If Mychal Bell returns to the football field it will be as a college player.  Abbey Brown’s article in the Alexandria Town Talk will give you all the details.

Frankly, I don’t care if Mychal plays football this year.  Like any High School Sr. he needs to get serious about his studies and prepare himself for college.  Given his notoriety, I’m sure some coach will give him a shot.

Friends of Justice interceded on Mychal’s behalf because we didn’t want to see him tossed into the Louisiana prison system for a decade or longer.  Had we not intervened, that’s what would have happened. 

Mychal Bell’s father blames defense counsel for Mychal’s latest setback.  This continues a pattern of shocking ingratitude.  Thanks to Louis Scott and the rest of Mychal’s legal team, the student athlete paid a reasonable price for his actions.  Mychal has been through hell since his arrest in December of 2006, but so has Justin Barker, the young man Bell assaulted.

According to another Town Talk story, Bell recently told CNN (a) that Jena is a racist community and (b) that he struck Mr. Barker.  In other words, Mychal didn’t just admit to the crime to avoid trial.  Initially, I was agnostic on the guilt-innocence question because of the strong evidence on both sides of the issue.  The alleged racism in Jena has never been the issue–this fight has been about protecting the due process rights of six vulnerable young men.

Mychal’s case has been handled appropriately and reasonably by the criminal justice system.  The former football star and his family should be rejoicing that he will be able to return to school this year and resume a semi-normal life.  As Mychal admitted to the man who wanted to be his coach, he’s not a movie star–he’s a gifted but confused adolescent from a troubled family who made a bad decision and paid the price.  If Mychal spends plenty of time in the library and the weight room this year he’ll eventually get his shot at the big time.