There's A Lot of Good Out There

  A few days ago my family and I went for a bike ride to go get some ice cream.  We got ourselves all prepared and ready for a safe and fun ride.  We had two $2 gift cards to help with the cost of that yummy goodness that we were looking forward to on a warm summer day.  We all had our helmets on and my son even had elbow and knee pads donned.  The trip to Baskin Robbins is not quite two miles one way, so the kids would work up just enough sweat to earn their ice cream and be able to work it off with the ride back home.  When we arrived at the ice cream parlor there were only a few people inside getting their orders, including two attractive women with a cute, older teenager (maybe in her early 20's) tasting flavors and browsing a bit.  So, the young gal behind the counter finished with the departing couple to help me and my family.  Of course, my children either decide on something plain and boring or take forever deciding what special flavor they want to try.  My kids get their ice creams first and head outside so we don't leave a drippy mess on the floor of the shop.  My wife gets the ice cream that we will share and follows the children.  Then I'm left to pay the bill and open my wallet to get out my debit card when the young thing behind the counter tells me that they don't take any cards, only cash and check.  What?  Are you kidding me?  Are we living in the 80's?  I'm sure my face was priceless.  My head went wild thinking of alternatives of how to pay for this expensive treat.  I knew we didn't have the check book because my wife didn't want to bring her purse or wallet on a bike ride.  I knew that I hardly ever have cash in my wallet and if I did, it was for my pre-season college football magazines that I buy this time of year.  What the heck was I suppose to do?  So, with my best attempt of getting the retarded look off my face to try to save it, I hand over those two $2 gift cards and hope that the $4 will cover most of it.  The total now comes to $7.11.  As I slowly open my wallet, I offer a silent prayer that I had some cash in it.  I open to reveal a $5 bill and with a big sigh of relief, I draw the bills out to count the rest.  I count, five, six, seven....  Let me count again, five, six, seven....  Really?  I have $7 and knew that I don't have an ash tray on my bike where I keep loose change for parking meters, etc.  Crap!  To stall while I think of another solution to come up with $0.11, I check all 23 pockets of my khaki cargo shorts one at a time wishing I could gesture to my wife to come and help me out so I don't have to go through this humiliation alone.  I think my pathetic glance toward the window was too much to bare on one of those women, who was now finishing up their business, who said, "I think I have $0.11."  Oh, you wonderful woman!  I think I love you!  "Really?" I reply.  Then the girl behind the counter says that she has eleven cents too.  Now I'm rolling in it!  The lady next to me gets her wallet and shuffles through a bit and scares me for an instant when she says, "Nope."  Then quickly says, "Oh, here's some."  Phew!  I mention the extreme embarrassment of the situation and graciously thank this stranger.  She kindly shrugs it off as no big deal.  Well, yes, $0.11 doesn't seem like a big deal, but I went from thinking I had to march outside and take away my wife's ice cream and return it, to getting the whole bill paid for, it is a big deal (my wife would have killed me).  My gratitude for this kind act of service from a stranger made me wonder if I'm doing enough to help out people in need.  I questioned whether I'm being an example of good for those to see (and there were plenty of people to see this woman's kindness because the place was packed by the time I paid for the order).  Her small, simple act is what we are all capable of if we can stop long enough being self-consumed with our own daily problems and challenges and not being concerned whether someone is trying to take advantage of us or not.  I doubt this stranger will ever read this blog posted under the college football theme, but I will still say thank you, again, for showing me your kindness.  Even in a world of so much evil and extreme hatred that fills some people, I was reminded that there is a lot of good out there.

     I know you are wondering what this has got to do with college football, yet again.  The kind woman in Baskin Robbins showed me that there is good left in people, while observing a possible trend in college football recruiting shows me that there is good left in the Pacific 12 conference.  Well, as I browse through Scout.com (nearly) daily and seeing the latest on the college football recruiting scene, it has helped confirm what I feel is coming in the near future to change the outlook of NCAA football as we know it now. All the years that I've been following the recruiting process, the Southeastern conference has dominated like no other.  It is very clear that they have a strangle-hold on getting the top blue-chips in the country year after year.  Sure, occasionally there will be a Florida State, Texas, Ohio State, Michigan, USC, Oklahoma, or Notre Dame finding themselves at the top of the heap after the national letter of intent signing day in February; however, it is always the SEC schools jamming their football programs with excessive talent that carry two full teams of starters apiece that compete with elite teams across the nation.  When tallying the 4 and 5-star athletes each year, it is that conference that picks up roughly twice the number of elite athletes than the next best recruiting conference.  Double!  That is amazing!  The SEC is reaping the recruiting rewards by winning the championship annually for the past several years straight.  I don't believe anyone who claims that recruiting high school kids is not a big deal.  Just ask the SEC schools how they feel about the importance of recruiting.

