Pursuing College Football

When kids get asked what they want to be when they grow up, every one gets excited when they say doctor, lawyer, fireman, etc. However, that excitement turns to disappointment when a kid says football player or actor as if those aren’t professions or careers also. They get the “Oh, that’s sweet but what else do you want to be?”  At 7, my son could tell me his top three college choices. I don’t care if his motivation is to play in the NFL or be a neurosurgeon, that’s powerful. We have to remove the stigma associated with sports that a kid can only be a “dumb jock” with almost no chance to make it professionally. My son has a goal and he’s motivated. He’s motivated because it’s his choice, it’s what he wants to do. As parents and adults we have to do a better job of helping kids set their own goals instead of pigeon holing them in to occupations we approve. But we also have to make sure that we prepare them properly to reach those goals the best we can. In order to prepare them we have to stop creating a false narrative, put them in the fire, be realistic, and do our research.

Myles is 13 and just recently weighed in over 100 pounds for the first time. He’s played unlimited weight football most of his life except a two year span that I voted against. Brysen has an August birthday which is perfect for youth sports. I could’ve let them both play Pop Warner football their entire childhood because that program has weight restrictions. Myles would have easily qualified as an older lighter and would’ve been able to play against kids much younger than him and also not have to play against kids twice his size. Brysen could play as the oldest and biggest kid on the field regularly because of his birth date. Doing so likely would create more opportunities for success by allowing them to have more touchdowns, tackles, and highlights. But is that real success when leagues limit who can play or is that creating a false narrative of how talented my child is compared to his peers?

              For children that play for fun and just want the experience of the game, I’m all in favor of changing the rules and making it so those kids can experience it and have fun. But for kids who are competitive and want to pursue the highest level of competition, like my children, I refuse to lie to them. I can’t hide Myles, who weighed 95 pounds at DB this past season on 12u, from the 170 pound running back coming through the hole. In that moment, he has to decide if football is for him or not. And although he didn’t make that tackle, he stuck his head in there without hesitation and gave it his all. For me that is a highlight better than him scoring a touchdown against 10 year olds, which he could’ve done all last season had we chosen to play in a different league. But that wouldn’t help his growth as an athlete. Even when he was 7 and had the option to play in the 5,6,7 or 7,8,9 age group Myles has never been shy about wanting to play in the fire and compete. I love that about him. The 5,6,7 age group had major limitations on where kids could line up, their stances, play count, etc. that weren’t realistic and didn’t simulate a standard football game. He didn’t care that he would’ve scored more. He wanted to play real football.

Brysen, on the other hand, doesn’t always make that same choice so I make it for him. It’s a philosophy for me. If you want to play this game at a high level, then we will pursue it at a high level. There aren’t any short cuts or easy routes. Last year was Brysen’s second year of 8u football. It was supposed to be his first because of his birth date but I made him play a year earlier. His first year he was role player and was up and down throughout the season scoring about seven touchdowns. This past season he scored about 28 touchdowns and lead the team in tackles. As far as skill positions go, he was one of the bigger kids in the entire league. He wants to play 8u again next year because he’s allowed to but he will be playing 10u because it will be more realistic. I fully expect his touchdowns and tackles to go down but what he will learn daily in practice and learning to play a role in a system outweighs what can be gained by being “the man”. I’ll let him play with his correct age group at all star games is our deal. He did that for the first time this past January and showed out against some of the top players from North Florida and Georgia. His experiences from playing with older kids showed as he looked like the best player on the field during both games.

              Going through the fire and playing as much competition I can find has helped both of my children develop as well as keep perspective. In my opinion its better for a kid to face tough competition at a young age and decide that he doesn’t want to play. I’ve coached a lot of good kids who are athletic and always wondered how they would do in another sport. Football is not for everyone. Society keeps trying to force rule changes to make it so that it is but that’s not realistic. Football is a violent sport and there are other sports these kids can play, have fun, learn life lessons, and earn scholarships. And being honest and realistic, Myles is small for his age. I still believe he can end up in that 5’11 – 6’0 range but even that isn’t jumping off the page for a recruiter. But I do my research. Height and 40 times aren’t the only important measurables.

I recently saw a coach post on twitter if there were any kids with video looking for schools in basketball. A high school team account posted a video of a kid and noted he had a 2.3 overall GPA. I commented and they were unaware of what his core GPA was. That was disappointing because if his core GPA isn’t high enough, along with test scores, it doesn’t matter how talented the kid is. The kid was a rising senior too. What many players and parents don’t know is a lot of their grades are set after their Junior year. The days of going back and retaking classes and improving all your grades to become eligible as a Senior are over.

Currently, to play in the NFL you have to go to college for three years first and to play in the NBA you have to play in college for one year first. It doesn’t matter if my child is the best player on the court if he doesn’t qualify academically for college. His academic training and education are much more important than his shuttle time or three point percentage. There are 130 Division 1 and 169 Division 2 college football teams. There are 347 Division 1 and 312 Division 2 college basketball teams. There are also other levels of both sports like Division 3 or NAIA with more options. Based on a kid’s high school transcripts and test scores he could see those options cut drastically. The goal isn’t to create the best athlete with my children. The goal is to create the best student-athlete so they have a minimum of 299 to choose from based on their academic ability.

              Control what you can control. You will never be able to control what schools offer your child a scholarship. I certainly know two schools I hope offer my children scholarships, but I don’t have the authority to make that happen. But what we can help control is what schools they qualify to get into. By training academically as much as we train athletically we create more opportunity for success. There could be 100 players better than my child at his position but if at 101 he is the only one that qualifies, guess who the school offers? Or more importantly, accept.

              Think about your own child or local athletes, are they being developed as a student athletes with unlimited options because they are focusing on academics and skills? Or are they barely maintaining eligibility to play on Friday Nights? If my son gets all three of his top choices to offer him a scholarship that’s cool. But when he qualifies to be able to play at those three and many others then he really has choices. And that is where the power is. The choices, not the offers. Until next time, B U!