I Don’t Like 7-on-7, I Love It and Here’s Why

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @gridironstuds

The pass sailed right over his outstretched hand and landed in the basket of the wide receiver.  From my seat across the field,  I could not entirely make out what happened but you could see the small section of visiting East Carolina fans in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium celebrating so it couldn’t be good.  Quincy Wilson had just been beat for a touchdown for the first time in a college football game in front of thousands.

What should have been disappointment for me was over run by curiosity.  How would he react?  I have seen many a DB at this early stage in their career either go completely in the tank or be rather average for the rest of the game after that.  What occurred after that play was what I still call Quincy’s best game as a Gator.  For the next three quarters it was an entire murk session.  East Carolina WRs could not get off of the line of scrimmage,  get down the field nor catch a quick screen without getting abused by #6.  Where fear may have been the dominant feeling for many,  competitive fire was being served in the most furious To-Go boxes.  Where did this come from?

While I can say that he grew up in a competitive household and played multiple sports growing up,  I can definitely track a good amount of that competitive spirit on the Saturday afternoon to competing in 7-on-7.  Therein lies the major benefit in the new sport that has captured the months of January – June in high school football.  The daily battle rages on Twitter between high school football coaches who hate 7-on-7 and 7-on-7 coaches who would swear by it.

While there is much to make you frown about the 7-on-7 culture like overzealous coaches,  players being recruited to play at other high schools and some college football recruiting malfeasance,  the competitive nature of 7-on-7 can take a player to a whole new level.  High school football is filled with well put together,  athletic youngsters who just don’t put it all together.  Those who have played this game and been successful at it know that a majority of this game is mental.  They also know that the truly elite are that because of their competitive nature.  7-on-7 is haven for competition.

Along with the team vs. team competition that gets extremely heated,  there is the microscope placed on the 1-on-1 match-ups that occur within the game.  Those match-ups are taking place while a jury of your peers stand feet away from them jeering at them before, during and after the play.  That jury is the equivalent of a sold out stadium that seats 100,000.  What does a teenager care about more than the opinion of another teenager?  If you doubt that,  ask your child to wear a pair of outdated Skeechers to school tomorrow morning.  He’d read Hamlet and write a 5,000 word essay on it before he’d do that.

Playing in front of 80,000 people on a Saturday is a pressure cooker but it pales in comparison to lining up mono y mono vs. a highly recruited athlete from a rival team in a pool play game at a national 7-on-7 tournament.  If you don’t believe me ask anyone who’s been through both.  The pointing,  jeering and antics that ensue after a player has been beaten on a play in 7-on-7 builds mental toughness and character.  It’s the equivalent to walking 20 miles to and from school in the snow that the generation before us always talks about.

Last Saturday I watched a young DB get beat for a touchdown at a tournament in Ft. Lauderdale.  The opposing team brought out a trash bag and tried to put him in it.  The mother in you will feel sorry for the kid and want to give him a hug.  The father in you sitting in a crowd of 80,000 people realizes that your son is prepared mentally for anything that is going to happen to him on that field.

7-on-7, like taxes, is here to stay.  Also like taxes,  it has it’s benefits though few wish to dwell on them.  The smart ones amongst us use taxes to their benefit.  I suggest to you that you do the same.  The competitive nature and pressure of 7-on-7 is second to none.

So You Want to Transfer Eh? Some Things For You to Consider

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

At the end of each year,  Webster’s dictionary will come up with the word or phrase of the year.  It’s typically an old word that became alive again by it’s repetitive use socially during the year that has come to an end.  We haven’t reached the end of the month of January  yet but already we may have been blessed with our phrase of the year and it’s “transfer portal”.

Just about every year I will field about a dozen calls from college football players that are looking for a new home for their football dreams.  The reasons for doing so can be numerous.  They can range from conflict with a coach, buried on the depth chart to problems at home.  Most of the time,  they don’t involve transferable reasons so more than 80% of the time,  I advise the athlete to stick it out,  work through the problems and rise above it.