Admittedly, I was disappointed by the elite talent that did not show interest in Oregon after they lost by three points to Auburn for the national title a couple years ago.  There was only a slight increase of 4 and 5-star players that had Oregon on their short list of schools they were interested in.  Only a small number of these great players ended up finally choosing Oregon to play for.  DeAnthony Thomas was a huge pick-up that year and was evident on the field where he demonstrated his electrifying speed and all-around talent with the ball.  USC has had to deal with players leaving and post season bans and now scholarship limitations due to some violations USC committed several years ago.  This has had an impact on how well USC has been able to draw in high-talented players to keep the program strong.  But it's still USC and some kids just want to go there.  There was a slight drop in quantity of talent with the fear of all the sanctions surrounding the program, but now the bowl ban is raised and USC will have a chance of increasing the amount of talent coming in, once again (except the limitations of 75 scholarships allowed in each of the next three years when it will then return to 85 again).  During the Jim Harbough days at Stanford, the recruiting efforts grew tremendously and saw the level of competitiveness jump up immensely.  There was fear of a drop-off in recruiting after Coach Harbough went off to the NFL, but David Shaw didn't miss a beat.  Stanford is still solid in the recruiting efforts.  Under Rick Neuheisel, the recruiting for UCLA was decent, but I think the high school kids noticed that those superstar athletes weren't getting on the field to play there in the Rose Bowl each Saturday.  I'm still asking myself where all those elite players went.  Now UCLA has Jim Mora who has come in with a winning attitude and will bring a "Harbough effect" on the program with better recruiting and ability to utilize the great talent to become great again.  The rest of the Pac 12 conference with respect to recruiting is just good to okay.

I predict that overall recruiting for the Pac 12 conference will improve dramatically over the next few years.  Not many people want to rush into programs that have new head coaches like Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA, and Washington State have all inherited this last off season.  These new coaches will have to prove themselves first before they can bring in some additional elite talent.  I feel that the offensively-minded athletes may lean a little toward Arizona and Washington State where Rich Rodriguez and Mike Leach have both excelled at with past coaching stops.  Rich Rodriguez will not have to chase off a Ryan Mallett-type talent at Arizona because the Wildcats will be better suited for his offensive needs.  Mike Leach has a great foundation, thanks to Paul Wolff and his recruiting efforts after he inherited a bare talent pool in Pullman (thanks to Bill Doba).  Mike Leach will be able to work around the talents of Jeff Tuel and Connor Halliday behind center and the superstar Marquess Wilson catching the majority of the passes thrown.  I've already mentioned UCLA and its immediate impact on recruiting, so that leaves Arizona State as the wild card and the unknown future of that program.  Todd Graham at ASU will have to earn his stripes in this conference with only a few significant coaching years in the Big East conference.

There are five schools I have not mentioned yet in regards to recruiting because you have the four universities that are holding their own with USC, Stanford, UCLA, and Oregon, while Arizona, Arizona State, and Washington State had question marks even before they brought in first-year head coaches, so that leaves California, Colorado, Oregon State, Utah, and Washington.  Jeff Tedford of Cal, Mike Riley of OSU, and Kyle Whittingham of Utah are each starting their eighth year or more at their designated universities (Tedford is the most senior in the conference with 2012 being his 12th year).  These three coaches are all settled and steady and consistent with what they bring to the table.  The Golden Bears have had some very successful years of recruiting under Tedford with some big names now in the NFL and having success at the toughest level.  Oregon State is a difficult place to recruit to.  Corvallis is not a big city with overwhelming social outlets for these young kids to flock to, but Portland is a couple hours' drive away from campus; however, Riley really knows how to get the best out of his athletes and makes me wonder what he could do if he ever did get a top ten recruiting class.  Now with UofO having a ton of success recently, most elite athletes in Oregon will go to Eugene instead of Corvallis.  This makes the hard for Oregon State even harder to recruit great prospects.  As far as the Utes are concerned, the move from the Mountain West conference to the Pac12 may have given them a recruiting advantage.  The automatic qualifying conference will lead some of the fence riders in Utah to choose red over the independent blue of BYU.

Just recently, USC picked up their final commitment that will be allotted them in 2013.  It is because they committed only 13 players in 2012, that they were able to get 18 commits for the following year and it seemed like almost a race at the end who would be the last athlete to pledge himself to the Trojans.  This is very cool and exciting!  According to Scout.com, USC has an oral commitment from only one single 3-star athlete; although, that player is rated #2 at his position.  The rest are 4 and 5-star athletes leaving the Trojans with an astounding 4.28-star average with its 18 commits.  If the top recruiting university is based on the star average, then Southern California would win 2013 with ease.  However, the lack of quantity will not allow USC to tackle the number one position in February (if all commitments stay firm).  This point system gives quantity a way of topping those who have better quality recruits overall.  The best part about the 18 athletes that have pledged to USC is that the Trojans didn't just pick up these young men from California.  Coach Kiffin was able to stretch out to Texas, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland.  These are top athletes that are NOT choosing the SEC and being closer to home; but they want to be Trojans and play in the Pac 12 conference.

