Weslye, revisited

College Football16

Sometimes God has a way of showing you that he is paying attention. This is one of those times.

I have a new nickname for Weslye Saunders. Woeful Wes. The past year has been rather tough for Saunders. In fact, it has been flat out deplorable. Going into the 2010 college football season, the former South Carolina Gamecocks Tight End was predicted to be one of, if not the, best TEs in the country. TEs do not usually get drafted in the first round, but Saunders, who was named to the Lombardi Award Fall Watch List, had the potential to be a Day 1 pick.

Saunders was unable to play in his senior season. He was suspended and removed from the South Carolina football team. Saunders violated team rules, received improper benefits including heavily discounted rates at a South Carolina hotel, and made improper contact with an agent. His good friend, Marvin Austin, also sat out the 2010 college football season, yet Austin appeared in the East-West Shrine Game and has been invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. While Austin might have been a top pick had he played last year, NFLDraftScout.com still projects him as a 2-3 rounder.

Woeful Wes won’t get drafted, though. That is because he is not eligible for the 2011 NFL Draft, after failing to file the proper paperwork to petition his acceptance into the Draft pool in time. He also will not be at the NFL Scouting Combine, but not because he was not invited. Instead, he declined his invitation.

Don’t look for any comment from Weslye’s dad, the News & Observer’s Barry Saunders. This is the one topic in the world that seems to keep Brother Barry’s mouth from moving. Who can blame him? The last time he said something about the situation he was made to look really ‘smart’

There’s a cloud hanging over these kids’ heads for months, allowing them to be vilified in the media, so even when they’re eventually exonerated, the perception that they did something wrong will linger,” Saunders said. “I know my son hasn’t taken anything from any agent, so I wish they’d leave him alone so he can concentrate on school and football, in that order.”

How’d that ‘exoneration’ go for all of those kids that were ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA?

You need to click here for our Weslye Saunders tag and click here for our Barry Saunders tag.

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College Football

16 Responses to Weslye, revisited

  1. Alpha Wolf 02/10/2011 at 11:10 AM #

    What an effin idiot.

    (And yes, boys, I am still alive.)

  2. PackMan97 02/10/2011 at 11:33 AM #

    It’s nice when bad things happen to bad people.

  3. modobrew 02/10/2011 at 12:18 PM #

    Alpha, where the hell have you been?

    Poor ol Barry and his son… I guess dad was counting on that fat paycheck to start rolling in, now it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen, so he’s keeping his mouth shut.

  4. GAWolf 02/10/2011 at 12:41 PM #

    Alpha gave us up for Lent. Wait.

  5. highstick 02/10/2011 at 12:57 PM #

    As I said yesterday in another thread, sportswriters(as well as whatever Barry likes to call himself that work for McClatchy) are not very bright and are grossly overpaid at $3/hour.

    Wes is just like his old man, so arrogant that he can’t get out of his own way.

    Good to see you back Alpha…I’m trying to digest the CS5 book that you recommended..

  6. wufpup76 02/10/2011 at 2:04 PM #

    Well hey Alpha!

    (Feels kinda like that South Park episode where Kenny just reappears out of nowhere after having been “dead” for a bunch of episodes. Good to see you, figuratively speaking, sir.)

    If only we were so lucky that a cloud followed poor Barry around and lingered. Oh, wait …

  7. TOBtime 02/10/2011 at 2:23 PM #

    Hey Alpha!

    Barry, we’re talking about you again. And your moron son. We’ll get to your stupid hat later.

    Obviously this Wes ISN”T world wide or somone would have told him to file!

  8. Alpha Wolf 02/10/2011 at 4:50 PM #

    Hey Guys,

    I ain’t going to make any big hoo hoo out of this, but the last 6-7 weeks have been nothing short of a S**storm for me. Two wrist surgeries, a wife with her own scary-as-hell health problem (good news there, it wasn’t the big C, thank god) my company swallowing another company and our senior management tasking us with absorbing their IT after their company budget starved it….an in-law with Parkinson’s disease and the other with their own problems. Just for starters. In the meantime, I have dropped forty pounds.

    Thing is, I can’t even sit back and watch a decent effin’ hoops team play in the red and white. Every time I try to watch them I can feel the blood squirting through my ears.

    Thank God there are adults in charge over in Brown-Weiseger now to make the right call. There won’t be a circus next month.

    Me, I would make the call NOW and get a leg up and the replacement, if that’s the way they are going to go. I don’t see how they can’t make a change, personally.

  9. highstick 02/10/2011 at 5:27 PM #

    Wow, Alpha, both you, wife, and family hang tough…Sounds like at least some of your news has been positive. I could stand to drop another 30, but that’s not the way I want to do it either.

  10. modobrew 02/10/2011 at 6:42 PM #

    Damn Alpha, sorry to hear all the news. I’m glad to hear some things seem to be positive, just hang in there. I need to get back over there and throw a couple back with you. Just finished my first all grain brew. I’ll save that for a private message. Congrats on the weight loss. Hit me up when you get some free time.

  11. Sakaspack 02/10/2011 at 7:10 PM #

    Barry has been extremely unfair to the NC State community in the past, not sure why he felt he could look down his nose at State folks, I don’t know maybe he caught Sweet Thang hanging out with Wolfpackers.

    I stopped reading Barry’s columns after the Hodge/Paul incident and the “chant” thing………the way he twisted and distorted the facts to suit his aggenda made me realize I could never believe another word he wrote, the man has NO credibility with me.

    Having said that, I take no joy in his son’s disappointment/troubles and I feel for Barry a little bit, it’s hard being a parent. Everyone of us gets humbled at some time, If we learn from it… it can make us better. Here’s hoping the kid turns it up a notch and accomplishes some great things.

  12. Pack78 02/10/2011 at 7:15 PM #

    The kid (Saunders) needs to grow up; guess dad didn’t do a good job on instructing him.

    Alpha, welcome back; if bad things come in 3’s, then you’ve had several sets…

  13. jhmd2000 02/10/2011 at 10:17 PM #

    Keep your head up, Alpha. Count on our thoughts on your behalf—even the light blue ones.

    -2k

  14. Alpha Wolf 02/10/2011 at 11:12 PM #

    Thanks guys. I really mean that, thanks. I’ve held pretty tough and held it together. Now the light at the end of the tunnel is shining pretty clearly. For me and my folks, it’s a return to normal (we hope)…for young Saunders, he’s throwing millions of dollars just being stupid. No other words for it besides stupid.

    I suppose that will qualify him for a position writing a college sports column for a newspaper or for a major network sports site. Once upon a time I thought Gregg Doyel had cornered the market on being a blithering idiot, but now I think he may have a lot more company than we can even begin to reckon.

    You guys may or may not agree with me, but from what I have heard (a little) and read (most all of it) Adam Gold has performed some outstanding analysis in the past few weeks.

    Thank God for Randy Woodson being in charge right now, with all the winds of change that are starting to blow. Between him and Debbie Yow, I think that a solid, professionally conducted coaching search that doesn’t last long will take place soon. They are saying the right things now, and have been for months.

  15. wufpup76 02/11/2011 at 2:43 AM #

    ^Sorry to hear about all your travails. God speed and hang tough.

  16. TOBtime 02/11/2011 at 8:45 AM #

    ^Didn’t catch everything yesterday Alpha but prayers to you. Life really can throw some unhittable pitches at times. I found that out in November when I got the “position is eliminated” speech. But, jobs can be replaced. Health cannot.
    Hang in there and I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the people handling our current situation. It truly pains me to even think about basketball but I have as much faith as you that we are going to be going down the right road soon.

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