By and large,  the life of a transfer is not a pretty one.  Often times the problems you are experiencing at your particular program are likely to be the same problems you will face at another.  Generally speaking,  college coaches are the same across the board.  Their job is to get the most that they can out of you in practice and hope you deliver that come game day.  This can also be a metaphor for your life as they are also helping you grow into a quality young man.  The ways that coaches go about that may vary but ultimately,  the desired outcome is the same.

What many student-athletes lack is an amount of awareness and perspective.  Most do not go through all of the self checks before they make the decision to leave.  This is an all important step for one to make before they leave what they believe to be a bad situation.  Do you work that hard?  Are you respectful to your coach?  Have you demonstrated a character that your coaches can trust?  Are you really better than the guy or guys in front of you?

If you don’t make that all important self check then you will go through all the trouble of transferring and take along with you to the new spot all of your broken habits.  Remember what I said,  coaches are generally the same.  Your broken habits at the new spot will generate you the results you had at the old one.  Typically,  after have I forced the student athlete to be brutally honest about themselves (usually by me being brutally honest with them) the athlete will do what they needed to do all along and that is fix themselves.  Something as simple as looking away while your coach is talking to you could indicate that you can’t be trusted.  How does he know you are listening?  You may have been doing this all your life and getting away with it because you were either the best player on your little league and high school team.  However,  you are in a room now with a bunch of guys that can play and something as simple as making eye contact can be the difference between you playing or not playing.

If you’ve done all the internal checks and you don’t have any check engine lights on,  here are some things you may need to consider before you go morphing into “the transfer portal”.

First of all,  the only way to get into the transfer portal is to go tell your coach that you want to go in it.  Your coach then has two days to put you in.  For some athletes,  that’s a no return situation.  If you stick your neck out there and don’t get any bites from other programs you wish to go to,  you may also be dead at the program you are at.  Football scholarships are one year renewables.  Your coach may view your desire to leave as an act of treason and not renew that scholarship next year.

Second,  what do you have to sell to another program.  If you have not stepped on the field for your current school,  why would another program want you? If you have no game film action,  you better have some very strong practice clips or you better have been a world beater in high school.  That high school career better have been a year or less ago.  No game film,  no practice film,  no scholarship.  Most places will gladly offer you the chance to walk-on though.  Are you ready for that walk-on life especially after having experienced being on scholarship?

Third,  how are you doing academically at your current school?  Poor performance academically could make you ineligible at many of the places you wish to go to.  Better check your transcripts and the academic requirements of the places you wish to go to.  You may not be able to get in.  Getting stuck in the portal with no place to go due to academics is a kin to your WiFi going down.  We know how tragic that can be.

Fourth, if you have not graduated at the current school you are at,  you will most likely have to sit out a year at the school you transfer to. If you have not been playing and are leaving because of that,  are you ready to sit out another year and fight your way up from the bottom of the depth chart at another school?

Finally,  most times your transfer will involve you going down a level of play.  Are you mentally prepared for that.  You were at a Power 5 program getting the best of everything and now you are headed to a lower Tier FBS or FCS program.  Are you going to be ok with the downsizing?  The resources and amenities will be quite different.  Some athletes really struggle with the move downward and we never hear from them again.

Leaving,  bailing out,  transferring all sounds good when a situation is not going as planned at the moment.  However,  leaving one place to escape problems only to encounter them again at another can be catastrophic.  The decision to transfer is not one to be taken lightly.  Do your internal checks and do your research.  It is a decision that can’t be undone and it’s one that must be a success if your football career has any chance of being what you hoped it would be.

