Sometimes circumstances dictate a change of scenery

What would you do?

Imagine you are Cooper Bateman or Blake Barnett.

You left your family and friends, moved clear across the country – Bateman from Utah, Barnett from California – to play quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide. The coaches flew you into Tuscaloosa, courted you like you were a rock star, told you how much they wanted you to be their quarterback.

They might have even put your face up on the jumbo screen at Bryant-Denny Stadium and called your name out for the imagined packed stadium to hear.

“At quarterback, from Murray, Utah … Cooper Bateman.”

“Coooooop!” the fans cheer.

Only, it doesn’t quite work out that way. Along comes this other kid, Jalen Hurts. Like you, Hurts can fling the football all over the field. But Hurts can do more than just throw. He can run. Midway into the season opener against Southern Cal, Hurts asserts himself as the quarterback of the future.

Barring injury – which nobody ever wants – or a sudden regression by Hurts, you realize you will never play a meaningful down of football for Alabama. That imagined scene on your recruiting visit is just that – imaginary.

What would you do?

You’re a college student on full scholarship for one thing, and that’s to play football. To start with, you’re taking a full load of classes with mandatory study hall and possibly tutoring. That alone is enough to overwhelm most young people trying to map out the rest of their lives.

Add to that the part-time job with a full-time commitment to earn your keep – playing football. The year begins with a winter conditioning program that usually begins when most of the campus is still asleep. Conditioning is brutal. Without getting too graphic, the room is lined with garbage cans for a reason.

Then comes spring football. Classes, labs, tests, study hall, tutoring, and two and a half hours of football practice. Position meetings. Film study.

The NCAA put in a rule that limits “mandatory” work to 20 hours. Yeah, right.

It’s a steep price to pay. And what is the return? You get to be the holder on the field goal team. Yea.

In three years, you look up and your college football career is just about over.

Or you could leave. Go somewhere else where you can play and maybe make it to the NFL. That’s what Troy Aikman did. He transferred from Oklahoma to UCLA and became the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. Jake Coker left Florida State, where he was stuck behind Jameis Winston, and transferred to Alabama.

What would you do?

There’s no right or wrong answer. Greg McElroy sat for three years at Alabama before starting his last two seasons.

“I’d rather play one year here than four years anywhere else,” McElroy said on a radio show earlier this season after Barnett announced that he was leaving Alabama.

Hutson Mason made the same decision. In fact, he took a most unconventional route by redshirting his fourth season at Georgia so he could have one year as the starter after Aaron Murray left.

Barnett announced this week that he will enroll at Arizona State. Meanwhile, news leaked that Bateman might forfeit his chance to play in the College Football Playoff so he can enroll at his new school and compete for the starting job in spring practice.

So be it. It’s their choice.

Here’s what is wrong, though. Anybody else – especially an alleged adult – ripping Barnett or Bateman for their decisions to leave. Here’s a post from one Alabama fan after news broke about Bateman leaving.

“Can we stop calling it a transfer when they QUIT the team with nothing more than hopes of playing elsewhere?”

Thankfully, many Alabama fans showed much more class than that. Such as this post:

“Hey he's just a kid who came to Bama and gave it his all. He was just beat out by a very special player that no one in the country expected to be starting this year. To insult or talk bad about a kid who only wants to try to better himself is classless and low. He has put in the sweat and work at Bama and I can only thank him for his time there. No hard feelings and I hope he is successful against every team he plays against except Bama.”

To any of the cowards calling out Barnett and Bateman, here’s what you should do: Get a life.

This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Sometimes circumstances dictate a change of scenery."