I Told You Houston Nutt Was A Crazy person

Townhallsavoy · « **on:** October 03, 2011, 05:08:11 PM »

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BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said his inability to sign Auburn cornerback Jermaine Whitehead offers a good example of why he opposes the SEC's new rule limiting 25 signees per class. The limit had briefly been 28 players and was changed due to concerns about oversigning.

"Gene Chizik came in and stole my man Jermaine Whitehead," Nutt said during a speech today at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham. "I asked Gene, 'Now Gene, you didn't even have a home visit.' It must be nice to hold up that crystal ball. Hold up a crystal ball and get one of my best players."

Whitehead, a Mississippi native whose development this season has been praised by Chizik, was a four-star recruit last winter. At one time, Whitehead said he was committed to Mississippi State.

Nutt, who is often criticized for oversigning, said Whitehead was committed to Ole Miss for a month-and-a-half up to the final week before Signing Day.

"He took my hand and said, 'Coach Nutt, I'm coming to play for you,'" Nutt said. "I took his word!"

Whitehead visited Auburn in the fall for the Tigers' game against Georgia. Then on the final weekend before Signing Day, he visited Auburn again.

"Jermaine didn't go on Friday. He left Saturday," Nutt said. "We stayed in his house until 10 o'clock on Friday night, the last weekend before Signing Day saying, 'I know he's not going to Auburn now.' Wake up, starting to get nervous because Monday and Tuesday before Signing Day and now he doesn't call. He won't answer my call."

Finally, Whitehead told Nutt he was going to sign with Auburn. Nutt described the conversation this way:

"Jermaine: 'Coach, I gotta go to Auburn.'"

"Why? Why would you go to Auburn? They already won their title. They already have the crystal ball. They don't need you. I need you."

"Coach, it's business."

"Business? You shook my hand, man! You said you were committed to me!"

"I know, Coach. I'm sorry."

Nutt said the point of the Whitehead story is there's now less flexibility for coaches to fill a recruit's spot if the player changes his mind late. "What if something happens like Gene Chizik comes in and takes Jermaine Whitehead?" he said.

Nutt acknowledged several times during the speech the perception that he is on "the hot seat" and said his past two recruiting classes are strong. Nutt said former coach Ed Orgeron left him with talented veterans, but that his last two classes weren't as good.

The Rebels have a 2-3 record, including a blowout loss to Vanderbilt, after a 4-8 record in 2010. Ole Miss went 9-4 in each of his first two seasons, including two wins in the Cotton Bowl.

"My Cotton Bowl victories are in the rear-view mirror," Nutt said. "They don't talk about 'em no more. So every now and then I've got to bring 'em up. Every now and then. But I know you're only as good as your last one."

If Nutt had his way, he said he wouldn't have scheduled a cross-country game at Fresno State over the weekend.

"We're closer to UAB, we're closer to Memphis," Nutt said. "But I don't get to make the schedule. Next year we're gonna play Texas. Whew. I don't mind playing one (tough game), one out of four. But I'll tell you, when you play BYU and Fresno at Fresno, come on. I want to keep my job, y'all."

Ole Miss has a bye this week before playing Alabama and Nick Saban on Oct. 15 in Oxford.

"I wish Alabama was more towards later on down the season, or if like they even wanted a bye," Nutt said, drawing huge laughs from a largely pro-Alabama crowd. "I mean, come on, Nick. You know what Nick can say? Nick can say, 'Next.' When you can say 'next' and then 'next,' you got it. They've got a good team. He can say it on the defensive line. Those guys in the trenches, they can dominate you and they can intimidate you. They can do both. That's the steps we're trying to take."

E-mail: jsolomon@bhamnews.com

Twitter: twitter.com/jonsol

Related topics: Houston Nutt, Jermaine Whitehead, Nick Saban, Ole Miss Rebels

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/10/houston_nutt_whitehead_choosin.html

Townhallsavoy · « **Reply #1 on:** October 03, 2011, 05:09:54 PM »

Is it me, or does this article having nothing to do with oversigning?

It is me, or does this article seem to only exist to say that Chizik got a last second recruit who told Houston Nutt that it was "business" that led him to Auburn?

Black helicopters.

AU_Tiger_2000 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 03, 2011, 05:13:24 PM »

Did he just compare playing in Texas to having to travel to Fresno and BYU in terms of level of difficulty?

Hey, Nutt, those were your easy games!

Snaggletiger · « **Reply #3 on:** October 03, 2011, 05:17:01 PM »

Quote from: AU_Tiger_2000 on October 03, 2011, 05:13:24 PM

Did he just compare playing in Texas to having to travel to Fresno and BYU in terms of level of difficulty?

Hey, Nutt, those were your easy games!

