Rules were made to be broken. Hats off to the kid and his mother. If you make the effort to graduate with eligibility left you should be rewarded and allowed to go wherever you **** will please. At the end of the day he's a STUDENT athlete and academic success should be rewarded. The rule should be changed. Good for him for fighting there fight.
If anything his mother sounds very intelligent and is trying to give her son the opportunity to go wherever he wants to go.
Sounds like an enabling ****-stirring idiot who is coddling her son and convincing him to fight a losing battle. Mommy and he can "think" whatever they want about this situation, but the clear rules allow Saban to do exactly what he's doing.
If he is after an academic goal, sure. Obviously this is not the case. I have seen too many of these enabler-type parents involved in their children's educations. It's making teaching undergraduates unbearable. These days one can only derive satisfaction from educating the 10-15% that are actually accountable and want to learn. I am pretty sure most college professors would agree on this.
College professors are a bunch of liberals, so you want to talk about entitlement?
Depending what one teaches. Sounds like you majored in liberal art and got what you paid for.