Opinion: Could Bama's Kurt Freitag leave Tide at low ebb?

Could it be we now know why former Alabama football player Eddie Williams brutally mugged a student in February of 2013, stealing his university identification card in order to buy snacks from a vending machine inside the football dorm?

Could it be that Williams and three other former Tiders were in desperate need of some munchies after spending the evening in the grass hut otherwise known as tight end Kurt Freitag's dorm room?

If you haven't yet heard of the mess the redshirt sophomore Freitag finds himself in today, don't sweat it. News of the Buford, Ga., product's role in an illegal drug transaction that allegedly took place outside the Bryant Hall athletic dormitory last Tuesday, Oct. 7, has been on the down low at best, not exactly hidden, but nowhere to be found ESPN.com's website, either.

Yet according to a fruits of the crime forfeiture complaint filed Monday, West Alabama Narcotics Task Force agents watched Freitag take part in the drug deal, then followed him to room 413 in Bryant Hall, where he was read his Miranda rights. When the player then allowed them to search his room, they found 112 grams of marijuana and $4,661, which they confiscated.

What's strange about this is that there's apparently no record of Freitag being charged with anything. There's also no explanation from either the task force, the Tuscaloosa Police Department or the University of Alabama regarding the incident, all citing no comment due to the fact that it's an ongoing investigation.

Even Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban -- when asked about Freitag during the Southeastern Conference's weekly coaches teleconference on Wednesday -- said only, "I've been informed by the authorities not to make comment about this investigation. I would like to leave it at that."

Of course he would. What coach wouldn't? But shouldn't Saban, the ultimate control freak, have known this was going on before the authorities did? After all, this isn't recreational drug use, however wrong that may be, especially in the state of Alabama, which has some of the nation's toughest marijuana laws.

These are distribution figures, which smacks of a felony and serious jail time, the Heart of Dixie reportedly requiring a mandatory sentence of two years for possessing any amount, and certainly 112 grams, which is roughly a quarter-pound of weed.

Yet a former Division I assistant who requested anonymity told me earlier this week, "It would be next to impossible for Saban to know. These kids just don't turn in their teammates. Now, if he's booted, there will be a bunch of them telling their coaches, 'Yeah, that guy was a bum. He did this, he did that. We're glad he's gone.' But they'll never say anything until he's gone.'"

Some of that is probably as it should be. But Saban is also dealing with a team that looks anything but crisp and focused at the moment, despite its 5-1 record and No. 7 ranking heading into this weekend's game against visiting and No. 21 Texas A&M.

Former quarterback A.J. McCarron has already questioned the Tide's leadership skills. On Monday, Saban -- perhaps knowing the Freitag story was about to break -- seemed unusually agitated regarding Bama Nation's frustrations with the first half of the season.

"Everybody's got such a high expectation for what our team should be," he said in response to last weekend's 14-13 victory at Arkansas. "I was just happy to see our players be happy about playing a game and winning."

Still, in looking back over the three national titles that Bama won between 2009 and 2012, one can't help but recall a story Saban told when he spoke at the Athens (Tenn.) Chamber of Commerce fundraiser in the summer of 2013.

Referring to his players leadership council, which included McCarron and All-American lineman Barrett Jones, Saban told of how he often talks of Christmas trees and how one blinking light can ruin the appearance of the tree's unblinking lights.

As the leadership council debated what to do with a particular player who wasn't behaving well, Saban said Jones finally blurted out that this player wasn't a "blinking light, but a strobe light," and Saban needed to get rid of him.

If the charges against Freitag ultimately implicate a number of Bama teammates, the lights just might go out on what began as a possible national championship season, one player's high times leaving the Tide at low ebb.

At the very least, don't expect Alabama's Million-Dollar Band to perform any Doobie Brothers songs the rest of the season or replay Cheech and Chong skits on Bryant-Denny Stadium's giant video board.

Yet no matter what happens moving forward, Freitag's apparent forfeiture of character and common sense is already enough to make one very big college football program feel small.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.

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