Last year's recruiting class from Stanford was an initial sign of what the Pac 12 has potential of doing, or taking away from other conferences.  Stanford pulled in top talent from places like Oklahoma, Minnesota, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.  Even Oregon pulled guys from Colorado, Texas, and Ohio.  New Jersey and Pennsylvania were a couple other states that had top talent that chose the Pac-12 as well.  This is not a fluke!  I say that there is a trend that has begun and the Pac 12 conference will be able to reap the rewards of future talent that will flock from all over the country and be able to keep most of the local talent in the process.  Sure, the SEC will be keeping a lot of the talent in the Southeastern part of the US, but will see more and more of their targets heading West.  Now, with USC unable to pick up any more recruits, the benefactors should be the Pac 12 teams that are at or nearing the top of the conference, including Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, and Washington.  I would love to see more of the conference schools getting the blue-chip talent too, but these four programs will most likely be the top choices of the high school football players everywhere.

I can hear it now.  "The SEC rules and will never let go."  "The Pac 12 is the 5th best conference, at best."  "The SEC is so dominant that no other conference will come close to its worst teams."  Blah, blah, blah.  Uh huh!  Anyway, back to reality.  College football, like most things in life, is cyclical - meaning, there is a cycle that it will follow.  Even the BCS era has proven to be cyclical starting with the Bowden bowl (or Bowden Championship Series) each of the first three years, then it was the Big XII that couldn't be denied for a few years (or the Big XII Championship Series), then the USC era, and since it's been the SEC.  It's not to last forever (sorry SEC lovers).  It is a tremendous run (and I'm not sure if it's over yet) and will always be compared to from now on, but change is eminent.  I'm telling you now that there are signs on the wall - if you look hard enough.  I'm not saying that USC having six pledges from the top 19 athletes is the only sign, though a really big one, but that it is still early for the 2013 graduates to select their university of choice.  A game for the 2012 season hasn't been played yet and there is still over six months left before national letter of intent signing day and a lot of things can change in that time, but I am predicting more very highly touted athletes will make the choice to play in the Pac 12 conference when they also have offers from some SEC schools in the other hand.  I can see that there is a lot of good out there, like my experience at Baskin Robbins.

What Are We Listening To Anyway?

One morning, my youngest daughter was outside "helping" me in the garage when she began singing the One Republic song, "Apologize". The tune was very distinct and I immediately, with clarity knew the song she was singing. Then I listened more intently on what she was saying. She sang the chorus, "...it's too late to call the judge... it's too late...". I went to gently correct her by telling her the title of the song and the "call the judge" was actually "apologize", when she firmly disagreed because "that's what I heard them say". I just left it at that. My four year-old had told me what-for about a song that I knew better than she does, but yet I had to succumb to what she "heard them say". It reminds me of the T-Mobile commercial where the husband is singing in the car and his wife here's him verbalize the lyrics, "Pour some shook up Ramen". She obviously knew the real lyrics but had to call the local library for verification. How can some of us get so far off the actual words? Is there something in our head that we are subliminally thinking about and "want" to hear when we get a particular message? I understand a little bit of Spanish and have some Hispanic CD's that I enjoy. It is tough enough to try to understand the words in Spanish songs, let alone try to interpret the meaning of each line. I mean, maybe there are combinations of words put together that means something unrelated to the actual words that only a native Spanish speaker would know. For example, if someone heard the words, "making out" in a song, most Americans would know exactly what it's talking about. In Central America, I know of at least one country who describes "making out" in the literal translation, "sucking the pineapple". Song lyrics can be difficult and the degree of difficulty can change depending on the genre of music and the quality of recording.

So, what is it that we're listening to anyway? When I hear people in the media talking about the "Dumb Ducks" have gotten themselves into some trouble with recruiting and have a paper trail to prove it, do I hear the word "trouble" or the words "paper trail" and come up with my own conclusions to the rest of the story. Something about that article doesn't make sense. If Coach Chip Kelly was doing something wrong and unethical, why would he or any part of the university staff send thank you cards to prove that there was wrongdoing? Nobody in that kind of business is that stupid! What guy sends thank you's anyway? Softy! Even though I tend to lean toward Jason Whitlock's article, "Lyle's tale shows the rat he is", I should be careful not to read too much into it because Willie Lyle will be nothing but a slimy rat. Let me back-track, in case you haven't heard, University of Oregon paid a recruiting service (owned by Willie Lyle) a lump sum of $25,000 for highlight reels and tapes of several high school football players in Texas and vicinity. Recently, it has been discovered that other schools, such as California and LSU, have used Mr. Lyle for high school players' information. Mr. Whitlock describes Lyle as an attention seeker and someone who doesn't care who he hurts on his way to get fame, so Lyle has interviewed with media people and has expressed some damaging information that may ruin the lives of current Oregon football players and their future in football and may jeopardize the employment of the current head coach, just to grab some attention and make some headlines. No matter the true business deal that was made between Lyle and any university, all ties should be cut immediately from the scumbag.

