Kellenberger: Ole Miss’ Tunsil has no one to blame but himself

The outrage culture that dominates the Internet will tell you that Laremy Tunsil is getting a raw deal. The Ole Miss left tackle is merely the latest pawn in the NCAA’s never-ending quest for financial superiority, and if Tunsil took a loaner car from a local dealership and kept it too long then that was the absolute least that could be done for a two-time All-SEC tackle and preseason All-American.

But as right as they may be in the theoretical, they’re also actually wrong. Tunsil has sat out the first two football games of the season and will continue to do so on Saturday against No. 2 Alabama because the NCAA believes he has broken the rules. You may think that’s dumb, but you, me, Tunsil and everyone else know what you can and cannot do while retaining eligibility. If you go against those laws, you run the risk of getting caught and, if you do, you have no one to blame but yourself.

ESPN.com’s Chris Low reported late Wednesday night that the subject of the NCAA’s inquiry into Tunsil is related to a car he borrowed from Cannon Motors in Oxford while his was in the shop. That’s a normal courtesy extended to customers, so there’s no problem inherent in an athlete having a loaner car. The length of time Tunsil kept it though was extended, enough so that it’s apparently tripped up a NCAA rule requiring a player to miss 30 percent of the season for accepting impermissible benefits greater than $700. That’s four games. Low is a dogged reporter, so you can trust he is on the money with this.

Which is really a shame for Ole Miss, because the Rebels have looked absolutely fantastic during the first two weeks of the season even without Tunsil. About the only thing that does not make me believe they’re exactly the sort of team that can go into Tuscaloosa and win is the offensive line -- Tunsil’s absence has moved Fahn Cooper to left tackle, and redshirt freshman Sean Rawlings will start at right. Bama coach Nick Saban is no doubt prepared to dial up about a hundred different blitzes to test Cooper and Rawlings, and if Ole Miss has to adjust by leaving a tight end in to block that changes how the Rebels can test the Tide’s man coverage scheme (which is at its softest when you can get slot receivers and athletic tight ends matched up with linebackers). Ole Miss’ weakness may very well keep them from attacking Alabama’s weakness, and on the road against the No. 2 team in the country that may very well be enough to lose.

But let’s stop with the pity party and the #FreeTunsil hashtags. Georgia’s Todd Gurley sat out four games last year because he received more than $3,000 in cash in exchange for his signature over two years. In 2010 Georgia’s A.J. Green sat out four games after accepting $1,000 from an agent for his jersey. Mississippi State’s Will Redmond ended up losing all of the 2012 season and five games in 2013 for $2,660 in impermissible benefits (a car). Is that enough to prove that this is not an Ole Miss witch hunt by the NCAA as much as it is a governing body finding something and someone it has obtained proof on and proceeding accordingly?

Yes, an athlete should be able to profit off his signature. It’s his, after all. And, yes, I do not really have a problem in theory with a system where athletes could get other benefits, like the use of a car, if someone decides he is worth it. That’s basically the Olympic system, where Tunsil could have signed some autographs or did an appearance in return and no one really would have cared.

That’s where we may be headed one day, but it’s not where we are yet. And the same way anyone’s ambivalence toward a law does not give him or her the judicial freedom to smoke marijuana on a street corner or drive 20 miles over the speed limit, it’s an athlete’s responsibility to live by the NCAA’s laws if he or she expects to be able to play.

That’s not a fun truth, and it’s a lot easier to just be outraged by the whole thing. But it’s the reality of the situation.