Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you’ve probably heard about the Ole Miss Rebels‘ shooting guard and SEC scoring leader, Marshall Henderson being suspended indefinitely for a failed drug test.
This hardly comes as a surprise to most people because he has a reputation of drug related issues that go all the way back to his early college career at Utah and Texas Tech.
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The media, and pretty much anyone with any type of social media account, are bashing Henderson and making jokes about his drug use. The media has had a field day with the Henderson situation and have mishandled it pretty badly.
Others are defending his actions because of his production. Recently, I was listening to Nashville’s sports radio and a Rebels’ fan even called in and said that he didn’t care what Henderson did as long as he hit threes.
Bashing Henderson and defending him are both horribly wrong attitudes to have in the wake of this serious situation.
What very few people have understood is that it shouldn’t be about the team, or the sport, or the league or even the drugs. Henderson is a victim and needs to be seen as such and given the proper help.
College basketball and the Rebels future success is not more important than his life, and his punishment from the school should reflect that.
If they cannot come to some formal agreement involving rehabilitation, the best solution would be for the Rebels to dismiss Henderson from the team, even though it could destroy any hope they have of succeeding in the SEC.
However, Ole Miss should not abandon Henderson. Head Coach Andy Kennedy and the rest of the Ole Miss basketball program should try and get Henderson to transfer to a college where he can succeed and get his life back on track — because, after all, the sport is supposed to be beneficial for the athlete as well as the school.
Taylor Sturm is an SEC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TSturmRS or add him to your network on Google.