One of the football players in question is 2010's national leading rusher, 2010 Doak Walker Award winner, and third place in the 2010 Heisman balloting, LaMichael James. Based on what LaMichael has accomplished the last couple years at Oregon, I can see how he can be seen as something extraordinary and a skilled athlete; however, coming out of high school with all the allegations of Oregon paying to get James, he was merely a top 3-star running back according to scout.com and a 4-star running back barely in the top 20 according to rivals.com. If Oregon was forking over that kind of dough for a superstar running back, wouldn't they have gone for one of the 5-star recruits like Darrell Scott or Jermie Calhoun? Why settle for a borderline 3/4-star athlete? That would be stupid! It doesn't make sense! How was Chip Kelly or Mike Bellotti to know that LaMichael would be a Heisman trophy candidate? Not likely! Heck! We might as well go back to the days of Jonathan Stewart to investigate why he went to Oregon; or even Haloti Ngata, what drew him to Eugene? Why would Oregon have success with any player? Of course I'm being sinacle, but I'm trying to make a point about what we hear in the media about hundreds of student athletes is often taken litteral and hardly ever questioned. I'm guilty of it as much as the next guy, so this post is more for me than anyone.

Seems that I have already mentioned LaMichael James and his accomplishments and explained his importance to the Oregon football team, I would like to make the bold statement that as good as LaMichael is, he could arguably be the third best running back on the team in the fall. LaMichael and fellow junior, Kenjon Barner fill the top two spots on the current depth chart. However, since James became the starter, Lache Seastruck came in the fall of 2010 and redshirted and DeAnthony Thomas comes to Oregon this year's fall camp. By no means am I trying to belittle the abilities and accomplishments of LaMichael James. On the contrary, I am celebrating his skills and achievements as last year's top rusher in the country and saluting his coaching staff who helped James develop his way to the Heisman race after only two years - being recruited as a "mere" 3-star running back coming out of high school. Now, those same coaches who had such success with the 3-star athlete, will have the "challenge" of coaching, additionally, two 5-star and one 4-star running backs.

Tra Carson is the incoming freshman that was rated a 4-star running back, #22 overall among all RB's in the nation. He will be the only back with his size at Oregon standing at 6'1" and weighing 218 pounds. He runs the 40 a little slower than the rest, clocking it at 4.60 seconds. It will be interesting to see where the coaches fit him in - whether as a 3rd down back or put him in more as a fullback and let him plow holes against linebackers for the smaller, shiftier backs.

The Oregon coaches have to be excited about the ex-USC commit, DeAnthony Thomas. He comes to Eugene as the #1 overall cornerback in the nation. When scout.com first listed him, he was the #1 recruit overall in all positions and was pinned as a running back. So, not only is he a 5-star, #1 overall CB, but initially the 5-star, #1 overall RB. Phil Steele has him as the #2 RB in the nation. Apparently he's suppose to be pretty good. With his skills and athleticism, CB and RB are probably not the only two positions that he could play and start at right away. It will be interesting to see where the coaches end up using him; whatever position, the opposing teams will need to know where he's at on every play - offensively AND defensively.

Another 5-star recruit who has already spent a year on Oregon's campus, Lache Seastruck, could be a household name within the next two years - if not by the end of November. He came out of high school as the #4 overall running back in the nation in 2010 and redshirted right away to give him more time with the football team to continue a Duck rushing attack that has been steady and consistent. The three other RB's that were listed ahead of Seastruck in 2010 were Malcolm Jones, Michael Dyer, and Marcus Lattimore. Lattimore (#1) and Dyer (#2) were off to the Southeastern Conference as starters and setting freshman rushing records at their appointed schools - South Carolina and Auburn, respectively. As for Jones, who knows what UCLA does with its great talent? Obviously UCLA is not getting those players on the field playing in the games. So, if Seastruck is anywhere near the talent of the South Carolina and Auburn recruits, then Oregon has another potent weapon for their offensive arsenal. It's gotta be good to be the quarterback, Darron Thomas!

