LA Times Article: Stanford football players use their brains

<p>ridewitbd24 was correct about ML's draft position. ML won the Heisman and then helped the team to beat OU, winning the national championship outright (datdude, USC shared the title with LSU the year before, not that year). There's nothing better than winning both for ML. The following year, Reggie Bush and Vince Young were the clear favorites for Heisman and ML was a distant third. ML just wasn't as sharp as he was the year before.</p>

<p>I said this in another thread, but it bears repeating... I really do highly respect those Stanford players since really, Stanford is probably the most difficult I-A school to get admitted to as a recruited football athlete, and so many Stanford players go on to law school, med school, grad school, etc...</p>

<p>But it's not like USC is nothing, either. Two players from last year's team, starters from the rose bowl, played as graduate students for one more year of eligibility. All the LA Trade Tech case shows is that they were trying to avoid taking a more rigorous course at USC and that the USC articulation office is on top of things. (Incidentally, the article is wrong that they took those courses to "pump up their grades". Here, you cannot increase your GPA using outside courses)</p>

<p>I might also point out that Joe McKnight, the star running back recruit from Louisiana, when asked why he chose USC, mentioned that he wanted to study public relations at the USC Annenberg school.</p>

<p>WashDad, the sad start of this season for ND can be traced to the terrible recruiting of the previous coach. Very few upperclassmen on the team. Lots of freshmen starting or getting playing time. I'm hoping those frosh get seasoned in a hurry.</p>

<p>Opie, ML is a very intelligent kid & an excellent QB. I'm quiite familiar with his story, and I can certainly see the appeal of coming back for a national championship attempt. His family took out an enormous insurance poilicy on him when he opted to return to USC. Ridewtbd, I would argue that taking a team to the national championship would greatly enhance his draft position. It's certainly based on more than combine performance. </p>

<p>I, however, have a HUGE problem with a university & its football program that would allow an athlete to play while taking only one silly course! His ballroom dancing course was an embarassment -- another black eye on on a program fraught with ethical lapses.</p>

<p>Back to the original topic - here is a piece from today's Minneapolis paper about Stanford's starting center. He is 6'5", 295 lbs and graduated from a Twin Cities high school as co-valedictorian. He's now a senior at Stanford and has already completed his degree and is working on his Masters. Just the sort of scholar/athlete Stanford loves to recruit:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.startribune.com/513/story/1474866.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.startribune.com/513/story/1474866.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Stanford has a long history of only taking athletes who are up to their standards academically.</p>

<p>When I was in grad school (at an ivy) I had a student athlete (freshman) in one of my classes. He was a star in his sport (not football). He was struggling badly and I wondered what he was doing at this school. I gave him a low grade and forgot about him.</p>

<p>A couple of months later, there was an article about him in the school newspaper. I learned more about his story. He had been heavily recruited by Stanford since the 8th grade. He was sure he was going there. However, as a senior, Stanford told him no. Even though they'd love to have him play, he did not have the academics for them.</p>

<p>So the Stanford coach called pals at other schools and my school grabbed him. Made me wonder . . . not good enough for Stanford but good enough for X Ivy. I found it all very curious.</p>

<p>(By the way, he told me that he wasn't worried about my class because he was going pro and school didn't really matter. As far as I know, he never made it as a pro. He should have paid more attention in class!)</p>

<p>Coureur, he's a sixth year senior who came to Stanford as a walk-on in 2002. An injury as a 5th year senior put him out for a season, so the NCAA granted another year of eligibility. So he's not the best example of Stanford recruits. Even Stanford dips down a bit in their stat requirements for recruited athletes. Perhaps Stanford has since awarded him a scholarship to reward his performance. However, his degree completion, coupled with his enrollment in a graduate program, is a good example of the contrast between USC & Stanford. Stanford expects fifth year (and in this case, sixth year) seniors to be in grad school. At USC one ballroom dancing class (maybe salsa or tap, who knows) is enough to keep you on the field.</p>

<p>Who cares? I just can't believe the endless attention people give to sports. Idiotic. Give me a school that's about the academics and forgoes the useless athletics. I really mean it. I consider sports to be this era's opiate of the masses. Such a waste of our time and attention.</p>

<p>Stanford star ineligible.</p>

<p><a href="http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/10/5/updateBrookLopezAcademicallyIneligibleForFallQuarter%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/10/5/updateBrookLopezAcademicallyIneligibleForFallQuarter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>inthebiz,</p>

<p>I think your example is irrelevant. Any athlete who could get an athletic SCHOLARSHIP to Stanford would be crazy to play in the Ivy League for NO SCHOLARSHIP money. So obviously, the Ivy League will rarely, if ever, get the outstanding scholar/athletes that Stanford has, and must compromise (in football anyway) either athletic ability or academic ability in order to field a team. (And maybe Stanford wasn't such a great judge of his athletic ability anyway, since he never made it in the pros.)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/08/SPL7SLTFP.DTL%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/08/SPL7SLTFP.DTL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The star of that game has a dramatic story of his own. Interestingly, it looks like he turned down USC for Stanford.</p>

<p>So the kid lost his dad earlier in the week, dedicates the game to him, and then this:
[quote]
Bradford hopes his Stanford degree - and perhaps even a shot at a pro career - will help him to support his family - specifically, his three sisters and two brothers. Bradford's mother passed away when he was a teenager.</p>

<p>"I know I have a lot of responsibility on me. I know I have to step up and make sure everybody's OK and be the head of the household now," Bradford said. "I need to make sure everybody's staying on track and staying together. That's my job now."

