Details emerge on the absurd reason Alabama commit EJ Crowell was suspended

5-star Alabama RB commit EJ Crowell will miss his high school team's season opener on Friday night due to a violation of the AHSAA's amateurism policy. The news was first reported by WKRG's Simone Eli on Wednesday night.

On Thursday, Eli provided an update on the situation, with the absurd reason for Crowell's suspension revealed.

Jackson High School made the decision to suspend their star RB for the season opener as they were faced with either that self-imposed penalty or the risk of a longer, perhaps season-ending suspension, which would have provided a devastating blow to their chances of winning another State Championship.

The "gift" received by Crowell was the loaning of a car - for a 20-day period, no less, by his own godfather. That is what put his eligibility in question. In the era of NIL and rampant pay-for-play in college football, the AHSAA is still policing high school football in the state like it is 1988. And they wonder why so much of the state's top talent keeps leaking over to border states.

If Crowell were in Georgia instead, he could profit off of his NIL already in high school, something that remains strictly illegal for Alabama high school athletes.

The school stood firmly behind Crowell in a letter:

“We at Jackson High School believe there has been no rule violation,” the letter said. “However, when presented with a choice of a one-game suspension versus the possibility of many more games, or even a full season, we made the decision that the only choice was obvious. Therefore, EJ Crowell will not play against Saraland.”

Rival fans rushed to dunk on Alabama, Crowell before knowing the full story

Of course, plenty of rival fanbases took Crowell's suspension as an opportunity to take a victory lap against Alabama. They rushed to do so without knowing the full story. Auburn fansite Fly War Eagle, for example, posted a story titled "Only Alabama could get busted for cheating in the NIL era."

The story is quoted with the following erroneous distortion of facts:

"You have to give credit to Kalen DeBoer and the Crimson Tide. In a world where players are getting paid millions, they outdid themselves and got one of their star recruits suspended for his final high school season-opening game."

The hypocrisy on the Plains frequently knows no limits. The program that just claimed a National Championship in a year in which it was ineligible for postseason play for cheating certainly has the nerve to point the finger at someone else.

Of course, it's an understandable move by fans of the cow college across the state. With the rest of the college football world openly mocking Auburn, they hoped they could turn their attention to big brother.

Sorry, Boogs.