I love the excitement that LaMichael brings to each offensive play that Oregon hustles to the line of scrimmage for ten seconds after the previous play had been ruled dead. He uses his speed to the outside and makes a move or two and gets past people, or he drives into the middle of the field in a huge scrum of linemen and just when you think the play is over, he pops out the other end and hits turbo to the endzone. His electrifying skills seem to be a glimpse of what the future has in store for the RB position at Oregon. If a borderline 3/4-star player can blossom into a super star at Oregon, think of the potential and possibilities that two 5-star recruits can do to the offense. This is why I think that LaMichael James could be arguably the 3rd best RB on the team in the fall and yet, all the pre-season magazines tell me that he is still the starter. If the 5-stars are as good as advertised, how many snaps will LaMichael lose to underclassmen? I'm drooling just thinking about Saturdays in the fall watching Oregon's offense with one more year of experience under Chip Kelly's blur attack.

Last year we saw LaMichael James with the bulk of the carries with his own showcase of highlight footage. In relief, Kenjon Barner showed very little decline in talent and productivity. When games were really far out of reach for their opponents, another slight drop in talent was brought in with true freshman, Josh Huff. This year, the backfield with James, Barner, and Huff could get really crowded - depending on the side of the ball Oregon puts DeAnthony and whether Tra is redshirted. There will be no surprise what Oregon's intentions will be in the fall. With all that said, because that's what the media wants us to hear about, I firmly believe that Oregon's secret weapon in the fall may come in the form of freshmen wide receivers that bring a lot of speed to the sidelines with 6'1" Devon Blackmon running a 4.43 40; the 6' junior college transfer, Rahsaan Vaughn clocking a 4.37 40; and the speedster, Tacoi Sumler standing at 5'9" and hustling the 40 at 4.33 speed! Oh, to be the offensive coordinator! To put some kind of combination of those guys on the field with some kind of combination of all those running backs on the field - at the same time - would be quite a dream job for somebody.

So, the media wants us to know about LaMichael James and Lache Seastruck and their thousands of dollars that they were given by Willie Lyle via University of Oregon to attend the U of O. It wants us to know that Chip Kelly is about to lose his job by sending thank you cards to a car salesman... oops! I mean, street agent... oops! That was Jason Whitlock's description. I mean, recruiting agent. These are a few things that the media wants the public to hear about in the plastering of sports news regarding the national champ runner-ups. At least the "scandal" occurred after the season and not during, much like that other team that played for the national championship game in January. So, if Scam... oops! Why do my fingers type such mistakes? If Cam Newton can get cleared so quickly and Terrelle Pryor can get eligibility to play in their bowl games for what they may have done (or whatever the media wants us to hear what they've done), then the Willie story should pass through like water over glass. Is what we're hearing, really what is being said? Or is what is being said, what we're really hearing? Do we just come up with our own lyrics to songs because that's what our ears put into our brains? What makes us get it wrong? I guess I thought that Shawn Cassidy was a runner when I heard him sing, "A do run, run, run... a do run, run" when all I needed to do is see the title of the song to know I was wrong. (Google it if you're too young to know who Shawn Cassidy is!) How many years went by thinking I knew that popular song?

In conclusion, I finally sat my daughter down and played the One Republic song for her. I again asked her what they were saying in the chorus. She replied again, "it's too late to call the judge... it's too late...". As the song played, I gently said the words as it was being sung and she realized that it was definitely "apologize". Phew! I got her back on track and now it's on to the next learning moment that daddy can teach his kid. Then she said to me, "They say 'apologize' first and then 'call the judge' second." How many of us are like my four year-old?

The Voice of Reason

Recently I had an experience that I would like to forget happened, but I know that it was something that I had to go through and seek the reasoning and learn from it so I can grow as I plunge forward into more experiences. During the winter months, a local mountain with cross country skiing access has a group of adults that organize a wonderful program that helps young children learn how to cross country ski, called Nordic Kids. It is well organized and well attended each Saturday for a couple months with strictly volunteers helping the success of the program to where it is common to see 12 year-olds skate-skiing up slopes as quickly as it takes me to go down those same slopes.

As I said, this program functions off of volunteers who instruct or coach the children in small groups to teach them basic skills of cross country skiing or Nordic skiing. As a child, I had the privilege to learn to do such things with my father and my older brother many years ago. Since being married, my wife and I have taken the common interest and I took my early years of learning to get her started. Now with children and wanting them to come to enjoy it, too, we have enrolled them, as they approach 5 or 6 years of age, in this Nordic Kids group to have these very experienced volunteers professionally teach our kids how to get down the trails and back and giving them the skills to do it gracefully and somewhat pain free. Well, this year went a little differently when my wonderful wife decided to take action when she found out that our 6 year-old son did not have a designated instructor for each week. So, based on the volunteer policy, she volunteered me to be his coach along with the other 8 or 9 children of approximately the same age as our son. I've never taught anything about skiing before. Let's say that I felt a little overwhelmed with the task.

