Welcome to the LSU football program, where abuses of women, simple battery misdemeanors and unlimited chances abound.
Yet again on Wednesday, LSU coach Les Miles took it upon himself to do the bare minimum by simply suspending another player instead of taking more drastic measures.
Freshman defensive back Jeryl Brazil is just the most recent example of Miles giving players all the leash they could possibly need, as the Tigers’ coach simply suspended the freshman back indefinitely despite his second alleged violent crime in less than two months.
Brazil was arrested for simple battery and simple criminal damage to a property at 3 a.m. last Friday — the same day LSU travelled to Oxford, Miss. — after he allegedly grabbed a woman by the neck and threw her onto a couch during an argument. The 5-foot-10-inch, 190-pound Brazil proceeded to punch a hole in the woman’s apartment wall before he left.
This is the same guy who, at the beginning of September, received a misdemeanor for fighting with another man in the loading dock area of The 5 dining hall. And he still has a window of opportunity to eventually return to the Death Valley playing field.
Geaux Tigers, right?
Heck, not three months ago Miles reinstated Jeremy Hill on the day LSU started fall camp, just hours after Hill’s probation was extended for pleading guilty to a simple battery charge of his own. By the way, Hill was on probation to begin with because he pled guilty to carnal knowledge of a juvenile a little more than a year earlier when he was being recruited by Miles.
Two players with crimes against women, two completely useless indefinite suspensions and one coach who has a serious discipline issue on his hands.
Miles made the mistake of not removing Hill from the team a few months ago, and now he’s set a precedent that he can’t break. He couldn’t kick Brazil off the team Wednesday night because people would then accuse the Mad Hatter of favoritism toward Hill, a potential All-American running back, and Miles can’t have that swirling around, can he?
All Miles said on the subject Wednesday night was that Brazil had been indefinitely suspended, and he didn’t travel with the team to Ole Miss.
Well that’s fine and dandy, Les, but why wait to announce that until the media uncovered the story?
Why not stand up for the victim in this case and make an example that abusing women will not be tolerated in the LSU football program? Why not get ahead of the media and announce it the day you learned about it before boarding that bus to Oxford?
Miles dismissed Tyrann Mathieu from the team for smoking marijuana, but he simply suspended two players accused of harassing women. I’m no college football coach, but perhaps it’s better I’m not so my perception of right and wrong doesn’t get that screwy.
As the brother of two sisters, I struggle not to think about what I would want Miles to do if Jeryl Brazil had thrown one of my sisters onto a couch by her neck. One thing’s for sure, I wouldn’t take an indefinite suspension with inevitable reinstatement as acceptable punishment.
And furthermore, I struggle to see how Miles, a father of two daughters, didn’t do the same.