Alabama DL Da'Shawn hand will not be suspended by the university after receiving a DUI over the weekend. This news coming from Coach Nick Saban. "First of all, we have every respect for the police and what they did, so in no way are my comments directed at anything but total respect for those people doing their job," Saban told 246Sports . "Da'Shawn put himself in a bad situation. Obviously he made a mistake being where he was at the time. But the fact that he didn't drive the car, aight, which is what we tell the players not to do. It's not OK that he was drinking, with me, and that's a behavioral issue that needs to be addressed and we will address it.
"But the fact that he didn't drive the car and wasn't driving the car, he did not put other people at risk, which to me is the most significant thing when you drive under the influence. But he didn't drive. But they have every right to do what they did.
"... I have two choices. I can punish the guy for putting himself in a bad situation, aight, but making a pretty good decision after he put himself in that situation. Or we can take the situation that he put himself in, which is drinking, aight, and have him assessed for that and try to help him so he can make better choices and decisions in the future."
Alabama opened the CFB pre-season coaches poll at #1 on Thursday and will face #3 FSU on opening weekend in Atlanta's new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.