Newsome says some day he’ll come home to Bama

Just like the old days, Richard Todd set up Ozzie Newsome on Friday afternoon.

Introducing the Colbert County native, former Alabama and NFL standout wide receiver and general manager of the Baltimore Ravens as the keynote speaker at the 2009 Eagle Luncheon by the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the former Crimson Tide quarterback appealed to the partisan crowd.

"I'd like to see him come down to the University of Alabama for a while," Todd said to rousing applause at North Alabama University's Gulliot University Center in Florence.

In his first trip to the Shoals in four years, Newsome, long considered by Tide faithful a desirable hire for the Alabama athletics department, didn't drop the ball. But he didn't exactly run with it either, instead speaking generally about his love of the state and university of Alabama and offering a response open to interpretation.

"I am coming back," Newsome said during his 20-minute speech. "I am coming back at some point. I have a lot of work to do in Baltimore, but I am coming back."

When asked whether he was referring to returning to the state to pursue a particular job with the Crimson Tide or elsewhere, Newsome simply said, "I am just coming back home."

Newsome's spoke about the importance of education, faith, independence and character.

He warned about the dangers of succumbing to peer pressure. He mentioned Ravens great Ray Lewis, who overcame a double murder charge in 2000, and Jamal Lewis, who served four months in prison for a 2004 drug charge. Both, Newsome said, fell into those situations because of associations with the wrong people.

"The inability to handle peer pressure can ruin you," he said.

Newsome also talked about the difficulty of developing character at the NFL level and revealed his disdain for end zone celebrations, showboating and disparaging talk and actions. He said he doesn't necessarily have an issue, however, with the public rhetoric between Southeastern Conference coaches, recently bolstered by new Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin.

"That's life in the SEC," Newsome said after his speech. "Right now, football is 365 (days a year) down south. What Lane is trying to do is get Tennessee on the map and get people talking about Tennessee again. I may not like the way he's doing it, but I think he's doing it for the right reasons."

Throughout his speech, Newsome continually came back to the topic of Alabama football, talking about the Iron Bowl's superiority over other rivalries and his experience playing as a freshman weeks removed from Colbert County High School on Alabama's varsity team for coach Bear Bryant.

He also told a story about former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaking at the NFL owners meetings in March about her trip to Bryant-Denny Stadium with a representative from the British government.

"She was talking about going to an Alabama football game and how great that was," Newsome said. "That's what she was doing with him to show him about the culture we have in this state. I'm sitting there proud and my chest is puffing out because she's talking about my state and my school."

Bryan App can be reached at 740-5730 or bryan.app@TimesDaily.com.