““Like I told you yesterday, Daiquan is not a bad kid,” Valdez told NJ.com. “He’s just a kid who made a mistake. Now it’s on him to take advantage of his second opportunity. He now has the chance to get a good education and play for a good football team.””
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
how are we supposed to have thoughts? What was the rules violation?
It’s not unusual for one school to dump a recruit and another to pick him up. Randy Moss was committed to FSU and was arrested for punching another kid in high school. FSU dropped him and he ended up at Marshall. Penn State is a big program and they want the best and won’t put up with anything right now. UMass is a smaller program and needs talent so will put up with some stuff.
Not surprising at all. D1 football programs generally have a lot of rules, and with Penn State having as much scrutiny as it has in recent years, the new coaching staff is known to be strict so as not to create any more “image” problems for the school. The rules violation did not have to be anything sordid – it could be anything from blowing off a summer class/repeatedly not showing for class; to blowing off a few practices/optional workouts; to being out partying when he shouldn’t have been; or underage drinking. It’s not necessary that he did something terrible.
Glad he’s getting a second chance. He’s 1-2 months out of high school, he should get longer to “prove” his commitment to school and football. UMass is a developing program, and I believe the head coach’s son transferred out of PSU to play for his dad – so they have some familiarity with PSU’s program, how they recruit etc.
I love the tweet:
A team he practiced with for maybe two months…
D1 football, for all its history and pageantry, is a cut-throat business, and as most know, not altogether pristine. So, while he may have had some improper conduct, scholarship players can be released at any time, for most any reason. When I played in early 80 and mid 80s, most programs honored the athletic scholarship as a five year commitment (4 years to play 5). So, even if a player did not pan-out, he would keep his scholarship–in many programs, that is no longer the case.
At present, a change of coaching staff or even scheme may result in a player losing his scholarship…
Also a good point – he’s a linebacker if I remember correctly. PSU is well known for its linebackers and stacked at that position; who knows, maybe they just didn’t need another, needed to free up a scholarship for someone else etc. It’s not a school that has a history of doing that, but you never know what’s at play; there are definitely schools that look for the smallest violations of rules or make life hard enough that people will quit in order to free about a scholarship or two.
I don’t understand the “buy-in” and fakeness of many/most college football players esp at these big name programs. I understand being thankful for the opportunity to go to college on full scholarship, play D1, maybe if you’re really lucky, get drafted one day. But all these players and coaches talk constantly about how they’re family, how much they love each other etc. and it’s like – really?? You wouldn’t hesitate to bench a kid in a second or throw him off the team if it benefitted the business. And family – you’ve known each other for all of a month?? Part of that may just be social media though – seems like all human interaction are SUCH a big deal now; before you’d talk to your friends, relatives, or spouse directly – now it’s like you have to show everyone else how much you love them by publicly proclaiming that they are the best ever . . . .
I like the tweet. He gains nothing by saying something bad about PSU.
boolaHI, I believe you meant 5 years to play 4.
In the 1970s, the NCAA changed the scholarships to be just for one year, renewable. It wasn’t so much that the player lost his scholarship as that he wasn’t offered another. Just last year the rule has changed at the Dl power conferences and the schools can now offer 4 year scholarships again. Only a few have started doing so, and if it were important to the really good athletes, they’d demand them but they don’t. If the athlete has less than a full scholarship, he’s usually hoping for more in the later years. Even with the 4 year scholarships, the coach can revoke them for behavior and academic issues. They are exactly iron clad contracts.
My daughter didn’t just arrive on campus and meet the others on her team. She signed in Nov so spent from Nov to Aug texting and getting to know these girls. They roomed together, hung out together, ate together. Some she liked, others she wanted to hit with a stick, but I guess there is bonding in going through boot camp together. I’m sure that this Penn State recruit had put more than 2 weeks into the relationships. The coaches had probably been to him home, he’d been to campus, he’d been to camps with these players over the years.
Yes, helmet safety was not so robust in the 80s, and that is what I blame for most of my mental lapses.