Dear Nu'Keese,
I'm sure your life has been quite a whirlwind in the last few days, and the notoriety you have gained may not be so welcome. I'm writing to offer you some advice that you may want to consider.
I think it is clear to most observers your life has become caught up with some people who may not have your best interests in mind. I'm not referring to Nu'Keese Richardson the football player, I'm referring to Nu'Keese Richardson the human being. Because of the ugly and incredibly public way your recruitment has been dramatized, you run the risk of being branded by it for the rest of your college career or even longer. You may no longer simply be Nu'Keese Richardson the football player, you will be famous for your involvement in this episode, deservedly or not.
When you step on the football field, you may become a target for those who would otherwise have no reason to single you out. They may simply use you as a proxy for their enmity against your head football coach and your institution.
From public accounts, your behavior in this episode was far from exemplary. And while the actions of those who recruited and guided you in this episode were reprehensible, you need to accept responsibility for your actions as well.
Your decision to change schools was certainly appropriate. It's your life. And while the process you went through in making the change wasn't one to be proud of, you are certainly not alone in that imperfection.
What makes your situation unique, Nu'Keese, is the way your recruitment was used as a pawn by your head coach to try and demonstrate his value as the leader of the Tennessee football program. While there is quite a consensus as to the impropriety of the comments themselves, I don't hear much commentary about how all of this impacts the young man unwittingly thrown into this storm. I think it's clear your coach did not consider this impact heavily when making his comments.
You alone can determine how best to go forward from here, but a little advice may be in order. If you were my brother, I'd suggest the following:
First and foremost , apologize to your family and those in your community for your breach of trust with them. These are the people who have supported you and will be there for you in the future when the chips are down. Secondly, I think you should seriously consider enrolling in a university outside of the Southeastern Conference. With your talent, there would be no shortage of schools willing to take you on.
The consequences of this episode will not die away quickly and with no intent on your part, when people see you at UT, they will think of your recruitment and see you as a symbol of your head coach's identity. This will be both on campus and on the football field.
It occurs to me that this situation has made you famous in some respects and might make you pretty popular in a lot of circles at UT. But in the end, I think you'll be better off making a name for yourself based upon your own accomplishments than via a sad situation like this.
The choice is yours, but that's what I'd tell you if you were my brother.
Rich Kleinman is a UF alumnus.
