Feb. 23, 2021 –
BY DAN MATHEWS
680 THE FAN, ATLANTA – Like many of you, I was incredibly annoyed by Jseth Owens’ comments caught on camera and directed at Cam Newton during a recent 7-on-7 tournament. But, it’s time to let it go. 

The rising senior was a clown in calling Newton soon to be “poor” as a free agent and “ass.” He won’t be the first part and while not the player he used to be; Newton is still one of the best in the history of the game to play the position. 

I think if we’re being honest with ourselves, we’d soon enough let it be between Cam and Owens. They’ve seemingly put it behind them and the young kid apologized on Twitter. While his apology might have missed the mark a little, he’s still a kid and it won’t be perfect. 

This is now where the adults need to step in with him and other kids that are like him. If we want kids to have self-discipline, then we have to set those boundaries of accountability. 

One way could have been to punish his teammates for his clownish behavior and have him watch while they ran (an idea shared by “Hometeam” Brandon Leak). It would have hopefully caused him to feel bad about his actions forcing them to pay the punishment for him. Plus, one of the team captains would have likely addressed it with him, in hopes that it doesn’t happen again. It could be a learning lesson for him to focus on what he can do in order to improve as a player and help the team grow together. 

It’s not the fault of “kids today,” that they are… Kids. They’ll do stupid things and have to learn some hard lessons. Lord willing, hopefully their actions allow for them to learn from their previous mistakes. 

If Jseth wants to be successful in this game, this needs to be the last time he’s known for something like this. I don’t know anything about Owens as a college prospect. At least from the Rivals profile I saw of him, he doesn’t seem to have many suitors at the moment. Want to know how to keep it that way? Keep doing things like you were when videoed and you’ll get a reputation of being a clown and un-coachable. Trust me, no coach wants that headache. 

If I had a piece of advice for young Jseth, it would be to stay true to who he is and focus on his efforts in the game. Pay attention to the effort you give in your workouts, school work, the practices and on Friday nights. You do that and worry less about what comes out of your mouth? You’ll likely be pleased with where you’re at in life. But if you want to keep being the “class clown?” I’d say you won’t like the end result for your football career.