The first week as the "official" instructor was abound and I was sure to try to prepare myself by getting a little orientation from the guy who organizes the Nordic Kids program about an hour before my first lesson. I was quickly relieved to find out that another gentleman, Mike, was going to be with me for the day, who happens to have much more experience at this stuff than I. For the first part of the two hour class, Mike took over and got the kids doing little exercises and activities to help them improve their skills. It was fun! It was the last hour that things turned sour. Mike sent me up a trail a ways to place some little flags in the middle of the trail to work on turning by making a slalom-type of activity while he stayed in the junction area to feed the kids some M&M's. So, I finished and headed back down the trail to meet up with the group at the junction to see if I could get M&M's too, but they were all gone by the time I got back. I met some of the kids coming up the trail while I was on my way down and I told them to head up to the cones and stop. Then a couple more kids went by and then finally I reached Mike. I tried to tally all the kids and make sure we had them all when I asked Mike where this particular boy was. Mike thought he headed up the trail with some of the other kids. I didn't recall this boy passing by me to go to the cones. We looked around and didn't see any stragglers, so we headed up the trail to find one child missing at the cones. Dang! My first day of teaching these young kids and I lose one! I was shocked, in a sense, that I lost a kid, but not so much that it was this certain boy that happened to be missing. The whole time, he was not really a part of the group and wandering off here and there as if he thought that the group was not advanced enough for him. He knew his stuff because when asked to do the activities, he could do them with skill and ease. Maybe his advanced level of skiing put his head in the clouds and got him a little distracted and wasn't able to hear the other instructor give him instructions to follow the right path. The boy was eventually found when he skied into a group where his parents were. They were concerned that he wasn't with his group and didn't know where to send him back to, so he stayed with them the rest of the time. The boy's father made him apologize to both Mike and myself for not following instructions and staying with the group. He was just too distracted and didn't listen to instructions and missed the voice of reason. I'll never forget my first day teaching ski class when I lost a kid.

It's a couple weeks out past the National Letter of Intent (NLI) day of February 2nd, and I can say that the Pac-12 had a pretty good year, overall. I would like to congratulate USC for bringing in a top 5 class - even with all the sanctions and other disciplinary distractions around the football program. Of course, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) dominated again for the 374th time in a row, so congratulations to that conference. I have been focused on the top 300 athletes according to Scout.com for the past year and have noticed common trends and realized that there seem to be many informed high school seniors out there that have had some guidance and direction to help them out with this very huge decision, and there seems to be a few high school kids that just don't get it and don't seem to be paying attention to what is going on out there in the world of NCAA football. Maybe they lack or missed the voice of reason by someone who may have been there trying to tell them all along. I will touch on a few individuals in both categories and explain why I feel they belong there.

I will first start off with those who I don't feel they put much time and effort into selecting the proper university to follow their dreams of becoming a great football player as someone who is deemed as a very special player that stands out above the rest throughout the entire country. The first name that comes to mind is the 4-star quarterback (QB), Jacoby Brissett, who seemed pretty smart waiting a few days after NLI day, until he made his decision to enroll at Florida where the top, 5-star QB, Jeff Driskel, has already committed for next year. All I need to say is, Tim Tebow and Cam Newton. Where was Newton his first year or so? A little mop-up duty and practice field behind Tebow. If that's Brissett's highest goal in life, to be the backup to the guy who is winning the national title, by all means, you made an excellent choice. However, as the #9 QB in the nation of thousands of QB's, maybe you should get your transfer papers ready right away. He should have listened to his disappointed mother who wanted him to attend another school (I believe it was Miami). Like my little lost skier, he didn't heed the voice of reason.

The next name that I feel that should have chosen differently is the #10 defensive end (DE), Stephon Tuitt. This 5-star commit to Notre Dame came two days after the Irish received three of the five DE commitments in four days; including the #2 DE, 5-star commit, Aaron Lynch and #4 DE, 5-star commit, Ishaq Williams. How many defensive ends are allowed on the field at one time? How many defensive ends rotate in and out throughout the games? How many classes of players are allowed to play college football? I have no doubt that Mr. Tuitt is a very special player; however, the questions posed are legitimate and I am concerned how Coach Brian Kelly addressed those concerns to be able to get another 5-star DE commit. Stephon would be a very smart kid if Notre Dame football only played freshman in games and rotated 10 defensive ends every other play and had five DE's on the field at one time during each play, but I know a little more about football than that to know that it wasn't very smart - especially from a kid that is coming from Georgia!

