In the face of the Allen Pinkett brouhaha over his remarks that USC’s archrival, Notre Dame, needs to add a criminal element to the roster to return to championship form, Lane Kiffin added an ex-felon to his much-depleted roster at USC.

Pinkett, a former Notre Dame running back and color commentator on the Fighting Irish radio broadcasts, has been suspended from his broadcasting duties for the game with Navy this Saturday and may even lose his job.

The response to Pinkett’s comments has been viral.  Few if any sportscasters and commentators have come to Pinkett’s defense.  In football terminology, Pinkett has been gang tackled for a huge loss.

Now, I am sure the major media outlets are going to come down hard on Lane Kiffin, the USC head coach for doing exactly what Pinkett had suggested.  This Wednesday, Kiffin  reinstated Simione Vehikite after Vehikite was released from LA County Jail.

Vehikite was convicted on four counts of felony last May.  The USC special teams player and third-team fullback/linebacker was involved in a DUI injury car accident.  He pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of an accident and driving at or above the legal blood-alcohol content.  The court ordered him to pay restitution to the victim in the accident and to serve three years felony probation and one year of jail time.

The redshirt junior accepted full responsibility for all of his actions, made restitution, and served his time in jail.  While waiting to be sentenced, Vehikite took and passed a full semester of classes last spring and is very close to graduating this semester.

There is no secret about the Trojans’ lack of depth, especially on defense, due to the scholarship limitations placed on them by the NCAA in the Reggie Bush case.  So, was Kiffin merely acting advantageously or was he truly being altruistic?

There are two major differences between Pinkett’s remarks and the Vehikite reinstatement.

First Pinkett was talking about star players who happen to have a criminal or at least a callous if not malicious mentality.  He was not referring to a special teams player.  Vehikite never was and probably will not be a star player.  He may at some point work his way into a backup role but that is about it.

Second and most importantly, Simione Vihikite is not a criminal nor does he have a criminal mentality.  He is a kid who made an egregious mistake and compounded the problem by being afraid of getting caught and running away.

But he made up for his misguided actions, fulfilled all of his obligations to the victim and to society and deserves a second chance.  Lane Kiffin gave him that chance.

The media will say that Kiffin did so because it was expedient to bolster the depth chart with a warm body.  But the truth of the matter is that Kiffin, Athletic Director Pat Haden and Assistant A.D. for Football Operations J.K. McKay had previously told Vehikite that he would be reinstated if he fulfilled all of his obligations and maintained his grades.,

Kiffin has simply kept his word.  Anything less would send a message that once a felon always a felon.  Nothing could be further from the truth in this case.