Alabama’s Elijah Pritchett is considered questionable for the Crimson Tide’s upcoming College Football Playoff game. The redshirt freshman offensive lineman was arrested in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday evening.
He was charged with a Class C misdemeanor under Alabama Code § 22-11A-21 for knowingly transmitting a Sexually Transmitted Disease. Pritchett was later released on $500 bond.
Very few details about the arrest will be made public because of the nature of the charge. There are a lot of legal protections around such sensitive medical information.
However, we know the gist. It is rather embarrassing and awkward!
Pritchett is accused of having an STD (or STI, depending on your high school health class’ choice of terminology). He allegedly knew that he had STD and proceeded to engage in a sexual act with a partner. The partner did not know that Pritchett had an STD. He or she later found out the hard way!
Should Nick Saban choose to keep Pritchett out of the lineup, which seems unlikely considering the history in Tuscaloosa, it would be a big loss to Alabama’s depth at the offensive line position. The former four-star recruit played in all 13 games this season while splitting time with Kadyn Proctor at tackle.
Pritchett actually entered the college football transfer portal on December 15, five days prior to his arrest. However, one day later, he removed his name from the portal and said that “transferring is not in his best interest.”
It would be interesting to know whether Pritchett was aware of the impending charges when he made the 24-hour decision to leave the Crimson Tide. Either way, he was arrested for one of the most awkward crimes possible.
Now the whole world knows that Elijah Pritchett is said to be dealing with an itchy nether-region. That’s pretty uncomfortable — in more ways than one!
And everybody finding out because he was arrested is even worse.