Two more names, to conclude the "lost" children that believe their talents are better than the people around them who get distracted and the voice of reason fades, belong to the two 4-star talents, #12 tight end (TE), Dillon van der Wal and #38 wide receiver (WR), Lafonte Thourogood. I mention these two names strictly because both committed to Vanderbilt and lost all sense of working real hard to have your efforts pay off to get you places that ordinary people can't get to. Vanderbilt? Really? Why play football at a place that all the other teams in the same conference will call you "bye week" and treat you like a practice squad that has the actual scoreboard lit up to show you exactly how horrible your team is. No matter how easy the four non-conference games are for Vandy, they struggle every year to win two conference games to make them bowl eligible (if they actually win all four non-conference games). Does Dillon and Lafonte realize that Jay Cutler has been in the NFL for a few years now? Quarterbacks at Vanderbilt are not exactly the Heisman front runners every year. Plus, if Vandy had a decent QB, they would be on their backs too quickly to get a throw off due to the offensive line that has to go up against some really good defensive lines throughout the season. All I have to say about those two fellas is, some coach at Vanderbilt really knows how to recruit (two guys) - I can't imagine what was promised to the parents on those visits! If it's academics, I know of a school that has excellent academics and actually played in a bowl game in January - well, it was actually a BCS bowl game that they happened to dominate to end the season with one loss (for those who didn't quite pay attention this last season, it's Stanford). Vanderbilt? Hmmm.

Now, I would love to change gears and focus on those kids who actually thought things through and had the right people around them to guide them properly to find the right fit for their talents and be able to make a positive impact to their future team and university. There were some schools that came out very successful at the end of the day on February 2nd who deserve great athletes because of the excellent facilities, coaches, and programs that play great games each year. Some of the teams that won big this year were; Florida State (obviously with the #1 recruiting class this year), Georgia, Clemson, and Oregon. Both Georgia and Clemson had down years, but finished strong with great recruiting classes to help out their young teams next year. Florida State got just about anybody they tried for. Oregon rarely gets a top 15 recruiting class, but with an appearance in the BCS Championship game in January, it may have helped a little with some TV time and lots of viewers. I'm actually a little shocked that Oregon didn't do a little better due to the exposure they received this year. The #3 defensive tackle (DT), Delvon Simmons may have made a mistake by not going with the Ducks to bolster up a defensive line that needs some size. The choice Simmons made to attend North Carolina may be a little scary after what the Tar Heels went through during this last season and losing some quality defensive players. Can you say, "red flag"? Should have stuck with Oregon, Delvon!

Speaking of Oregon commits, DeAnthony Thomas, the #1 corner back (CB) in the nation took his 5-star talent to Eugene after committing to USC for a long time when he changed his mind and showed up on NLI day in a Ducks shirt that read, "12-0" on the front. Smart kid! DeAnthony doesn't necessarily need to play defense (although that would bolster the defensive backfield nicely with Cliff Harris at the opposite side) because he may be even a better running back. I'm sure Thomas did his research and concluded (maybe with some help) that he would probably get a little lost amongst so many blue-chippers at USC and not get to play as much if he went to the young Ducks team that just went undefeated in regular season and lost by a last second field goal to the national champs in the final game with Chip Kelly who took his first year as a head coach to a Rose Bowl birth and to the national title his second year. With DeAnthony and other superstars that Oregon hasn't been able to recruit consistently over the years like... say... Auburn, may turn Oregon into a powerhouse year-in and year-out. Oh, did you catch that minor slam on Auburn from the last sentence? Figuratively speaking, Auburn, with its ability to recruit much better than "measly" little Oregon, should have lit up the scoreboard so high and blown the young Ducks team away. The size and talent that the Tigers bring in, year-in and year-out recruiting, should drive any non-SEC school back to the 80's to make them sing, "Don't Dream, It's Over" every game - including the championship game.

I can't believe how enormous recruiting is for a program and how dominant one conference can be each year and never exploit it on the field, but consider only words being enough to satisfy the college football fanatics. How disappointing it must be to live in the Southeast and be a huge fan of some SEC school or two and never see their team play legitimate competition every week prior to conference games! There are four chances each year where the SEC schools have to show off their dominant recruiting skills and put those premiere athletes on the field against powerhouses from other automatic qualifying (AQ) conferences and squish them into the turf to prove to the nation the major prowess that the SEC has a reputation for. Instead, they justify the conference slate as so difficult that they need to take on opponents such as: Utah State, Florida Atlantic, Samford (Auburn); Kent State, North Texas, Georgia Southern (Alabama); Florida Atlantic, Alabama-Birmingham, Furman (Florida); Missouri State, New Mexico, Troy (Arkansas); Memphis, Louisiana Tech, Alabama-Birmingham, Tennessee-Martin (Mississippi State); East Carolina, The Citadel (South Carolina); Western Kentucky, Central Michigan, Jacksonville State (Kentucky) - to name a few. Can I just say that the expansion of the Pacific 10 (Pac-10) to the Pac-12 has not made them "sell-out" by stopping the nine conference games like the other 12-team conferences. Instead, they set the bar high, again, and keep the nine conference games and the competitive, three non-conference games. Why don't the other conferences take note? Are they afraid that they won't actually get 80% of their conference bowl eligible every year? Pity!