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If ever I was rooting for a kid to make the pros, it's him.</p>

<p>StickerShock, you're placing blame for ND's screwups on Tyrone Willingham??</p>

<p>Alex Smith, starting quarterback for the 49ers and former #1 pick out of Utah, had so many AP credits he graduated in 2 years with an econ degree and a gpa of 3.71.</p>

<p>That's their story and they are sticking to it--even though many schools manage to put out winning teams without loads of 4 and 5 star recruits. It's how you take the talent and develop and motivate it as much as the raw talent you start with. ND was playing like a pick-up team until this week where they started to get it together.</p>

<p>"StickerShock, you're placing blame for ND's screwups on Tyrone Willingham??"</p>

<p>The huskies love him. He is a class act. Actually the rumblings in the woods are these are Charlie's kids now and everybody is wondering what's next after they were sooo quick to pull the trigger on an excellent coach, who happened to be black? These are Charlie's kids. </p>

<p>Both Ty and Lorenso Romarr(basketball) represent the UW very well. Both are class guys who improve the school in many ways on and off the court/fields.
And I say this as the UW med school didn't take my kid, the ##$$### oles.</p>

<p>
[quote]
ND was playing like a pick-up team until this week where they started to get it together.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I wouldn't be so quick to say they started to get it together. I don't think winning against a team that lost the starting QB and the #1 backup in such short notice proves anything. The QB wasn't the kind of backup Stanford had; he's a walk-on pressed into the backup role only a week earlier when the second-stringer was injured; it's no surprised he threw 4 interceptions! If you watched the game, you should see UCLA was just about to take control of the game when the quarterback got hurt towards the end of first quarter. Can't find a better break than that and I guess that's just the luck of the Irish! ND only got 140 yards even with this huge advantage; to me, that shows how bad ND is. I think most teams can easily beat UCLA that day given their situation.</p>

<p>People who dont understand the logistic of college sports, specifically football should refrain from posting on this thread.....with that said I dont understand how anybody can look down upon ML for returning for a fourth year (yes not a 5th or 6th) and only taking ball room dancing....who is to say he didn't spend his summer at school to make sure he had the requirements fulfilled so he could focuss solely on football...in essence as a college football star his "professional life" had already begun...IMO the point of college is to prepare yourself for the real world and in the case of ML the real world is the NFL so why wouldnt he minimize his schedule off the field so he can do the most on the field. In addition if you dont think this happens all over the country take Duke basketball or any prestigious sports program at a top tier school for example....the schools do w.e possible to make it easy for there players to maintain eligibility and stay on the court....</p>

<p>
[quote]
...everybody is wondering what's next after they were sooo quick to pull the trigger on an excellent coach, who happened to be black?

[/quote]
This is an incredibly ignorant statement, Opie. You really can't be serious about Willingham's race having anything to do with his firing, can you? Given Fr. Hesburgh's groundbreaking leadership in the Civil Rights Commissions under several presidents? Marching hand in hand with MLK? The vital role ND played in squashing the Indiana KKK? Their humanitarian outreach to African & third world nations? Ever hear of Dr. Tom Dooley? I can't think of another college that has championed civil rights more aggressively than ND. ND tops the rankings of DivI schools when graduation rates of black athletes are studied. Willingham was a great golfer, but a lazy recruiter. He didn't even want Brady Quinn -- it was Quinn's best friend's dad, Mr. Ndukwe, who basically told Willingham that if ND wanted his son, they'd have to take Quinn. Look at the Willingham players who were rarely used who flourished under Weis. All-American Samardzija, for example. Weis can recruit. Willingham couldn't. Check out the rankings of the recruiting classes each coach brought in. </p>

<p>That being said, the team looks unfocused and green. Sam, remember that the UCLA QB was injured because of the brutal hit delivered by Zibikowski. He didn't just trip over his own shoes, after all. Corwin Brown's defensive coaching is starting to pay off. (They can't get much worse at this point!) </p>

<p>THeBarron: I guess if you really believe it is just dandy to pose as a college student when you are enrolled in one ballroom dancing class, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm aware that his graduation requirements were fulfilled. So what? There is a huge difference between spreading couse load over the summers, or lightening up a bit during sports season, and taking a single dance class. For a smart guy like ML, I would have hoped he'd enroll in a few classes on conract law, investing, or something relevant to his NFL future.</p>

<p>
[quote]
At any school that gives a hoot about their athletes' academic progress, the athletes MUST be making progress toward a degree and attending classes.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>While I have smpathy for the argument that some football players shouldn't be in school due to their academics the Matt L story is not a very good example. It is true his senior year (and I believe he was fourth year senior) he took a very limited schedule in the fall .. but that was because he had basically completed his full graduation reguirements in three years while playing football and while maintaining a high (3.5+) GPA. </p>

<p>There be an argument about how many classes a student athlete should have to take to compete in season ... but Matt L had a great GPA and was essentially a year ahead in school while being the USC quarterback ... he is an academic success story.</p>