Former Bama player turned Vol provides more bulletin board material

Welcome to the Haterade Cooler. What happens in the Cooler, stays in the Cooler. Visit the Haterade Cooler for the latest trash talk.

[ezjw url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV8D_WDXB9g" ]

6-foot-3, 288 defensive tackle Darrington Sentimore has a long but unfortunate past with coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide football program. In fact, after being recruited by the one and only Mr. Saban to sport the old school jerseys we all know and love, he redshirted in 2009 and then appeared in 11 games in 2010.

Sounds fairly normal in terms of being on track to start by the time Sentimore was an upperclassman, but that is exactly when things began to veer off course for the hot-headed behemoth.

[Related: Tommy Tuberville likes the look of the Big 12 over the SEC]

Sentimore harbors zero positive sentiment (forgive us, we had to go with the easy pun there) towards the Alabama football program after he was suspended indefinitely in 2011 for off-the-field issues. His journey back to DI football took a drastic tangent when he was forced to enroll at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College for a year before making his way back into the SEC with coach Derek Dooley and the Vols.

Remember that whole ‘zero positive sentiment’ thing? Yup, well, it may have behooved Dooley to keep the team’s leader in sacks (he has three; he also leads the team with four tackles for a loss) away from any and all microphones leading up to the game this Saturday.

Riding a five game win streak against Tennessee and looking to continue its ride as the nation’s No. 1 football team, the Tide already had plenty to motivate them in this one. Pushing the Vols to an 0-4 conference record was supposed to just be icing on the cake for this 95-year old rivalry.

However, Sentimore was allowed to get in front of a mic, and in only a few moments he managed to provide Nick Saban with seemingly far more than enough bulletin-board material. Again, as if Saban and Co. weren’t motivated enough by the drive towards their second national championship.

“With some players, [Saban]’ll see you in the hallway and walk right past you like he doesn’t see you.”

Not the kindest caricature of one of college football’s most successful coaches of all-time. However, he wasn’t done yet.

“I want to beat Saban.”

Dems fightin’ words! In fact, this is not the first time this season that Sentimore has taken it upon himself to stoke the fire against one of his program’s and fan base’s biggest rivals. Earlier in the season, before taking on a Florida Gators team that would go on to beat them for the eighth-straight time and by the dominant score of 37-20, Darrington added fuel to the Gators’ fire:

“I think people want to wait and see how we do against Florida. But I’m here to tell them that we’re going to beat them.”

As mentioned previously, we all know how Tennessee fared in that one. Do Sentimore and Co. even stand a chance this weekend at Tennessee?

We won’t know until the final whistle blows, of course, but one thing is certain: former Nick Saban recruit Darrington Sentimore has made things that much more difficult on himself, his teammates and his coaching staff.

Source: al.com

Gamedayr Latest >> Bama’s fans are feeling a lot better than those in Knoxville these days

Should Sentimore have kept his mouth shut?