Alabama Football Recruiting: Landon Collins' Mom Continues Decision Spectacle

The craziest and most vivid moment from the Under Armour All-America game is still very much unfolding, and it is working to the detriment of Alabama-bound Landon Collins. 

The video became an instant classic, and featured an enthusiastic amateur who looked a tad uneasy on the big stage, and a mother who was clearly not happy with the way things were going. 

The video, posted below, now has a great many details surrounding it. We now know what affected the mother from being overcome with jubilation that her son was choosing his school of choice, and instead chose to greet the moment with disdain. 

The player is Landon Collins, a five-star recruit who is on his way to Alabama. The mother is April Justin, a matriarch who is hellbent on making sure her son does things the way she sees they need to be done. 

And the young lady standing behind Collins in the video is none other than his girlfriend, Victoria Lowery. Lowery is also going to Alabama, to the shock of no one. 

The moment passed. Mom had her say, and we all moved on, or so we thought. 

According to ESPN the Magazine, via Yahoo Sports, Justin is still fighting her son's decision. Here are excerpts taken from Brooke de Lench's piece in ESPN the Magazine. 

"

According to April, Victoria had allegedly been offered a job to work in head coach Nick Saban's office.

In all fairness to Saban and Alabama, I have been unable to independently confirm April's story on this point (Citing NCAA rules, Doug Walker, Associate Athletics Director, Communications, at the University of Alabama, stated in an email to MomsTeam that the school "would not comment on anything relating to the recruitment of a prospective student-athlete." Asked if Landon's girlfriend had been offered a job, he stated, "I have no information regarding that."). All I know is what April told me.

"

So, according to mom, not only was her son being tugged by the heartstrings of puppy love, it was being done by a young lady who may or may not have been offered a job by the head coach. 

That is not the only piece of beef that mom has. Justin feels that Saban is wasting her son's time by red shirting him for his freshman season. 

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At 'Bama they want to red shirt (or grey shirt) him and they want him playing nickelback instead of safety. He is the top safety in the country and he will never play a game his freshman year.

Now at LSU, coach Les Miles is offering to play him as safety during his freshman year. His (Nick Saban's) goals don't meet the criteria of the family; they meet the criteria of Alabama."

What were, then, her goals? "For Landon to win the Heisman Trophy and to be able to play close to home at LSU with his younger brother, Gerald, who is also an outstanding football player who has offers to play at LSU.

"

Now here is where things get sticky on our end. We can't claim to know what is best for a young man we have never met. 

We also have no idea what is going on in the mind, nor the heart, of his mother. 

All we can tell you is what is being seen by millions, and it's not good. If Justin does indeed have evidence of wrongdoing on Saban's part, she needs to go through the proper channels. 

If she wants her son to heed her advice, she needs to discuss that with him and explain where she is coming from. No sound family advice is ever properly dispatched through the media. 

She is making a ridiculous spectacle of her son's decision. If she really thinks he is making the wrong choice, she can say her piece and realize that the decision largely rests with the young man she raised. 

After that, you have to consider that Saban has been nothing but upfront with Collins by telling him he would sit for a year, and really would benefit him to learn the system and mature into a true college star. 

I have no doubt that Justin wants the best for her son, but she has sullied what should be a proud moment for him by making this a public debate, and it's one she is losing. 

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