Bill Curry, College Football 19y

Remember, freshman phenoms are just kids

Some of the most visible issues afflicting college football could have been avoided had we never declared freshmen eligible for varsity competition. I assure you that if college presidents and faculties had understood the drift of intercollegiate sports in the early 1970s, our tender 18-year-olds would never have been thrown into the crucible.

I hasten to add one important caveat: If we had done what I am suggesting, we would not be panting like wild dogs over the prospect of watching Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson play against Oklahoma State or Michigan's Mike Hart take on the Michigan State Spartans this week. They are amazing true freshman players.

In my perfect-world scenario we would never have known what we were missing. We would simply have been thrilled to see them next year. No one with a brain can suggest that these two marvels are not physically ready for the grind, but what of the effect on their personal lives, and their teams' overall psyches?

From their comments each appears a balanced, mature-for-his-age youngster. They are in programs that seem to embody the good aspects of college education. And they are on teams that know how to utilize their skills without abusing them with overwork.

Instant celebrity
Freshmen Maurice Clarett of Ohio State and Mike Williams of Southern California seemed to enjoy all the same advantages a couple of years ago. Where are they today?

Clarett displayed superior ability as he led his Buckeyes team to the 2002 National Championship. I was part of the team that broadcast the Ohio State-Northwestern game that year, in which Clarett fumbled three times and was seen arguing with his coach and crying on the sideline. Had I been placed in similar circumstances at that stage in my life I would have behaved much worse than he did.

But even as his team prepared for the Fiesta Bowl game against Miami for the title, the fissures between Maurice and the Ohio State program became the dominant story with the well-documented funeral of his friend back home.

When Clarett was not allowed to travel home for the rites his immaturity surfaced in the most visible ways. Of course, he should have been allowed and even encouraged to go, but his means of registering disapproval demonstrated what happens when a youngster is confronted with too many complex decisions too soon in life.

I agonized for him and his family. His teammates and coaches were victims as well, simply because the system was not equipped to deal with such emergencies.

After the win, as his team celebrated that which should have been the biggest moment in his life, Clarett stood alone, frowning into the distance, clearly agonizing over his friend's death and the apparent injustice of his situation. We will never know how much that moment of trauma contributed to his subsequent problems.

 How well did you make decisions when you were 19 years old? Would you like for all your mistakes to have been on the front page of the New York Times? I didn't think so.
 


Likewise, Mike Williams helped his Trojans to the championship last year. When Clarett declared for the NFL draft despite being only two years out of high school -- the current NFL rule requires three years before a player is draft-eligible -- and received a favorable ruling in the courts, Williams decided to follow suit.

When the ruling was reversed in a higher court both players were left in a state of legal and NCAA limbo. They have relinquished their college eligibility and yet are not yet eligible for the draft under NFL rules. Today they literally cannot play football at all. What a shame.

Regardless of whether one likes the rules, the laws or the players, the fact remains that two young men who burst onto the athletic/celebrity scene as true freshmen have been forced to undergo negative, life-changing situations. One can argue that they are responsible for the decisions they made, but if that is the case allow me to pose a couple of rhetorical questions to one and all:

How well did you make decisions when you were 19 years of age? Would you like for all your mistakes to have been on the front page of the New York Times?

I didn't think so.

Those two great athletes probably should have been busy locating the bookstore and classroom buildings at their schools like most kids do at that age.

Peterson, Hart, and others of their ilk will obviously learn from the Clarett/Williams situation, but with the complications inherent in our celebrity-driven culture other issues will inevitably come up. How many are there like them? Not many, but the numbers are expanding as parents and coaches recognize wizard-like talent at earlier and earlier ages.

Just this season, referencing true freshmen only -- excluding red shirts and prep school products -- there is a plethora of physical phenoms making serious contributions on the field: Quarterbacks Eric Ainge and Brent Schaeffer of Tennessee, Brian Brohm of Louisville, Chad Henne of Michigan, running backs Peterson, Hart, and Darius Walker of Notre Dame, linebacker Dan Conner of Penn State, and wide receivers Dwayne Jarrett of USC and Calvin Johnson of Georgia Tech are the most publicized. Linemen and defensive backs are jumping in here and there as well.

I hope and pray they all do well. They are challenged on a daily basis by the classroom, tutoring, weightlifting, media swirl, agents, parasitic alumni, bright lights, parties, alcohol, controlled substances and the passions of youth. There is also the omnipresent specter of gambling and its pervasive influence that can destroy in a moment every decent aspect of the experience.

Rites of passage
Most importantly, this tsunami of excitement comes simultaneously with the most important rite of passage in our culture, freedom from "home". Mom, dad, grandmother, high school coach, minister, neighborhood and church are all distant, somehow unrelated.

College coaches and counselors do their best to replace the important character-shaping influences but are not present 24 hours a day. They cannot be standing at the door at curfew time to smell the breath or check the eyes.

At best, it is incredibly lonely. At worst, it becomes an enervating, destructive process in which the student-athlete cannot find time to rest, cannot make "real" friends in his sudden celebrity, and begins to make mistakes that will last him a lifetime.

When that occurs the press piles on and the players' zest for the whole thing disappears and depression sets in. Sad, yes, but it happens every year. The hidden challenge for each youngster is to navigate the treacherous waters without making a tragic error.

Coaches matter
The coach's responsibility is enormous. They must stay close with their budding superstar, but not too close. NCAA regulations specify twenty hours a week. That means empirically that the coaches' influence will be afforded much less time to mold character than the overwhelming matrix of outside influences.

The only person who can grasp the enormity of all this is the head coach. A good head football coach who cares about his players, their values and their long term well-being makes it a point to know as much as possible about each player. This is the true greatness of Eddie Robinson of Grambling, Joe Paterno of Penn State and others who share their values. But as we learn every year even the great ones are not omniscient.

My suggestion -- freshman ineligibility -- is impractical in today's paradigm. Too much money is being spent on facilities that would shame the Taj Mahal. Too little attention was given women's athletics for too many years. Too many dollars are being paid to too few at the top of the coaching chain in the feeding frenzy for victories.

The essence of all this is that things are not always as they appear in the world of superstar kids. Pull for your team, enjoy the great athletic ability of these youngsters, but remember in the final analysis they really are just our children, and they really do need to grow up. Just like the rest of us.

ESPN college football analyst Bill Curry was an NFL center for 10 seasons and coached for 17 years on the college stage. His Center Stage examinations appear each week during the college football season.

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