Alabama redshirt junior defensive lineman D.J. Pettway has a chance to win a fourth national championship in four years, but that’s not what had Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban so passionate late Saturday afternoon.
Pettway was dismissed from the program in February 2013 for second-degree robbery following multiple on-campus incidents that resulted in the departures of three other players. The 6-foot-2, 265-pounder played last season at East Mississippi Community College and was allowed last December to return to Tuscaloosa.
His season totals for the 12-1 and top-ranked Tide include 22 tackles, five quarterback hurries, two tackles for loss and a sack, but Pettway also graduated last weekend and is set to begin postgraduate work next month.
“There is always a lot of criticism out there when somebody does something wrong,” Saban said in his final news conference of the year in Tuscaloosa. “Everybody wants to know how you’re going to punish the guy, but there are not enough people out there wanting to give him a second chance.
“Where do you want him to be? Do you want him to be in the street? Or do you want him to be here graduating?”