Back to the smart athletes that were recruited this year, I have to mention Cyrus Kouandjio, the #1 offensive (OT) player overall and #2 overall. Even initially, when he chose Auburn, he would have surrounded himself with a bunch of other freshman talent with 5-star OG, Christian Westerman, 4-star OG, Greg Robinson, and 4-star center, Reese Dismukes. Now that's a solid future that could have taken Auburn really far for a long time. However, the decision to commit to Auburn and not FAX in the letter of intent immediately was very commendable. I'm impressed with that - especially with the end result. It took some serious... uh... "guts" to change from Auburn to their hated rival, Alabama. Cyrus eventually went with his heart and hopefully no regrets.

The same can go with the #1 talent in the nation, DE, Jadeveon Clowney, who took nearly a full two weeks after the NLI day to announce on Valentine's Day - and his birthday, which school he finally selected. Choosing the South Carolina Gamecocks was a wise choice for Jadeveon and his family. The campus is only 30 miles from his home so his family and friends won't need to travel far to watch him play - and he WILL play. He is nearly guaranteed to make an instant impact on Coach Spurrier's defensive line. I'm excited to watch South Carolina finally grow under Spurrier. The only thing that would have made me happier about Jadeveon's decision is if he would have selected a Pac-12 school instead (like USC, Oregon, Oregon State, or Washington), but that wouldn't make much sense for a kid from South Carolina.

So, with Cyrus and Jadeveon heading to SEC schools, according to Scout.com, that gives that conference 26 of the top 100 athletes in the nation and 61 of the top 200 and 94 of the top 300 athletes. Those are huge percentages, especially considering those 26 athletes are split amongst nine of the 12 schools - Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt did not get any of the top 100 athletes this year. As I said earlier, those twelve schools who recruited such great athletes, should display all that talent on the field against weightier opponents. Even with the weightier opponents, those twelve teams should demolish anybody in non-conference play; and I am shocked that the SEC commissioner has not learned from the new Pac-12 commissioner how to bolster up a non-conference slate and requiring more competition at a higher level of play during that part of the season to prove to the nation what it already knows - how dominant the SEC is at football, or at least recruiting.

As they say in betting, "put your money where your mouth is". I want to see better non-conference games from the NCAA's most admired conference. I want to see the SEC drop a non-conference game to add an additional conference match-up like the 2011 fall schedule of the Pac-12 has. I want the SEC to drop those games against Kent State, Georgia Southern, Missouri State, Troy, Samford, Northwestern State, Western Kentucky, Tennessee Martin, Southern Illinois, Furman, Coastal Carolina, Jacksonville State, The Citadel, Buffalo, Elon, and any former Division II (Football Championship Subdivision - FCS) games that are or will be scheduled. You recruit almost 1/3 of the entire top 300 athletes in the country every year! The nation deserves better games from you! You are the SEC! Prove it on the field, not by the jabbering of your jaw! Post season bowl games should not be merely gifts given freely to those who won 2 or 3 conference games, but earned by hard work on and off the field against the better teams out there to prove that you are one of those elite programs that can handle the "big boys". Until you do, you are just a hypocrite who is too afraid to play a full season of football and risk not going to one of the superfluous bowls that have flooded the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS - former Division I) where over half of the entire FBS is invited to play in a post season game (way to really point out the losers) - there's no feeling of success and accomplishment in that.

The talent in this year's recruiting class won't be completely fulfilled for another two or three years and we all shall see whether the voice of reason was heeded or ignored while the promises from the coaches to the players will be exposed for the country to see on the big stages of the BCS bowl games. We will see if the athletes were focused on improvement and getting to a better place and following their correct path, or if they were focused on how good they thought their talent was and how they didn't belong amongst the inferior players around them to cloud their perception of where they should be and eventually get lost - like my little skier. I hope that all the top athletes made the best decisions they could and really took the time to make such an important decision. I also hope that the SEC commissioner will listen to the voice of reason, too, in expecting more from each of the conference's universities in regards to their football schedules. To toot your own horn over five games the past five seasons is merely a reflection of the annual dominance in recruiting; however, to really appear impressive and worthy to be called the number one conference, you have to step up to the plate at some point and really challenge yourself or you will never stretch your limits and grow. You will remain at that particular level of play while the rest of the world is getting better and improving themselves each year and will eventually surpass you and your sub-par standards of scheduling.