It’s THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. At that moment, Buckeye fans
across the country had to think that was a bad omen. From Terrelle Pryor to
many more, I would like to discuss with you, THE EPIDEMIC OF THE HAT SELECTION.
Whatever happened to signing your name on a piece of paper,
playing College Football for 4 years and getting a quality education at an excellent
university. The thing that has really got to me over past few years is the Hat
Selection Show that has rocked the CFB recruiting map. I’m sure you have all seen
one or two before, but let me paint you a picture. First, you have a High
School Senior, sitting behind what looks like 50 microphones surrounded by
close relatives, friends, (HEY! who invited that guy?). In front of the High
School Senior sits 3 to 4 ball caps (probably purchased from a locate hat store
an hour before the press conference). Then the Senior (who is a 5-star, blue
chipper, Mr. Record-breaker/Do Everything) football player, talks about this
being the hardest decision (Welcome to the Real World) of his life and a little
something about each school, and then like any other dramatic movie scene, he
throws on one of the ball caps (mind you, one that never seems to fit right on
their head), and like the student athletic just solved a world crisis, the
crowd erupts into cheers and flash bulbs from cameras start popping off. After
they put the hat on (or as its becoming cool gloves, shirts, etc.) they always
sit there, in such an awkward posture like to say, “Oh, shoot I hope I picked
up the right hat.” Especially, of course
if you are this dude, “mother of the year, anyone?”
Now, I know not every student athletic that has come out of
high school highly recruited has failed to live up to the hype. However, some
student athletics fail to live up to the hype that they bring coming out of
High School. I will give you two classic examples of this happening. Case in
point, former Irish QB Mr. Golden Boy himself Jimmy Clausen. He was going to be
the one to bring Notre Dame back to the promise land, as he was the #1 overall
recruit Class of 2007. However, in three seasons the Irish won (3,7,6 games)
with Clausen as their QB, who would eventually skip his Senior season at Notre
Dame (I guess it was that sucker-punch, that was the final straw). So much for
saying he wanted FOUR BCS rings before he left South Bend. Clausen now sits
behind Cam Newton, as the Carolina Panthers back-up QB. The following year, the
Number 1 prospect was non-other then Mr. Terrell Pryor. T.P. was labeled as the
“next Vince Young”, and even though he did put up some nice performances/stats
and heck I won’t of wanted anyone else as the Buckeyes QB at that time, he
never really lived up to the “Vince Young” label so many Buckeye fans believed
was coming to Columbus. I believe you all now how #2’s career ended at Ohio
State (what a shame) and he now finds himself buried on the Oakland Raiders QB
depth chart (can we say football career over). Now those are just two examples
that come to mind of student athletics that have come out of High School with
all the hype in the world and in my opinion fell short of becoming the “star”
everyone thought they would be at the next level. Maybe, it’s the lack of
competition that they faced in High School (I mean did you see a T.P. clip “Man
among Boys”), but you wonder what the overall affect it has on a 17-18 year
old, when you throw a press conference like that of the “hat selection” and
expect him to be the same player he was in High School. Just do this, sign your
name on the letter of intent, bust your butt and play the game that you love so
much for FOUR years (I hate when they leave early) and get yourself a quality
education at an excellent university. And with all of that said, please do not
become this guy:
