Editor’s Note–Metroplex Monday will now be a part of dfwfootball.net.  It first appeared in the fall of 2008 at Collegefootballtopten.com.

By now, most people have heard about the release of nine players from their scholarships at SMU.  It has raised all kinds of publicity for SMU, much of which they did not want.  Head coach June Jones released a statement which reads in part

A few student-athletes failed to adhere to our department policies and/or team rules, and because of that, they are no longer part of our program,

At first glance, it looks as if Jones got rid of some “bad apples.”  What fan doesn’t want bad apples gone from their team?  Remove the bad apples, and Jones is freed up to do what he was brought to SMU to do which is win.

However, look at the statement a little closer.  Check out the part where it says, “. . . failed to adhere to our department policies and/or team rules.”  That is a key statement based on what has happened since the story came out.

One of the players, Jordan Johnson, has revealed that he was not released based on Jones’ much publicized “three strikes” policy.  Jones received some attention last fall when he suspended 17 players, including 3 starters, for violating his three-strikes policy last season.  Johnson has told anyone who will listen that he didn’t even have one strike, much less three.

Johnson appeared on the Michael Irvin show and stated his case.  He came across as a good kid who often answered with “no sir” and “yes sir.”  Further, Johnson revealed that he wasn’t the only one among the nine who might have gotten a little bit of a bad deal.  This is what he told Dallas Morning News reporter Bobbie Roquemore:

I don’t understand it,” said Johnson, who had six tackles in four games last season. “He told me there were three of us that didn’t deserve to be taken off scholarship, and I was one of the people. I don’t understand what’s going on, and I want my name to be clean.

So what is going on here?  It gets better.  According to Chris Dell of the SMU Daily Campus, as many as three players might appeal their suspension.  Joining Johnson in appealing the decision will be sophomore linebacker Taylor Bon and redshirt freshman linebacker Benjamin Goldthorpe.

Scholarships are renewed yearly, and coaches can fail to renew them for various reasons.  It might not be popular, but it is reality. [As an aside, if you are a high school athlete, and you are getting ready to go to college to play football, read Andy Staples’ article giving advice to incoming recruits.]

SMU Athletic Director Steve Orsini defended Jones’ actions by referring to the scholarship as a contract.  That might be hard to hear, but it is true.  Further, Orsini is right when he says that an athletic department is not run like a company’s HR department.

So, what gives?  Is this Jones’ way of cleaning out former coach Phil Bennett recruits?  No, because there are still Bennett recruits on the team.  What about the number of players released?  They released nine players.  Some have suggested that Jones did it to accommodate the incoming class.  But, Dr. Saturday at Yahoo Sports crunched the numbers and it doesn’t appear that SMU needed to release nine players to meet their scholarship limits.  However, a little extra room does mean that a walk-on or two could pick up a promised scholarship.

Something really seems fishy in Highland Park.  How does Jones justify his actions?  When Jones was brought to SMU, he was supposed to work a miraculous turn-around much like he did in his first year at Hawaii.  But, Jones learned that it wouldn’t be that easy.

He found out that screen passes could be intercepted and that there is good football being played in the DFW area (see TCU), and he also learned there are some pretty good teams in the Conference USA (see Rice).  He also learned he had to have some kind of a running game to keep the pressure off of true freshman quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell.  The Mustangs led in the fourth quarter of more than one game last season, but they were unable to hold the lead because their running game was atrocious.

Jones is in his right to release those players, and it may be that a good kid or two got caught up in a program in transition.  That doesn’t make it any easier for players like Jordan Johnson and Taylor Bon.  However, those young men just learned a valuable lesson a little sooner than some of their teammates.  No, life is not always fair.  Such is the case in the athletic world, but it is seen often in the business world.  One can only hope, that one or more of the players appealing the release can win their appeal and receive a scholarship for the rest of their time at SMU.