Patience is a Virtue and a Four Touchdown Win in the College Football Championship Game

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

As the 49th point was posted on the Hard Rock (then Sun Life Stadium) scoreboard in favor of West Virginia,  there was little left in limbo for the 2012 Orange Bowl other than who might be the next coach of the Clemson Tigers.  Firing coaches did not occur back then at the breakneck speed that it does in this day in age. However, when you appear in a high profile game like the Orange Bowl and you’re getting your pants pulled down like this,  it’s tough not to consider that the head coach of the team down 49-17 at the half might be in line for a pink slip.

I was in attendance that night as the Orange Bowl turned into a personal hell for Dabo Swinney’s squad. The second half provided little relief as West Virginia tacked on another 21 points enroute to the most lopsided and embarrassing loss in the game’s history.  There were precious few excuses for Swinney.  After all,  this was a squad that included Tajh Boyd at quarterback,  Andre Ellison at running back and a trio of wide receivers that any team would have died for: DeAndre Hopkins,  Sammy Watkins and Martavis Bryant.  The defense that yielded 70 points included pros like Dwayne Allen, Bashad Breeland and Coty Sensabaugh. The only logical explanation in Twitter terms could be that the head coach sucked.  It was year four in the Swinney regime and this total failure in front of millions of viewers followed a 6-7 campaign the year before. It also included a winless record vs. arch rival South Carolina.  In fact,  Clemson closed out the 2011 season losing three of their last four games,  all by double digits.  In 2019,  that’s ground for immediate dismal of coach and staff followed by a national search that will culminate with the hiring of some hot shot offensive coordinator who will start all over.

Two things saved Dabo Swinney at the conclusion of that night and the 2011 season.  First,  Twitter wasn’t a thing and neither was the Nick Saban Crimson Tide Era. Twitter,  the platform for fanbases to cry out to the public every emotional swing that encompasses a game day viewing event was in it’s infancy.  The platform had not yet amassed the power to get guys run out of town (Rich Rodriguez at Michigan) or get coaches fired before they were actually hired (Greg Schiano at Tennessee).  Those superpowers would manifest themselves years later on the social platform and wage war on any and all celebrities.

The end of the 2011 season saw the second national championship for Nick Saban at Alabama.  People were certainly paying attention but no one was ready to call the Crimson Tide a monster.  Perhaps there was a third thing working in Dabo Swinney’s favor on the dejected plane ride home from Miami.  Maybe folks in Clemson,  South Carolina just have more patience than the rest of us.

When the 2012 season opened up,  Swinney still had a job and the wheels were set in motion for what we all witnessed either in person or on television on January 7, 2019.  Both Alabama and Twitter would continue to grow at a record pace.  That fact came much to the chagrin of college coaches across the nation.  As the Crimson Tide machine got stronger in it’s parts,  college athletic directors got weaker in their resolve.  As Alabama piled up championships,  coaches started getting cut more often and with greater haste.  What took Nick Saban years to build in stops across college football and in the pros,  athletic directors wanted their coaches to amass in three years or your seat gets hot.

The Twitter monster grew too from 2012 on.  More and more sports fans flocked to the social media platform attracted by it’s easy set up and even easier ability to promote individual thoughts and ideals to eager listeners.  Long ago in high school you had those pack of gossipers that would huddle together in corners and talk ill of anyone with status.  Twitter provided a digital network of gossipers with more access and wider audiences.  As such,  college football Saturdays would see the timelines packed with fans living and dying by each move their team made.  Lose to a rival and embarrass a fan in front of rival fans he’s been beefing with and the clock was ticking and Twitter would fire you.  Lose a bowl game by a score of 70-33 and you can forget about fan support come next season.

If Dabo Swinney would’ve lost a bowl game 70-33 in this Twitter Golden Era and after Nick Saban had compiled five national championships in Tuscaloosa,  Bleacher Reports would have already released the article “Top 10 Candidates to Be the New Sheriff in Death Valley”.  I’m sure even the good folks in Clemson may have even run out of that good ole fashion Southern patience.

