Welcome to college! Check your ego at the door.
August 22nd, 2008 - byI just watched the video from Brian Davidson’s post below. If you haven’t seen it yet, read the post and watch the video here.
As funny and outlandish some of the things these coaches say are, there’s definitely some truth to take away. If you play the sports college recruiting “game” wisely, college coaches should be fighting over you and will go to great lengths to get you to come to their college.
But here’s the thing. Once you lace up those sneakers, put on the practice jersey and step out onto the field/court/etc., in most cases, you’ll quickly find out that you’re not the program’s savior afterall. An article about Blaine Gabbert, who was a five star recruit in high school, is a perfect example of this. From the University of Missouri’s student newspaper, The Maneater:
As a tall and sturdy 6-foot-5-inch, 225-pound freshman, Gabbert’s high school performance was nothing less than extraordinary.
His All-American status and five-star recruit ranking earned him a spot on the Missouri roster, but playing time is hard to come by on this team.
“He’s the most physically gifted quarterback to come out of high school that I’ve seen in six years as far as size, speed, arm strength and release,” said David Yost, quarterback coach and recruitment coordinator. “If you were to build a quarterback, you would build a guy like Blaine Gabbert.”
For this season, Gabbert waits behind senior quarterbacks Chase Daniel and Chase Patton. With the publicity of his high school football days gone, Gabbert must wait his turn on the bench. …
The same story holds true to Jimmy Clausen last year on Notre Dame. Clausen, who was considered by many as the No. 1 prospect for the class of 2007, wasn’t announced as the starter once the season began. And even when he took over that role, he struggled, only passing for 1,254 yards, with 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
It’s a whole different game in college. You might have been a dominant high school player, but if you’re playing in college, chances are that your entire team is made up of former dominant high school players.
So when you step on to the playing surface for the first time, check your ego at the door, realize you have a lot of learning to do and eventually, you can become a dominant college player!
