Joe Judge is riding on the backtrack.
Judge, an Ole Miss assistant football coach, caused some controversy on Thursday with his testimony regarding football players’ sleep and mothers in the Trinidad Chambliss eligibility case, but attempted to clarify his comments on Saturday on X.
“Some of my comments from Thursday have been taken out of context, so I’d like to provide some clarity,” Judge posted. “In a discussion about Trinidad’s sleep apnea, I was trying to point out the importance that the NFL places on sleep for recovery and performance in addition to the education of balancing family dynamic during the football season.
“These are discussions I was a part of at the professional level from veteran players based on their own experience managing similar situations. These are not discussions we’ve had at the collegiate level. As a husband and father of four children, I understand those challenges first hand and would never diminish the commitment to family. We share that same dedication to family with our players and always support them through any challenges they face in their personal lives.”
When Judge was called to provide testimony on Thursday on the importance of sleep to an athlete, he said that “significant others” of football players shouldn’t ask them to feed babies in the middle of the night so they can get the necessary amount of sleep to be effective on the field.
“We’d have to educate significant others who may have been pregnant during the season or were going to have a baby during the season,” Judge said in the Thursday testimony. “And you’d have to educate them on, you have this baby in the middle of the season, that father has to play good football,” Judge said, after acknowledging that it would be an unpopular opinion.
“It’s a day-by-day production business. He has to be ready to perform and go out there and play. And when I say that is, you need to let him sleep. He needs to be in the other room, detached. You have to explain to the mother, hey listen, he ain’t waking up for midnight feedings.”
Judge, who was the Giants’ head coach for two seasons in 2020-21, did add that after the season’s over, the “significant other” can make him change “every diaper.”
As for the Chambliss eligibility case, a Mississippi judge granted the Ole Miss quarterback an extra year of eligibility, granting his request for a preliminary injunction on Thursday.
The decision is subject to an appeal if the NCAA decides to go that route.
