Aaron Douglas found dead (confirmed)

#451
#451
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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Dooley released him? Why'd he go JUCO, then? That's beside the point, I guess.

It is retarded to put any of this blame on the fans, though.
 
#452
#452
did anyone see the ESPN article that was just throwing his departure around like it was nothing. It said something like "Douglas's death leaves open the door for 5 star Cyrus kouandjio". They took it down, I believe. that is why i have no link
 
#453
#453
VolBalla2014 said:
did anyone see the ESPN article that was just throwing his departure around like it was nothing. It said something like "Douglas's death leaves open the door for 5 star Cyrus kouandjio". They took it down, I believe. that is why i have no link
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yeah, it was posted in this thread somewhere.... Stay classy, ESPN.
 
#454
#454
VolBalla2014 said:
did anyone see the ESPN article that was just throwing his departure around like it was nothing. It said something like "Douglas's death leaves open the door for 5 star Cyrus kouandjio". They took it down, I believe. that is why i have no link
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they also apologized that it got out in the first place...
 
#455
#455
LittleDTO said:
Mark Howard this morning on 104.5 in Nashville blamed UT fans for the pressure put on AD.
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That is a sad reality of the society we live in. Everything is always another's fault. Not many seem to be able to take responsibility for thier own actions and decisions.

I hate that this tragedy happened to such a talented person, and my prayers are with the family.

That said, if this was a case of substance abuse, the fans, previous coaches, nor any other circumstance forced AD to take any drug. That would have been a tragically wrong decision AD himself made long ago.
 
#457
#457
Thrasher865 said:
Dooley released him? Why'd he go JUCO, then? That's beside the point, I guess.

It is retarded to put any of this blame on the fans, though.
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Dooley released him with the condition he had to go to a school at least eight hours(driving) from Knoxville. The reasoning, IMO, was that he needed to be out of Knoxville, and thus, away from the biggest portion of the "bad" influences in his life. I truly believe CDD wanted to help this young man "get the monkey off his back." It is retarded to put the blame on the "fanbase," generally speaking. Read through this thread and some of the ones after he left, however, and you will see some pretty cruel things being said about him. There are idiots in every fanbase and every facet of society. I am 43 and sometimes words still cut me, so I can imagine a 21 year old kid would take some of the things being said to heart. As has been said, though, the blame game will not make it any better. We can only hope and pray that this is one of the many problems confronting big time college football players(and people in general for that matter) that CDD is trying to address with his VFL program.
 
#458
#458
My observations:

1. A very sad, tragic ending to a young, troubled life.

2. The only coach who truly tried to help AD IMO is Derek Dooley. There was a reason he required AD to go at least 8 hours away from Knoxville, and it was to get AD away from a certain element that kept dragging him down.

3. For all of the Arizona junior league coach's sanctimonious BS, where is his ownership of the responsibility? He had a player with a known drug problem, and what did he do to help that kid get beyond that problem. Obviously, whatever he did, it wasn't enough. It doesn't make him at fault, but he should be careful pointing fingers. He had a role in this.

4. My belief is that everybody who had contact with AD, including his parents, Kiffin, Dooley, the Arizona junior league coach and Saban tried mightily to get his life on the right track.

5. As a result of 4, the real responsibility goes to AD. Other people can try as much as possible to help an individual, but at the end of the day, that individual has to make good choices. We've all made our share of very bad choices over the course of our lives, so none of us need to be judgmental. The difference is that AD made bad choices that led to this. It is just plain sad.
 
#459
#459
Thrasher865 said:
Dooley released him? Why'd he go JUCO, then? That's beside the point, I guess.

It is retarded to put any of this blame on the fans, though.
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I believe that was the conditions of the release. He goes to play JUCO at least 8 hrs from K-Town. That would get him out of an environment of a major univeristy town and all that often surrounds it.

After his year of JUCO he was able to transfer back to D1.
 
#460
#460
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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How have we/they acted deplorably towards AD and his time on the hill? I'm seriously wanting to understand your logic here. AFAIK you can't force someone to give up drugs if they don't want to, no matter how hard you plead - they have to make the decision to quit of their own volition.
 
#461
#461
EZE said:
My observations:

1. A very sad, tragic ending to a young, troubled life.

2. The only coach who truly tried to help AD IMO is Derek Dooley. There was a reason he required AD to go at least 8 hours away from Knoxville, and it was to get AD away from a certain element that kept dragging him down.

3. For all of the Arizona junior league coach's sanctimonious BS, where is his ownership of the responsibility? He had a player with a known drug problem, and what did he do to help that kid get beyond that problem. Obviously, whatever he did, it wasn't enough. It doesn't make him at fault, but he should be careful pointing fingers. He had a role in this.

4. My belief is that everybody who had contact with AD, including his parents, Kiffin, Dooley, the Arizona junior league coach and Saban tried mightily to get his life on the right track.

5. As a result of 4, the real responsibility goes to AD. Other people can try as much as possible to help an individual, but at the end of the day, that individual has to make good choices. We've all made our share of very bad choices over the course of our lives, so none of us need to be judgmental. The difference is that AD made bad choices that led to this. It is just plain sad.
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I agree with most of what you said except for part of #4. If you have ever been around someone with an addiction, there has to be someone somewhere enabling them to keep that addiction going. The biggest problem with that is, if the person has resources(which, IMHO, comes into play in this particular instance), there will be someone there to help enable them to either feed their own addiction or to try and get access to some of those resources.
 
