Ahead of Alabama’s game against Mississippi State, questions were swirling as to what the status of wide receiver Jermaine Burton would be moving forward in the season.
Burton was seen following the Crimson Tide’s loss to Tennessee striking a Volunteer’s fan as the section was storming the field.
To many’s surprise, Burton was named a starter against the Bulldogs and played a majority of the game.
Afterward, Saban revealed that Burton is now in a counseling program but chose not to suspend him while not revealing what the team saw during its review.
“I didn’t think it was necessary to suspend the guy,” Saban said after Alabama’s 30-6 win. “If you knew the whole story, maybe you wouldn’t either. But I’m not gonna divulge that.”
Saban’s decision was met with criticism from the media and fans following his comments and during the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday, the Crimson Tide’s head coach was asked whether there was any issue in the locker room with how the situation was dealt with.
Saban’s response was brief and to the point.
“It didn’t have any issue with our team.”
Saban went into further detail on his process and mindset of what disciplining a player actually means and how much he weighs what the team will think.
“I think that everybody’s always looking at what you do,” Saban said. “I think the difference in what a lot of people think is, is discipline necessarily punishment? You punish your children only if you think that’s gonna change your behavior. Otherwise, you try to have them learn lessons from things that they do. And that’s basically how we look at discipline and how we try to discipline our players.”
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
