The Fall (or Fail) of Michael Dyer

You all may remember my daughter's commentary on Michael Dyer at the end of last season.

Auburn cut Dyer loose for a myriad of reasons, but tops on the list was he thought he was bigger than the program. So he had to go.

Instead of taking his punishment, getting out of the doghouse and playing one more season on the plains, he chose to follow Gus Malzahn to Jonesboro Arkansas, take a chance on sitting out for a year, and go from there. Keep in mind option one most likely meant a first or second round draft pick. Now, who knows the future for this once can't miss running back who looked like a special player.

You might ask why I write about Dyer. He's old news to many, I guess.

But I just cannot shake how collosally stupid one young person can be. He probably should have been prosecuted with the other former Auburn players in that attempted robbery after the national championship in 2010. After all, it was his gun. Instead of learning a lesson from that, he gets pulled over with pot and a gun in his car in Arkansas several months later. The now maligned state trooper tried to cut him a break, and he'll probably lose his job over the incident. After all, cover up adultery in Arkansas by state police is one thing. They have a long history of doing that from Clinton to Petrino. But letting a kid slide on pot and pistols is another.

I'm not defending the officer. Dyer should have been prosecuted. Maybe that would have been a wake up call for this overly entitled young man who has been able to do pretty much anything he damn well pleases because he's a special talent on the gridiron.

But at some point, Michael Dyer, MVP of the 2010 National Championship Game, needs to learn that negative actions have consequences.

What happens to him now? Maybe he pulls a Maurice Clarett and goes into the draft in 2013. Maybe he finds a small school to dominate until said draft.

It won't matter.

Until he has to take some responsibility for his actions, he will fail.

And it's just my opinion here, so take it with a grain of salt or several, but the culture of recruiting today can turn 17 and 18 year olds into ego-centric knuckleheads. The fact that a college wants you to come play for them at all is an ego-boost. I got letters from lots of schools for baseball, and I wasn't even very good. But the ego boost was absolutely there. That was twenty plus years ago.

Now, on top of the letters, recruiting sites post about these kids, ESPNU puts their name across the ticker at the bottom of the screen. They are rockstars.

Some kids handle it just fine. Others, like Dyer and Zeke Pike if he doesn't change his ways), obviously do not.

But enough of my soap-boxing for today. We'll be back later this week to talk about the 2012 season. I'm sure all of you are waiting to hear what Rob has to say about the latest version of the Auburn Tigers.