There’s a big difference between a football field and a courtroom. Each place has its own rules and leaders who set those rules.
LSU junior safety Jalen Mills knows this more than anyone.
Mills will bring the two together when he goes in for his court arraignment hearing Tuesday morning to face a domestic violence charge filed in June. The court’s ultimate decision, probably coming in 2015, affects not only the player’s future but the consequences that LSU will face if he is found guilty.
On the field, Mills has been the same player he’s been the previous two seasons — a reliable, consistent safety who has been a big part of LSU’s pass defense and a valuable asset to the program who will be difficult to replace.
In the courtroom, he’s accused of punching a woman. If true, it’s a caveman act of anger, poor judgment and lack of respect for a person he knew. Anyone who commits this sort of crime deserves to be kicked off the team, and that applies to Mills if guilty.
But Mills has already played seven games in 2014. That’s the real problem.
LSU coach Les Miles and his staff took a gamble when they reinstated Mills in August and started him from the beginning of the season. They believed Mills when he denied the crime, and they took all the risks coming with the decision.
Miles could have kept Mills sidelined for the season, but pressure from fans would have continued to mount. There are fans who will always side with “their players” until proven guilty, not fully realizing who they’re supporting.
If the fans aren’t enough, Miles just can’t afford losing a big player in a season already on thin ice. LSU’s defense held Florida’s offense to 183 passing yards and forced two interceptions in the Tigers’ 30-27 win Saturday. If Mills had been replaced in the secondary, LSU might be 0-3 to start the Southeastern Conference schedule.
If Mills is guilty, anyone involved with LSU football should be ashamed of themselves. LSU kept a player who committed a heinous crime and decided to let the law take care of the matter while he still made plays on the field. Any plays Mills made in the first seven games are tarnished and shouldn’t be thought of the same way.
After the NFL’s recent disaster with domestic abuse cases, most professional franchises acknowledged they would suspend a player when accused, not arrested. The negative press was too much, and the same press will come if Mills is found guilty.
Think of what a guilty sentence would do to Mills’ teammates, people who have been around him for months and even years. The loss of a player and a friend typically distracts a team from anything else going on.
If the court finds Mills innocent, then LSU averts a PR nightmare, and Mills is free to play the rest of the season. He is just another football player again, and before you know it, fans will be cheering him on.
The field and the courtroom may be different places, but Mills is the same man entering and exiting them — the same man who might have punched a woman in the jaw this summer, and the same man who got reinstated to his team just so he could play a silly little game.
Tommy Romanach is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from Dallas, Texas. You can reach him on Twitter @troman_92.