Alcoa's Sommers out for Year!

[TheLivingLegend]

This is so sad that a young lad would put himself in this position. I hope the best for him and hopefully he can still get in college and play football.

[fultonguy05]

Having known Brian for several years, my heart breaks to hear this. He really is a good guy. I haven't spoken with him in a few months but from the sounds of it, he just got in with the wrong crowd and was led astray. It's a classic case. Having known his father as well, I know this won't go over well at all at home.

 

Hang in there, Brian. People get 2nd chances all the time. It's not too late for you if you keep your head up through all of this.

[HSfootball54]

AH UT will still offer him, They have Coker the smoker over there and you have to fail a drug test 4 times in college before they do anything to you. STUPID, that is about all you can say about that......This ticks me off more than anything, someone with all the natural ability in the world and he throws it away, then you have good kid X who is working his rear off and does the right thing all the time. A waste, I have no sympathy for Mr. Sommer. NONE! And dont give me that "he is just a kid" crap! Kids start learning to "Just say No" from Kindergarten on. And smokin dope? At least with Balco and steroids it was to improve there physical ability, he just decided he wanted to get high, which if anything is detrimental to an athlete. Alcoa is better without him, it is obvious that he doesnt care about his teammates or else he wouldnt have let them down. I think drug testing should be mandated and I would be willing to pay more taxes to make it happen, and dont just limit it to athletes, I would pay extra to do random among the entire school. Marajuana drug tests cost around 4 dollars a piece, you have 25 kids get randomly tested and it puts the fear in the others. To Mr. Sommer, I want to say, I hope that every school runs from you, that your character is a deciding factor and not your athletic ability. I am all for second chances, but I believe they must be earned. If I had a say so, he would submit to weekly drug tests for one year and if he stays clean then he can play ball. After that he has to submit to a random drug test 6 times a year. And they can be back to back. This just infuriates me because he has so much talent, but doesnt have the character to be a leader on his old team. SELFISH! And I am not even an Alcoa Fan, My team plays Alcoa in the region. But this is a perfect example of someone putting themselves above the team! It tarnishes the hole team as well as other teams. Athletes have enough stereotypes put on them, without reinforcing them. Excuse any spelling errors I may have made throughout this post, I usually read them before posting, but I am just letting it out right now. Mr. Sommer not only owes his teammates an appology, but also the entire community....With his high profile athletic talent in a small community, he is a role model of sorts to kids and to peers. He owes one big appology!

[westtn2004state]

Dreams, Future, and possibly occupation one day...out the door all in one day. It's sad. I have heard about these incidents too many times where great players never make it out.

[TynerRamFan]

...All that anyone needs to know is on CoachT's front page...

 

 

...Moderators, please close this topic!!!

[westtn2004state]

I don't think you need to close it. Why? There are so many high school athletes on this website. THEY SHOULD READ THIS. Why hide it when it will put the fear of God in someone who is doing these same things out there. I agree to let it close if it turns into a Sommers Bashing, but it would be good for athletes to read this and learn from it. It could change atleast a few players perspectives on football and even greater, Life.

[beegdawg]

It is a fact of life..if you play HS football you do have a certain amount of public visibility...and someone who is not smart enough to stay away from illicit drugs (even after being given a final chance as it seems he had) has put themselves into a position of visibility...and scrutiny. Coach Rankin had it right...he should NEVER be allowed to play at Alcoa, ever again. And any university that would offer this person a scholarship is being incredibly foolish, to say the least.

 

I know it is a hard thing to say these things; but there are too many kids who stay away from these bad influences and walk the straight and narrow to give too many chances to someone who cannot respect the chance he was given. 16-17 year olds are way too smart in this day and age to attribute this to youth. This was just plain illegal behavior. And the best thing to happen to him was to have his hand called. It could save his life on down the road.

[TynerRamFan]

I don't think you need to close it. Why? There are so many high school athletes on this website. THEY SHOULD READ THIS. Why hide it when it will put the fear of God in someone who is doing these same things out there. I agree to let it close if it turns into a Sommers Bashing, but it would be good for athletes to read this and learn from it. It could change atleast a few players perspectives on football and even greater, Life.

 

 

...Did you see the comment before I posted...we don't need sarcasm and piling-on...the 15, 16, and 17 year olds that read the newspaper article should have a perspective on football and a 'rude' awakening!!!

 

 

...It shouldn't take an entire thread to get the point across!!! That's my opinion and I hope the Mods do close this one!!!

