The March to 85 – Robby Green

It's official, Robby Green has been suspended by the NCAA for an undisclosed reason, which many believe to be failing a drug test.

ROBBY GREEN TO MISS 2010 SEASON

University of Alabama junior defensive back Robby Green has been declared ineligible to participate for the 2010 season by the NCAA. Green will be eligible for practice and will remain on scholarship during the suspension.

“Even though we are very disappointed we will continue to support Robby in every way possible,” said Alabama Crimson Tide head football coach Nick Saban. “He’ll practice and do all the other things with our team in terms of classes and workouts, but just won’t be eligible to play in any games this fall. His attitude has been outstanding through this and his effort in practice has been very good as well. Even if he isn’t playing, he can still have a significant impact on our team by helping out the younger players in the secondary and competing against the offense to make them better. We look forward to having Robby back on the field next fall for his senior season.”

http://capstonereport.com/2010/04/09/official-alabamas-robby-green-out-for-2010-season/5673/comment-page-1/

This definitely makes the March to 85 very interesting.  First of all, the burning question we have is why is Saban keeping him on scholarship?  Did the NCAA mandate that Green has to remain on scholarship when they handed down the suspension or is Saban and Alabama afraid of blacklash or APR penalties if they just cut him loose?

Obviously Green is an asset and was expected to step into the starting safety position in Saban's defense, but given the numbers crunch Saban and Alabama are in, they could not afford to lose a player and at the same time not free up a scholarship.  Fortunately for Alabama, they have tons and tons of raw talent in the secondary, and just to make sure they have enough debth, which they do, they have been trying out WR Julio Jones at safety and corner.  The bigger problem for them is the number 85.

The magic number is still 7.  We are taking Robby Green off the watch list, leaving only Star Jackson.  It's going to be interesting to see how the oversigned roster of 95 works it way out in the end.