Another problem with that is he said "we're" playing Texas next year. Unless they keep him on as a consultant...

ssgaufan · « **Reply #4 on:** October 03, 2011, 05:20:52 PM »

Quote from: Townhallsavoy on October 03, 2011, 05:09:54 PM

Is it me, or does this article having nothing to do with oversigning?

It is me, or does this article seem to only exist to say that Chizik got a last second recruit who told Houston Nutt that it was "business" that led him to Auburn?

Black helicopters.

That's about all I got from it.

Pell City Tiger · « **Reply #5 on:** October 03, 2011, 05:32:18 PM »

That crab pinching son-of-a-bitch is nuttier than a squirrel's turd.

Snaggletiger · « **Reply #6 on:** October 03, 2011, 05:33:55 PM »

Quote from: Pell City Tiger on October 03, 2011, 05:32:18 PM

That crab pinching son-of-a-bitch is nuttier than a squirrel's turd.

Nuttier than a squirrel's turd?

I like it

Buzz Killington · « **Reply #7 on:** October 03, 2011, 06:12:35 PM »

Quote from: Townhallsavoy on October 03, 2011, 05:09:54 PM

Is it me, or does this article having nothing to do with oversigning?

It is me, or does this article seem to only exist to say that Chizik got a last second recruit who told Houston Nutt that it was "business" that led him to Auburn?

Black helicopters.

That and another coach singing the praises of Nick Saban.

RWS · « **Reply #8 on:** October 03, 2011, 06:40:17 PM »

I can't believe that Nutt actually said that shit.

It's called recruiting. If you don't like it, then don't coach. Which probably won't be a problem after this season anyway.

Townhallsavoy · « **Reply #9 on:** October 03, 2011, 06:42:34 PM »

Quote from: Buzz Killington on October 03, 2011, 06:12:35 PM

That and another coach singing the praises of Nick Saban.

At first I was like - "Wha u talkin' bout?"

Then I actually finished the article, and yes, Solomon did throw in a quote to help him suck Saban's choad.

Buzz Killington · « **Reply #10 on:** October 03, 2011, 07:00:12 PM »

Quote from: Townhallsavoy on October 03, 2011, 06:42:34 PM

At first I was like - "Wha u talkin' bout?"

Then I actually finished the article, and yes, Solomon did throw in a quote to help him suck Saban's choad.

Any article "written" by Solomon ends in the same fashion.

Kaos · « **Reply #11 on:** October 03, 2011, 09:22:48 PM »

Look a the related topics he put on there. What a fuckwad.

BTW, Finebaum already spun this as "Auburn takes another player away from a Mississippi school and the recruit says it's 'business.' What do you think that means. Business means some kind of transaction, right?"

AUChizad · « **Reply #12 on:** October 03, 2011, 11:22:52 PM »

Quote from: Kaos on October 03, 2011, 09:22:48 PM

Look a the related topics he put on there. What a fuckwad.

BTW, Finebaum already spun this as "Auburn takes another player away from a Mississippi school and the recruit says it's 'business.' What do you think that means. Business means some kind of transaction, right?"

How many times have we heard a recruit saying that Chizik's staff is family and fun, while Saban, on the other hand is strictly business?

The Prowler · « **Reply #13 on:** October 04, 2011, 05:26:04 AM »

The funny part is Jermaine Whitehead was actually a Mississippi State commit. So, basically he was crying about not being able to fill their need at CB after a MSU commit decided to sign with Auburn...He's a fuckin piece of trash.

http://auburn.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1184240

GH2001 · « **Reply #14 on:** October 04, 2011, 09:31:45 AM »

Quote from: AUChizad on October 03, 2011, 11:22:52 PM

How many times have we heard a recruit saying that Chizik's staff is family and fun, while Saban, on the other hand is strictly business?

Dead serious here. You certainly have to think less of Hank Jr's rant after reading Nutt's...right? His last name is oh-so-fitting.

JR4AU · « **Reply #15 on:** October 04, 2011, 10:57:14 AM »

Quote from: ssgaufan on October 03, 2011, 05:20:52 PM

That's about all I got from it.

I didn't even get that from it, until y'all mentioned it. I take it the phrase "it's business" will be spun to mean he got paid?

wesfau2 · « **Reply #16 on:** October 04, 2011, 11:26:22 AM »

Quote from: The Prowler on October 04, 2011, 05:26:04 AM

The funny part is Jermaine Whitehead was actually a Mississippi State commit. So, basically he was crying about not being able to fill their need at CB after a MSU commit decided to sign with Auburn...He's a fuckin piece of trash.

http://auburn.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1184240

Kid was a Miss St. recruit and had, according to Nutt, promised to switch to Ole Miss on signing day.