#462
#462
EZE said:
My observations:

1. A very sad, tragic ending to a young, troubled life.

2. The only coach who truly tried to help AD IMO is Derek Dooley. There was a reason he required AD to go at least 8 hours away from Knoxville, and it was to get AD away from a certain element that kept dragging him down.

3. For all of the Arizona junior league coach's sanctimonious BS, where is his ownership of the responsibility? He had a player with a known drug problem, and what did he do to help that kid get beyond that problem. Obviously, whatever he did, it wasn't enough. It doesn't make him at fault, but he should be careful pointing fingers. He had a role in this.

4. My belief is that everybody who had contact with AD, including his parents, Kiffin, Dooley, the Arizona junior league coach and Saban tried mightily to get his life on the right track.

5. As a result of 4, the real responsibility goes to AD. Other people can try as much as possible to help an individual, but at the end of the day, that individual has to make good choices. We've all made our share of very bad choices over the course of our lives, so none of us need to be judgmental. The difference is that AD made bad choices that led to this. It is just plain sad.
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1. I'm sure you have excellent inside sources to prove that Dooley was the only coach that tried to help him, right?

2. You should be more careful with your words if you are saying the coach is not at fault, b/c one would be inclined to think otherwise based on your "whatever he did, it wasn't enough" line.... I assume you know exactly what he did and didn't do to make such a strong accusation?

3. I agree, we shouldn't be judgmental. However, I don't think your post did a very good job of that.
 
#464
#464
VolGraduate said:
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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Yep. Sure, people get pissed for a few days, maybe a few weeks, but then they move on when they start scouring the recruiting pages/sites. Bryce Brown becomes Neal/Lane. AD becomes James. For the media to pretend that a few weeks of virtriol from the TN fanbase had something to do with this is sad. And from what I have seen on this board, Douglas hardly faced any backlash because his issues were well documented. Far different for the grief Brown faced after leaving via text.
 
#465
#465
Thrasher865 said:
Dooley released him? Why'd he go JUCO, then? That's beside the point, I guess.

It is retarded to put any of this blame on the fans, though.
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Maybe I'm wrong, but I am pretty sure Dooley released him, and he went JUCO so he could play right away and keep his transfer options open. Probably the same reason Cam Newton went JUCO.
 
#466
#466
manfromtn said:
I agree with most of what you said except for part of #4. If you have ever been around someone with an addiction, there has to be someone somewhere enabling them to keep that addiction going. The biggest problem with that is, if the person has resources(which, IMHO, comes into play in this particular instance), there will be someone there to help enable them to either feed their own addiction or to try and get access to some of those resources.
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I've been too close to addiction with loved ones.

The most important thing to remember is that all addicts are liars and manipulators.

Those who love the addict the most are most prone to the manipulation. They can't be blamed.

My heartfelt condolences to Dave and Karla. What a sad day.
 
#467
#467
manfromtn said:
I agree with most of what you said except for part of #4. If you have ever been around someone with an addiction, there has to be someone somewhere enabling them to keep that addiction going. The biggest problem with that is, if the person has resources(which, IMHO, comes into play in this particular instance), there will be someone there to help enable them to either feed their own addiction or to try and get access to some of those resources.
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Does enabling someone include continuing to play him for an entire season while he (allegedly) fails drug test after drug test? Can someone ask Lane Kiffin this?
 
#468
#468
kohlrums said:
Yep. Sure, people get pissed for a few days, maybe a few weeks, but then they move on when they start scouring the recruiting pages/sites. Bryce Brown becomes Neal/Lane. AD becomes James. For the media to pretend that a few weeks of virtriol from the TN fanbase had something to do with this is sad. And from what I have seen on this board, Douglas hardly faced any backlash because his issues were well documented. Far different for the grief Brown faced after leaving via text.
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you must not remember the rumor threads documenting him quitting football for a rap career.... as I mentioned in a previous post, there is no sense playing the blame game. But, as is the case whenever a player chooses not to attend UT, the fanbase definitely didn't factor in "other well documented issues" before posting reasons why we didn't want him, why he wasn't that good, saying he wasted an opportunity to be 1st round pick and how could he be so stupid, etc etc.... This may or may not have played a factor in his depression, but to downplay the immediate outlash by the fanbase (more so when he left UT than when he signed with Bama) is inaccurate.
 
#469
#469
VolsDeep said:
you must not remember the rumor threads documenting him quitting football for a rap career.... as I mentioned in a previous post, there is no sense playing the blame game. But, as is the case whenever a player chooses not to attend UT, the fanbase definitely didn't factor in "other well documented issues" before posting reasons why we didn't want him, why he wasn't that good, saying he wasted an opportunity to be 1st round pick and how could he be so stupid, etc etc.... This may or may not have played a factor in his depression, but to downplay the immediate outlash by the fanbase (more so when he left UT than when he signed with Bama) is inaccurate.
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I remember-but they lasted for about a week.
 
#471
#471
WeldVol said:
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....
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Agree. At some point we all become adults and we are accountable for our actions, both good and bad.
 
#475
#475
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