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Pat Dye Field => War Damn Eagle => Topic started by: AuburnChopper 3.0 on August 15, 2010, 10:02:21 AM
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Fri Aug 13 12:53pm PDT
It's a jolt: 23-year-old Glen Coffee retires from NFL
By Doug Farrar
It's not often that a third-round pick retires from the NFL in just his second season, but that's the story of Alabama running back Glen Coffee(notes), who announced Friday that he was leaving the game of football. Coffee explained his decision in a statement released through the team.
"This has been a tough decision for me to make, but at this time in my life I feel it is best for me that I move on from football. I appreciate what the 49ers, my teammates and coaches have done for me, and I wish them a blessed season and all the best in the future."
Coffee later told Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee the real reason behind his decision, a move that took everyone on the team by surprise.
"It was a struggle for a long time. Actually when I look back I feel I never should have entered the draft in the first place. Football was no longer my dream. I found Christ in college. It changed my views on everything. But I still was a football player because it was expected of me, it was something I did all my life. I was basically wasting the (49ers') time."
Coffee is the second 49ers player to have left training camp this week -- the team is trying to recoup part of the signing bonus given to 2008 first-round pick Kentwan Balmer(notes), who's currently AWOL after stretching a two-day leave given by the team.
[Read more: More troubling reports about worst injury in the NFL]
Coffee, who rushed for 226 yards and one touchdown on 83 carries in his rookie season, will be replaced in the rotation by rookie sixth-round pick Anthony Dixon(notes). Coffee informed Singletary of his decision on Friday morning.
"The one thing I learned a long time ago is that if someone wants to leave and you try to bring them back, talk them out of it, chances are you are going to have to try and talk them out of it again," Singletary told the media when asked if he tried to talk Coffee out of his decision. "That would be disrespectful to the guys out here. We have guys out here that really want to be here and I'm looking high and low to try and find those 53 that really love being here. And that's what the game is all about."
Coffee had added weight in the offseason to give himself a better chance of getting more reps in San Francisco's smashmouth running style. He won't file his retirement papers until Monday, but an about-face isn't in in the cards.
"I've already told Christ it's time to go," Coffee told Barrows. "I've already rung the bell. That's not going to happen."
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It takes guts to walk away from something like that, but the guy has more guts than I do. If I was making a few 100k a year, I would stick it out a few years, but I respect what he's doing.
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http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/08/full_story_glen_coffee_explain.html (http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/08/full_story_glen_coffee_explain.html)
TUSCALOOSA -- It's OK if you don't quite understand. Glen Coffee expected that.
At the same time, that didn't prevent the former Alabama running back from walking away suddenly after only one season of a promising NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers. Coffee announced his unexpected retirement at age 23 with a brief statement Friday, prompting widespread speculation as to the reasons.
Coffee had been "wrestling" with the decision for a while, he said in a Saturday interview. He said he came to the conclusion that God had another plan for him other than football, and leaving the sport "was just me doing what I should have done a long time ago."
"I feel like it's His will," Coffee said. "It's something that I really felt like I shouldn't have entered the NFL in the first place. I don't know what call God has for my life, but it wasn't football. ... I'll be happier, not necessarily because I'm without football, but because I'm letting Him do his work. Whether it was leaving football or leaving something else, another job, it doesn't matter. I'll be happy because I'm following His will."
Coffee's next step, he said, will be a return to the University of Alabama to finish work on his undergraduate degree before possibly beginning graduate school.
In many ways, Coffee feels his path away from football began while he was at Alabama. In the midst of his Crimson Tide career, he found Christianity and embraced it. He was baptized during the 2007 season, and soon after began accepting speaking engagements to spread his faith.
Religion eventually spurred his decision to leave pro football, he said.
"A lot of people aren't going to understand and realize because they don't have the wisdom to understand," Coffee said. "Their eyes aren't open like mine are open. True happiness is glorifying God and glorifying Christ. That's what true happiness is. ... And for me, that wasn't the NFL. That wasn't where I needed to be."
Coffee seems likely to enter the ministry or a similar career in the religious field, but said he won't force it.
