Just about everyone has an opinion on Tom Brady's role in Deflategate, including the folks at his high school.
Pat Jenson, Brady's baseball coach at Junipero Serra High, says he thinks the NFL is trying to railroad his former catcher.
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“I don’t know if the NFL’s trying to make an example or, I really don’t know what. The only thing is I believe him," Jensen told CSNNE.com. "That’s for sure. It is (difficult), only because of the feelings I have for him and his family. I know his folks very well. They’re just such a great family and such upfront people. This whole thing is mind-boggling to me.”
Jensen says, if anything, Brady may have just been trying to get a feel for the balls without actually giving any thought to the legal inflation limits.
"I think he was probably a victim of getting the ball to his feel (and it) wasn’t exactly what the specs are but I’m not sure they ever concerned themselves about that," Jensen said. "But I don’t think he did anything intentionally to break the rules. I think he’s too proud a guy to do that."
Dean Ayoob, Junipero's athletic director and a former classmate, says he feels sympathy for Brady, who is a former high school classmate of his.
“I feel sympathy for Tom and the family that, for a guy that’s done so many good things over such a long period of time, to have something like this smear what he’s all about and his character," Ayoob said, per CSNNE.com. "I can be sympathetic to him and his family and see how this can be hard."
Brady has been suspended for the first four games of the upcoming NFL season by the league, but has officially appealed that decision.