Homesickness. Injury. Couldn't cut it. Opened a Hookah Bar. There were tons of theories as to why 1st-Team LB Derek Hines suddenly quit the team last week after only four days on the field. Donnie Webb spoke to Hines recently and he set the record straight.
He just didn't want to play anymore.
"To be honest, there was no incident, nothing," Hines said Sunday night. "I got along great with the players. The coaches were great. I actually had a good time. For me, in my heart, I was done playing football.
"The bottom line is I was done, physically. I couldn't find it in me to keep playing. When I was out there, it showed. It's not right for me to be out there if I'm going to be out there like that. It's not good for the team. It's not good for anybody. Somebody could get hurt because of that. I'm not going to take a chance like that."
My guess is that Hines had been grappling with this for a while. I don't think it's the kind of thing that just grabs hold of you the moment you step on the field. And in a way, better he figure this out now rather than in the middle of the season or even 2-3 weeks from now.
Hines won't be showing up on anyone else's roster, he's planning on enrolling at a school back in California to get a business degree. Fare thee well, Derek. And Syracuse fans can add one more detail to the strange and wacky off-season it's been, at the weakside linebacker position or just in general.
Seriously, how many open scholarships do we have for next year? 827?