"That will come to me," he said. "There are people asking me to speak right now, so that ministry comes. That's a ministry in itself."
A once-touted prospect from Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., Coffee established himself as one of Alabama's better tailbacks of the past decade. As a junior in 2008, he rushed for 1,383 yards and 10 touchdowns, a driving force on a Crimson Tide team that went 12-2 and reached the SEC title game for the first time in nine years.
He chose to forego his final year of collegiate eligibility and enter the 2009 NFL draft; the 49ers selected him in the third round.
Alabama coach Nick Saban said he was surprised Coffee gave up football and said they had not discussed the decision.
"I really was surprised," Saban said. "Glen was such a warrior-type competitor when he was here. He was a guy that just played fantastic football for us and improved dramatically in the two years he was on the team (under Saban). He always seemed to be a guy that really loved the game."
Coffee said he later regretted leaving school early, but that wasn't because Alabama won the national title without him in 2009.
"When I gave my life to Christ, I had that (2008) season," Coffee said. "So I said, 'Well, if I get paid for football, I'll be OK.' But that wasn't the case. ... I would have liked to have stayed with my teammates, because I left there for the wrong reasons. I left because I was done with football. It's crazy if you think about it. You leave football to go to another level of football, and you think you're going to be happier. Money or no money, that wasn't the case."
He rushed for 226 yards on 83 carries last season for the 49ers last season. Though he was a backup to star running back Frank Gore, Coffee remained No. 2 on San Francisco's depth chart, ahead of rookie Anthony Dixon of Mississippi State.
"I appreciate his honesty," 49ers coach Mike Singletary said, "and I appreciate him not coming out here and going through the motions."
Good luck to Coffee in the future. Sounds like everybody involved on both sides have their heads right.
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http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/08/full_story_glen_coffee_explain.html (http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/08/full_story_glen_coffee_explain.html)
Good luck to Coffee in the future. Sounds like everybody involved on both sides have their heads right.
I think this is why you see so many talented "busts" in the NFL. Their heart just isn't in it. I don't think there's any shame in it. It takes lots of personal sacrifice to be a college or pro player. Physical sacrifice. And while the pay is more than good for NFL players, many that can and do stick it out find their quality of life greatly dimished. And when your in the moment, the pay only goes so far when it's 100 degreew and you're getting your brains bashed in. I think some guys are genetically gifted not only in physical talent (there are a lot of these), but in their ability to withstand the punishment, which is as much mental as it is physical.
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"A lot of people aren't going to understand and realize because they don't have the wisdom to understand," Coffee said. "Their eyes aren't open like mine are open.
Wow. Condescending much? I'm glad you have so much more wisdom than the rest of us Glenn. Give me a break.
If he wants to retire, good for him. But don't make jackass comments like that.
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"He was a guy that just played fantastic football for us and improved dramatically in the two years he was on the team (under Saban)", Coach belittle said.
Damn....run and tell that homeboy.
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Wow. Condescending much? I'm glad you have so much more wisdom than the rest of us Glenn. Give me a break.
If he wants to retire, good for him. But don't make jackass comments like that.
I would suspect he has a perspective and wisdom on football, and football fans, that is uncommon in the public at large, especially those type fans such as bammers that looooooooove to talk shit about football players and coaches.
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I understand exactly what he was saying with the wisdom comment, if anything he may have just used poor word selection.
Mucho respect for Glen here. Like JR said, your heart has to be in it. His isn't and at least he knows that and is walking away.
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This is exactly what I was saying on the discussion about the Bama player who left. For varying reasons, all players don't look at football or sports in general the way we as fans think they do. His comment about how he probably should have never entered the draft...but he did because he was a football player...it's what he did..it's what was expected of him, makes total sense.
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As 2-Pac said, "Only God can judge me." Good luck Mr. Coffee.
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As 2-Pac said, "Only God can judge me." Good luck Mr. Coffee.
Hmmm. May be not a good example.
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Hmmm. May be not a good example.
You are a quick one my friend.
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You are a quick one my friend.
Thats what she said.....
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Thats what she said.....
Ouch babe.