weigh In On Cox Treatment

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

Many of you weighed in on the Brandon Cox story yesterday. In fact, we drew more than 1,000 visitors on Monday. Many responded through comments and emails about how Cox was treated by fans following his second interception against Miss State.

The consensus among the vast majority of respondents was that booing your own players was not only classless, but detrimental to the team. Many of you made excellent points. Even those of you who I don’t agree with make some valid arguments.

The players and coaches weighed in on the issue Monday. Speaking to various media outlets, here’s what some of them had to say...

"I think everybody feels the same way," senior fullback Carl Stewart said. "They might as well have turned on me. It was just horrible to see.

"I was pretty upset. To be in your home stadium and have your fans boo you, that's just disheartening."

"I’ve never seen anything like that in my life," said defensive end Quentin Groves "To boo Cox, that hurt me to my heart. I was like ‘wow, how could you do that to a guy that has been here for you?’

"He means so much to this team. To see your brother down is just like ‘oh my God,’ I could sit here all day and say what the fans shouldn’t have done, but they’re going to do what they’re going to do," said Groves.

"I'm hoping they were booing me," said Tommy Tuberville. "I don't think they'd be booing Brandon. That's the way we took it. That's the way it should be.

"If you are going to boo, boo the coaches. We get paid to do this. The players don't. They work awfully hard to do what they do. I think most people would agree with that. This is not pro ball. True fans are going to understand, hopefully."

Let’s all hope we put this ugly chapter behind us.

Questions about whether freshman quarterback Kodi Burns will be redshirted appear to have been answered. Offensive Coordinator Al Borges says that both Burns and Cox will play on Saturday.

Don’t be surprised to see dual quarterbacks for the foreseeable future. Ever since the Pat Washington/Bobby Walden debacle of 1985, I’ve been against the two quarterback system. But with the way things are going this year, it doesn’t look half bad.

The list of injuries continues to grow for the Tigers. The first two weeks we saw the defense get banged up. On Saturday, it was the offensive line’s turn.

King Dunlap and Mike Berry are questionable for Saturday’s game with New Mexico State. Back-up guard Leon Hart is out 6-8 weeks, effectively ending his college career.

For an offensive line that has struggled mightily this year, this is a huge blow. Things just seem to go from bad to worse.

We’ll preview New Mexico State later in the week, but here’s a quick glance: The Aggies come into this weekend’s game with a 2-1 record, including wins over Southeastern Louisiana (35-14) and UTEP (29-24). They lost in week two to New Mexico (34-44).

They are lead by former Kentucky head coach Hal Mumme. And yes, they throw just as much as Kentucky did with Tim Couch. They are averaging nearly 400 yards a game through the air and throw the ball an average of 50 times a contest.

Their quarterback is a good one. Chase Holbrook is on the Davey O’Brien Watch List for the top quarterback in the nation. Who would have guessed in August that this week’s game would be so big.