Aaron Douglas found dead (confirmed)

#427
#427
sad story for another great athlete that was full of potential. my condolences go out to his family and friends.

any idea if this was self-inflicted, drug-related, or natural?
 
#429
#429
Rest in peace Aaron. My thoughts are with your family and friends.

Edit: Paying tribute to Aaron with my 1000th post. Hope for the best for his family and friends.
 
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#430
#430
AD tragic death has understndingly brought out a lot of mean spiritness and self rightousness on this board. I have exsmined my feelings about this. Mainly I wish he had never came to UT. It didn't help him or the school. There is so much about his behavior and choices that I just don't understand. In the end he had to take responsibility for himself just like the rest of us. It is unfortunate it had to be so bitter.
 
#439
#439
The blame will be layed at the feet of many people before all is said and done. Our last coach, CDD, Tennessee fans, his friends that didn't intervene, and probably even his family will be accused of many things. People have to lay blame to make themselves feel better about something like this. Maybe, just maybe, as some have said, another kid will see what can happen. That is not very likely as the problem lies in the fact that most people who have one of these problems have a "that won't happen to me attitude" about it. That is a product of the problem. We can, however, hope that someone who doesn't have the problem will use this as motivation to help someone else that does.
 
#440
#440
I don't know if anyone posted this yet because i couldn't read everything on this thread. Here is what Arizona Western's coach was quoted as saying in an espn article.

"There was a lot of pressure on him because the Tennessee fans had called him a traitor. It was putting pressure on him. Words had hurt him," Minnick said.

Obviously the kid had D and A problems long before anyone bashed him on a message board. I don't think it is fair to blame it on that. However, I think a lesson can be learned here. We as fans often don't have all of the facts when we hear news regarding our team. I for one was very unhappy when I first heard he was leaving the program but i never attacked him on a message board or facebook or whatever. As soon as i heard that he had drug issues and that's why Dooley enforced the 8 hour rule, I completely understood. Sometimes you have to get away from the bad influences in your life. I had really hoped this was going to work out for him! Unfortunately it didn't.
 
#441
#441
I've tried to convince myself that the football program and fans share no blame in this tragic and untimely death. I have not been able to do just that; convince myself we are innocent of being really wrong in the way we have handled his departure from UT and, ultimately, his death. The fans and football staffs have acted deplorably regarding Aaron Douglas and his time on The Hill.
 
#443
#443
PoochPunt3rdDown said:
I've tried to convince myself that the football program and fans share no blame in this tragic and untimely death. I have not been able to do just that; convince myself we are innocent of being really wrong in the way we have handled his departure from UT and, ultimately, his death. The fans and football staffs have acted deplorably regarding Aaron Douglas and his time on The Hill.
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hindsight's 20/20 . you don't do what he did without receiving scrutiny. he knew that before he signed the LOI to bama. RIP
 
#444
#444
AD, just like the rest of us, made his choices and had to answer to them......blaming others for his choices is just co-dependent enabling....maybe early in his life if he had been guided to make more healthy choices, things could have been different for him....maybe if he suffered from mental illness, treatment could have helped..... but after that, the issue s character and with that you are on your own....
 
#445
#445
PoochPunt3rdDown said:
I've tried to convince myself that the football program and fans share no blame in this tragic and untimely death. I have not been able to do just that; convince myself we are innocent of being really wrong in the way we have handled his departure from UT and, ultimately, his death. The fans and football staffs have acted deplorably regarding Aaron Douglas and his time on The Hill.
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There is no blame to be shared with the fan base here, not one bit. I know it sounds cold and it is but no one here forced him to drink or smoke, shoot up or whatever happened. Pressure is a part of life and for his JC coach to say that is a cop out and totaly out of line.

I truly truly feel for the family I am sure they are devistated.
 
#446
#446
The most shocking thing of all of this is that he didn't realize the UT fans would be upset when he left UT and eventually ended up at Bama.

And for those of you blaming everyone other than Douglas for his death are completely out of touch with reality.
 
#448
#448
VolGraduate said:
The most shocking thing of all of this is that he didn't realize the UT fans would be upset when he left UT and eventually ended up at Bama.

And for those of you blaming everyone other than Douglas for his death are completely out of touch with reality.
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I don't remember hardly any AD threads since he left/signed with Bama. There may have been 1 or 2, but for the most part people forgot about him. That tends to happen when you have about 3 or 4 4 start tackles on the roster.

Tennessee had moved on, but I guess the media needs a scapgoat for a kid that failed multiple drug tests while in Knoxville. And what should Dooley have done? He released him in an effort to help him-said he needed to get out of Knoxville. And if he couldn't get it together under Saban and the structure of that program then there was no hope-this was always going to happen.
 
#449
#449
The blame game won't bring him back. It's a pathetic excuse for people to convince themselves that their hands are clean and that they don't need to "change" or "re-assess" or whatever you want to call it, the way they handle situations, make decisions, or act around people.... His death was the result of multiple ripples forming one giant wave that began long before he was in the spotlight for being a good football player.... It's a sad loss, sure, but it becomes tragic when, in an effort to understand something that simply can't be understood, we spend all our efforts trying to determine who is, and who isn't, to blame.... Obviously, it is much easier said than done.
 
#450
#450
kohlrums said:
I don't remember hardly any AD threads since he left/signed with Bama. There may have been 1 or 2, but for the most part people forgot about him. That tends to happen when you have about 3 or 4 4 start tackles on the roster.

Tennessee had moved on, but I guess the media needs a scapgoat for a kid that failed multiple drug tests while in Knoxville. And what should Dooley have done? He released him in an effort to help him-said he needed to get out of Knoxville. And if he couldn't get it together under Saban and the structure of that program then there was no hope-this was always going to happen.
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agreed. this is still however a tragic end. i think most UT fans realize that there are more important things in life than football and would never wish any harm to a player for transferring.
 
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