[UnknownUser1]

AH UT will still offer him, They have Coker the smoker over there and you have to fail a drug test 4 times in college before they do anything to you. STUPID, that is about all you can say about that......This ticks me off more than anything, someone with all the natural ability in the world and he throws it away, then you have good kid X who is working his rear off and does the right thing all the time. A waste, I have no sympathy for Mr. Sommer. NONE! And dont give me that "he is just a kid" crap! Kids start learning to "Just say No" from Kindergarten on. And smokin dope? At least with Balco and steroids it was to improve there physical ability, he just decided he wanted to get high, which if anything is detrimental to an athlete. Alcoa is better without him, it is obvious that he doesnt care about his teammates or else he wouldnt have let them down. I think drug testing should be mandated and I would be willing to pay more taxes to make it happen, and dont just limit it to athletes, I would pay extra to do random among the entire school. Marajuana drug tests cost around 4 dollars a piece, you have 25 kids get randomly tested and it puts the fear in the others. To Mr. Sommer, I want to say, I hope that every school runs from you, that your character is a deciding factor and not your athletic ability. I am all for second chances, but I believe they must be earned. If I had a say so, he would submit to weekly drug tests for one year and if he stays clean then he can play ball. After that he has to submit to a random drug test 6 times a year. And they can be back to back. This just infuriates me because he has so much talent, but doesnt have the character to be a leader on his old team. SELFISH! And I am not even an Alcoa Fan, My team plays Alcoa in the region. But this is a perfect example of someone putting themselves above the team! It tarnishes the hole team as well as other teams. Athletes have enough stereotypes put on them, without reinforcing them. Excuse any spelling errors I may have made throughout this post, I usually read them before posting, but I am just letting it out right now. Mr. Sommer not only owes his teammates an appology, but also the entire community....With his high profile athletic talent in a small community, he is a role model of sorts to kids and to peers. He owes one big appology!

 

thats all great, but you dont know him, so your personal opinion really is not needed nor wanted. your talking about something way out of your jurisdiction here pal. And last time i checked this was coachT.com, not moralsT.com. you wanna talk about football and the skills a player has that is fine, but you have no right to get on here and state what is and is not acceptable. who do you think made you God of Tennessee football. Even if what you are saying is right, its not your position to do so, who do you think you are?

[tornadogold]

thats all great, but you dont know him, so your personal opinion really is not needed nor wanted. your talking about something way out of your jurisdiction here pal. And last time i checked this was coachT.com, not moralsT.com. you wanna talk about football and the skills a player has that is fine, but you have no right to get on here and state what is and is not acceptable. who do you think made you God of Tennessee football. Even if what you are saying is right, its not your position to do so, who do you think you are?

 

 

 

Easy, there, youngster! Coacht is a place to voice your opinions. I'm not saying I agree with everything was said, but HSfootball54 said out loud what a lot of us were thinking, anyway, I'm sure of it. I don't think he personally attacked the young man, but was voicing his opinion about the subject in general. It's just that now it's at the forefront and it has a name. It wouldn't matter if the young man was from Alcoa, Sweetwater, Rockwood, Wartburg, CAK, Loudon, or Oliver Springs. Especially since we live in a small community, high school football players who are supposedly leaders for their team are in the public eye, especially in the eyes of middle school and elementary school kids.

Rankin had a great quote in the Sentinel: "he's not a kid. He's an 18-year-old man. He knows right from wrong and he should suffer the consequences." I have no doubt he would have said that about any 18 year old at Alcoa (athlete or not) who was in this situation. It's a very unfortunate situation. We can only hope that he learns from this and straightens himself out. It won't be at Alcoa, though. I wish him the best of luck, wherever he ends up.

[Tornado89]

Easy, there, youngster! Coacht is a place to voice your opinions. I'm not saying I agree with everything was said, but HSfootball54 said out loud what a lot of us were thinking, anyway, I'm sure of it. I don't think he personally attacked the young man, but was voicing his opinion about the subject in general. It's just that now it's at the forefront and it has a name. It wouldn't matter if the young man was from Alcoa, Sweetwater, Rockwood, Wartburg, CAK, Loudon, or Oliver Springs. Especially since we live in a small community, high school football players who are supposedly leaders for their team are in the public eye, especially in the eyes of middle school and elementary school kids.

Rankin had a great quote in the Sentinel: "he's not a kid. He's an 18-year-old man. He knows right from wrong and he should suffer the consequences." I have no doubt he would have said that about any 18 year old at Alcoa (athlete or not) who was in this situation. It's a very unfortunate situation. We can only hope that he learns from this and straightens himself out. It won't be at Alcoa, though. I wish him the best of luck, wherever he ends up.

 

Well spoken!!!!! I am very proud of the administration especially Coach Rankin.....I hope you read this Coach. Alcoa was in serious need of some strong discipline before he arrived. This sends a strong message. There is no defending his actions as he is a man. There is nothing cool about this crap. What seems like no big deal now leads to bigger things down the road like meth, etc. It makes me feel better as a parent knowing the officials are trying to clean this stuff up.

[pujo]

If all the kids who were crossing the line were dismissed from their teams, the rosters would be alot smaller. Tons of parents are so caught up in their own lives, they don't have a clue what their children are doing. The way I look at it is, if you are to busy to raise your children, you better let something go. You only get one chance, make the best of it and never have to look back and say , I wish. Our society is crumbling around us ,and its not the kids fault, its the adults and their priorities, we have them way out of whack. We just need to learn ,that our first job is to be a parent, the rest of the stuff is secondary. Nothing is more important than our children. The realy meaningful things in life are cheap, slow down and reap the blessings.