OH MY GOD HOW ARE THEY PLAYING IN THE NFL

OH MY GOD HOW ARE THEY PLAYING IN THE NFL

This is what we would hear if many student athletes and a lot of parents were to research and see where a lot of NFL players came from. So many times we hear I have to go to a power five conference or no one will know who I am. REALLY, what about working hard no matter where you’re going to school. I bet the Buffalo Bills Ty Powell of Harding University a small D2 didn’t give up because he didn’t go to a big D1 program or how about the Panthers Scott Simonson of Assumption College another small D2 school . You see it’s not where you go but what you do when you get there. I will tell you this “players that go to smaller FCS programs or D2 or lower spend their full time at that school producing a smarter football player and a more socially prepared citizen. Isn’t that really what this should be about? Grooming our next Army General or President of the United States. School is so much more than sports and even more than just academics. You learn how to get along with people from different places with different beliefs and points of view. You learn how to problem solve and negotiate and manage money. College is an experience that everyone should have an opportunity to go through. Oh guess what “no matter what the size of the school or the name on the building or how big their stadium is they all deliver the varsity experience! How many of three or four QB’s at a program will have a chance for any playing time or pro career? NONE but if they didn’t have to go to USC, PSU or play in the ROSE BOWL or HOURSE SHOE if they instead had gone to William Penn or Texas College their chances would be so much greater than it was riding the bench at the BIG POWER FIVE SCHOOL. Then they say I went here for the degree. That is Bull in its self. Most NAIA or Division 2 and DIVISION 3 schools have much higher recognized degrees than 90% of power five schools.

I don’t want to hear about baseball or Basketball we are talking football and the size of the school you attend. I want to say WOW congratulations to Caushard Lyon’s of the Pittsburgh Steelers (practice squad) and from TUSCULUM COLLEGE he is getting paid!!! Or how about DAVID FOUCAUT of the Pittsburgh Steelers and out of MONTREAL UNIVERSITY think he was on the radar NOT! The one thing all the people I have named have in common is they were ready to seize the opportunity when it came by and just in case it didn’t come by they became lawyers, doctors or business people from the school they played football at.

Look this is already playing it’s self out. With FCS smaller football programs beating larger ones like  Michigan being upset by Appalachian State University (back then an FCS program) to today with NAIA and Many FCS programs flexing its muscle on D1 and D1AA or D2 programs like Colorado State –Pueblo destroying FCS powerhouse Sam Houston State University in 2014. These are programs that have not one D1 student athlete on their roster but many D1 capable student athletes. People use the word lucky I just say kids want to play and the smart ones don’t care where. We are now starting to see the equalization of sports programs due to student athlete’s willing to do anything or go anywhere to play the sport they love and maybe get a shot at the next level. White student athletes going to historically black schools to play football and get their degree or traveling from one coast to the other coast. Suiting up for NAIA and standing out athletically and still holding the degree when it is all said and done.

As I started to look at NFL players and their schools I found institutions like Tiffin,  William Penn, Baker University, Harding, Monmouth, COE, Regina(Canada),Belhaven (NAIA), Calawa, Abilene Christian (D2 at the time) and the list goes on.  While yes there are more from the big D1 programs there is a huge number of D1AA and an ever growing amount of D2, D3 and NAIA schools as well. 10 years ago it was a long shot from the smaller D1’s today you can be found at any school at any Level.

So in my final thoughts it’s not where you go but what you do when you get there. Go where you can compete to play, enjoy the college experience and get your degree. It’s not the size of where you go but how big you feel when you’re done.

"Straight from the recruiting GURU!"