Alabama WR Bell tweets he's leaving, then changes mind

For decades, college football coaches have preached the virtues of priorities.

The list usually included God, family, academics and football.

For a few hours on Tuesday, it appeared as though one Alabama player had put that message into practice by walking away from the game to focus on his children -- only to backtrack on the claim before sundown.   
 
On Tuesday morning, Kenny Bell, a 21-year-old senior receiver for the No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide with 36 career receptions for 712 yards, sent a message to his teammates and the world via Twitter that he would be giving up football to spent time with his young son and daughter.  

"I've made so many memories here at Alabama, but some things you got to let go," Bell tweeted. "It's been a nice run, but I'm hanging up my cleats … time to focus on my responsibilities, my kids."  

With 17 receptions for 413 yards in 2012 Bell was an instrumental part of Alabama's national championship run, although he missed the SEC Championship Game and the BCS National Championship Game after breaking his leg in the Iron Bowl, the final regular-season game against Auburn.  

Bell did not have a reception during the Crimson Tide's opening win over Virginia Tech on Saturday.

The news caught Alabama officials off guard, and prior to Tuesday's practice it was unclear if coach Nick Saban knew of Bell's decision ahead of time. However, reaction from the public at the time was almost universally supportive.

The general gist among Bell's Twitter followers was summed up by Whitney Nicole Jones, who wrote, "It takes a real man to do what he's doing and putting priorities first. A lot of men wouldn't do that."

Bell signed off his Twitter announcement with a message for his teammates. "Salute to the team," he wrote. "Ya'll keep grinding and win that championship."  

But the salutation didn't last more than a few hours. After practice on Tuesday, Saban told reporters that the whole thing had been a mistake.

"Kenny Bell, I gave a personal day today," Saban said. "He should be back to practice tomorrow. Kenny's a fifth-year senior. He's done a great job in this program. He's played a lot of good football for us. He's made a lot of big plays. He's been a good teammate to a lot of guys on the team and is certainly somebody that I have a tremendous amount of respect for as a competitor … Sometimes we have personal things we need to iron out and today he had a day to do that"

Saban confirmed that he had made the ultimate play, calling Bell's mother about the situation.
 
"I talked to his mom," Saban said. "I want Kenny to be happy. I'd love for him to be a part of the team if he can be happy doing that relative to any other personal responsibilities he has." 

At 8:30 p.m ET, Bell confirmed that the whole thing was one big mistake, tweeting, "I'm back with the team. Just needed time to myself for a day, but I couldn't leave my boy, AJ McCarron. We ended this run together."