Nutt gets mad because the kid switches at the last minute...but to Auburn.

GH2001 · « **Reply #17 on:** October 04, 2011, 12:12:21 PM »

Quote from: wesfau2 on October 04, 2011, 11:26:22 AM

Kid was a Miss St. recruit and had, according to Nutt, promised to switch to Ole Miss on signing day.

Nutt gets mad because the kid switches at the last minute...but to Auburn.

I think they call that hypocrisy.

That whiney little bitch.

DnATL · « **Reply #18 on:** October 04, 2011, 12:50:28 PM »

You shop, we shop

(wait, shopping implies buying something, like you gotta pay cash money - otherwise it would just be browsing)

AUChizad · « **Reply #19 on:** October 05, 2011, 10:24:40 AM »

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/10/its_past_time_for_houston_nutt.html

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It's past time for Houston Nutt to let Auburn freshman Jermaine Whitehead go
Published: Wednesday, October 05, 2011, 5:05 AM
Kevin Scarbinsky, Birmingham News

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Poor Houston Nutt.

Eight months after Signing Day, and he's still complaining about losing Jermaine Whitehead to Auburn.

As if a freshman cornerback could've prevented Mississippi's late collapse against BYU, its 23-point road loss at Vanderbilt and its 14-point home defeat against Georgia.

Oh, well.

When your evangelical appeal has eroded faster at Ole Miss than it did at Arkansas, and it's obvious you have no answers for an eight-game SEC losing streak with Alabama on the horizon, the best form of defense is attack.

Nutt's latest comments on Whitehead, at the Monday Morning Quarterback Club in Birmingham, would be comical if they weren't so reckless and unprofessional.

Cleverly couched as an attack on the SEC's new 25-signee limit - a cap originally inspired by his own 37-man signing class in 2009 - Nutt managed to question the integrity of both an 18-year-old Auburn freshman and the entire Auburn program.

"Gene Chizik came in and stole my man Jermaine Whitehead," Nutt said.

His man? Really? Whitehead made only one public verbal commitment early in the recruiting process - to Dan Mullen and Mississippi State.

Nutt said that Whitehead was committed to him for a month and a half leading up to Signing Day, but just days before, The Birmingham News, Jackson Clarion-Ledger and Rivals.com all described Whitehead as a Mississippi State commitment who was likely to switch and choose between Ole Miss and Auburn.

A national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com wrote this about Whitehead the day before Signing Day: "He is essentially the last of the big-name commitments to Dan Mullen who will flip. Auburn appears to have all the momentum here."

Why? Another four-star cornerback prospect, Marcus Roberson, had just switched his latest commitment from Auburn to Florida, creating an opening for Whitehead to sign with the Tigers.
Kevin Scarbinsky is a columnist for The Birmingham News. His column is published on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Nutt said Monday that Chizik didn't even take an in-home visit to see Whitehead. He didn't say that Whitehead had visited Auburn at least three times: for the 2010 Big Cat weekend, with his parents, for the 2010 Georgia game and for his last official visit the weekend before Signing Day.

Nutt said Monday that Whitehead told him later that he had to go to Auburn. Why? He said Whitehead told him, "Coach, it's business."

Business? Whether Nutt meant it this way or not, that's code for, "Auburn cheated." There's no other way to read it given the actual events of the last year and the still-unproven speculation they set off about Auburn's recruitment of Cam Newton and beyond.

Nutt using the word "business" to describe Whitehead's motivation was unfair to Whitehead and Auburn. If Nutt thinks that Auburn cheated to sign Whitehead, he should come right out and say it or let the whole thing go. If Nutt merely thinks that Auburn flexed its muscle as the national champion to flip a recruit that was committed to him, and he's still moaning about it 11 months later, he's a hypocrite.

He didn't mind signing running back Enrique Davis in 2008, even though Davis had signed in 2007 with Auburn and Tommy Tuberville, who expected him to return after a year at Hargrave Military Academy. Nutt also didn't mind pursuing Whitehead, who had committed to Mississippi State.

Chizik was asked Tuesday about Nutt's comments on Whitehead. "I'm trying to beat Arkansas," Chizik said. "I don't worry about all these outside distractions."

In short, Chizik handled the situation like a professional. Nutt should try that approach next time.

One more thing on the subject of commitment. Someone should remind Nutt that, behind the scenes, according to people close to him, he expressed interest in the Alabama job after Mike Shula left and the Auburn job after Tuberville departed. Nutt's interest in the Auburn job came after he'd been at Ole Miss for only one year.

Judging by the performance of both Nick Saban and Chizik, it's safe to say that neither Alabama nor Auburn has any regrets about Nutt. Can Ole Miss say the same?