Damari Alston will not finish his college football career at Auburn. His teammates wish him well.
They rallied in support of their former team captain.
Meanwhile, Hugh Freeze framed this untimely college football departure as a negative. His comments could create a divide in the locker room.
What did Damari Alston do?
There are two sides to this story: Alston’s side and Auburn’s side. There seems to be some truth to both.
However, the reaction of Alston’s teammates alludes to his treatment by the coaching staff.
It started after a loss to Georgia on Saturday. The senior running back went to Freeze and position coach Derrick Nix with a request to redshirt. He has not played much this season and has not been fully healthy so he wanted to save an additional year of eligibility. He did not want to quit the team.
Rather, Alston vowed to attend to every practice, lift weights and help on the scout team.
Freeze and Nix were furious. They tried to get him to reconsider. However, the former told his team captain that he would consider a redshirt after they both went home and slept on it.
He changed his tune less than 12 hours later. Freeze told Alston on Monday that he was not going to allow him to redshirt and told him to expect a call from the NIL collective.
The NIL collective essentially levied a threat.
If Alston “quit,” he would owe money back to Auburn. Alston said he did not quit. He wanted to be around the team on a redshirt. Freeze and Nix did not allow him to do so. They viewed it as though he quit.
And then Freeze twisted the sudden departure to hurt his player at a press conference on Monday.
Auburn players reject Hugh Freeze’s narrative.
Hugh Freeze said Damari Alston “failed to meet the standards of the program.” His words were sharp. It sounded as if the team captain committed a serious rules violation.
He didn’t. He asked to redshirt.
Freeze later clarified his comments, saying “his statement was in no way [meant] to be demeaning of Damar’s character as a man and an individual.” Alston hadn’t “done something awfully wrong.”
It was too late.
Auburn players spoke out in defense of their former teammate as soon as his exit was made public. They pushed back against what their head coach said at the podium.
“Real one since day 1 – control the controllables and go get what u deserve 🤞🏾❤️,” wrote Alvin Henderson.
“Great teammate , even better person ! Love you brudda ❤️♾,” posted Deebo Atkins.
“One of the best people I’ve meet in Auburn. Great man and great teammate! Love you brudda ❤️,” chimed Blake Woodby.
Champ Anthony, a fellow team captain, also shared his thoughts.
“Love you family you one of the least selfish and most loyal people I met in Auburn. Keep your head up, ain’t never do no wrong in my eyes. You know the real family I got you 5L no matter what, we voted you Cap for a reason,” he wrote.
Rayshawn Pleasant commented on Anthony’s post with an exclamation point. Chris Murray commented the word “LITERALLY” with a black heart emoji. Deuce Knight said. “WE voted big bro captain for a reason.” The five-star true freshman quarterback also made a separate post of his own.
Did Hugh Freeze lose the locker room? Was the ouster of Alston the final straw? We’ll see.