HOOVER, Ala. — Alabama football coach Nick Saban said left tackle Cam Robinson and defensive back Laurence Jones have a chance to play in the season opener.
Speaking to reporters at Southeastern Conference Media Days Wednesday, Saban said the two have faced internal discipline after being arrested on drug and weapons charges.
Robinson and Jones were arrested in mid-May in their hometown of Monroe, Louisiana. Both were charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance. Robinson was also charged with illegal possession of a stolen firearm. The district attorney dropped all charges against the two Crimson Tide players.
Saban said because of that and their own investigation, they decided to discipline the two internally.
“After looking at the case, we found that there were a lot of circumstances around this case, as the prosecutor did in choosing not to charge these guys, that I can’t really discuss here right now,” Saban said during an interview with SEC Network. “Our stance is, we want to do everything that we can to get these guys to change their behavior in terms of making better choices and decisions.
“Both guys have done a lot of things internally, whether it was police ride arounds, whether it was community service with delinquent-type behavior with young people where they’ve been counselors. If they continue to do these things in a positive way, I’m not sure that we’ll make a decision at a later time as to whether they’ll be suspended for the first game or not.”
Saban was pushed by SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum for handling the matter internally and not suspending the two players for the Sept. 3 opener against Southern California in Arlington, Texas.
Finebaum asked Saban how he would respond to those critics.
“Well I don’t really care to answer the critics because I’m going to do what’s right for the players,” Saban said. “If the players really did anything that wrong, they would have got charged with something.”
The All-SEC Robison has not spoken publicly about the arrests or the charges being dropped, but he took to Twitter Wednesday to voice his opinion.
“People are so quick to react without knowing ANY FACTS,” Robinson tweeted.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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