LeGarrette Blount Suspension

One of the greatest knockout punches I've ever seen happened in the most unlikely of places; a football field. LeGarrette Blount, running back at Oregon, punched Boise State DE Byron Hout in the jaw after Hout jeered Blount at the end of a 19-8 final. This was an emotional loss for the Ducks because these two teams played last year and Boise State won. The reason Oregon was left with such a sour taste in their mouths was because their starting quarterback, Jeremiah Masoli, was injured on a cheap hit by the Broncos. Before this years game Blount was quoted saying Boise State deserves an ass whoppin'. He finished the game with 8 carries for -5 yards rushing. He was stopped on a crucial 4th and 1 late in the fourth quarter, which I believe caused his temper to be boiling at this point. What put him over the top was the unknown comment Hout said to him as time expired. Unfortunately, he did not stop after that; he proceeded to hit his own teammate in the helmet twice, who was trying to hold him back, and the worst of all he tried to attack a fan on his way out. I do not condone his behavior at all, but at some point we all bubble over emotionally. The problem was this game was on a national spotlight and there was no way this could have been downplayed in the media. None-the-less I think that a full year suspension including the postseason is extremely harsh, especially for someone in their senior year.
He would have to go to drop out of Oregon and attend a division II or III school in order to play this year. He probably wouldnt leave school so that means he wont play in another actual game until the NFL, that is if he is picked up by a team. He dropped from a second-third round range player to an undraftable one due to his obvious character issues and the recurrent history of them. Teams seem to deter away from players with character issues because of the strict tendencies of commissioner Roger Goodell. Its not like the 1970s when Oakland would scout players out of the prisons based on athletic ability despite them being derelicts.
I think Blount has a tremendous blend of size and speed. He is 240 pounds, but can make cuts and bounce to the outside. That is very unusual to find; unfortunately, he is known to have a poor work ethic and over summer he came to camp overweight and out of shape. He has plenty of time now to focus on rebuilding his image and body. He needs to work on his work ethic and display it when it comes time for pre-Draft workouts. He has to be in his best shape of his life and show the ability to be a changed man. He needs to mature quickly and show NFL teams that he can be a productive and positive member and help the team instead of hurting it. I hope he can do it because I think he has the God-given talent, he just needs to work on his character and maturity. Hopefully this very drastic and harsh punishment set down will send him a wake up call and make him finally grow up and develop into the player his talent allows him to be.