As luck, hard work and vision would have it,  Dabo would circumvent such ire and circumstance.  Since getting a tropical ass whippin in that 2011 Orange Bowl,  Swinney has low key produced the 2nd biggest Dynasty during the Saban Era.  Clemson has won 11 games in all but one season since 2011.  They have appeared in three of the four college football playoff championship games and they have now won two of the last three national championships.  Along the way,  Swinney has managed to keep his coaching staff together and convince projected first round picks to come back for their final season despite already having a championship ring on their finger.  Not only has Swinney built a program,  he’s built a family.  Last night was hard to imagine when Geno Smith hit Willie Millhouse for a 7 yard TD to give West Virginia a 70-26 lead on that awful night in Sun Life Stadium.

Along the way,  one has to wonder just how many college football programs panicked and rid themselves of potentially dynasty building coaches simply because of a less than stellar season or especially embarrassing moment.  The frantic,  irrational chasing of Nick Saban and incorrect use of Twitter as an effective decision maker has likely dunked many a potential national championship coach into the unemployment line.  In it’s wake,  college football has been left with only two programs with the resolve, experience and know how to meet each other every year in college football’s final game.  However,  there are some other programs peeking their heads over the horizon.  The question is,  did last night buy them time to get to the top of the mountain and add mystery to college football again.

Four short years later,  I would settle into my seat in the same Sun Life Stadium only to watch the same Clemson program that got mugged in 2011,  drag my alma mater, the University of Miami,  behind the woodshed.  At 28-0 in the 2nd quarter,  I couldn’t take it anymore.  I rose from seat in disgust and departed.  On my way down the ramp,  Clemson scored again to make it 35-0.  As I reached the parking lot,  a disgruntled fan draped in a Ken Dorsey jersey let off a manic laugh that only a serial killer could appreciate as he barked out “Clemson just scored again.”  It was the third score since I left and it would open the door for the third head coach hiring for Miami since Dabo Swinney got the job at Clemson.  Oh the irony.

If You Really Love Ball, You’ll Go Play Small

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

Power 5 or Bust! That’s the rallying cry I hear annually around this time of year as senior high school football players try to scramble for the remaining scholarships that are available out there.  It’s a cry that I understand but it’s also one that makes me wonder.  I’ll tell you why in this article.

One of the biggest mistakes we make in life and in particular when we are teenagers,  is comparing ourself to others.  This less than desirable practice has only been accelerated by the onset of social media into our daily lives.  Individuals giving you the highlight clips of their mundane and sometimes tumultuous lives often paint an unrealistic picture of what is really going on.  Those created realities are what many others are basing their own lives off of and it disrupts their abilities to effectively manage their own lives.  This is a major problem when it comes to recruiting.

Often times prospects are comparing themselves to others and develop the mindset that they should do the same thing the next guy is doing or they are not worth a damn.  This includes go to the same type of schools the other guy is going to.  When I see a prospect that does not meet the measurables or the production of the highly recruited athletes in their class yet still wants to receive their type of scholarships,  I begin to wonder.  It’s ok to aim high and to have big dreams but self awareness and reality checks have a strong place in the minds of those who are going to be successful.  I question how much a prospect really loves football. Do you really love playing football or do you love saying that you play football.  Do you love playing football for the joy of preparing, scheming and conquering an opponent or for the feel of saying you play for so and so school?

One of the most important thing that any college football recruiter from any level must determine about the player he is scouting is how much does the player love football.  College coaches know what a grind the game becomes at the next level.  The college coach knows that college football and high school football is not the same thing.  A coach is asking will the player I am scouting still have the will to prepare if he’s not a star or not a starter?  Will the player I am scouting go just as hard in the weight room and in the film room if the game is not on TV every weekend?  Will the prospect I have my eye on still play his heart out if our stadium holds 12,ooo fans as opposed to 70,000?  The answer to all those questions if the prospect really loves football is yes.

I am sure that NFL MVP candidate Aaron Donald would have loved to have played for Alabama or Ohio St. when he was coming out of high school.  However,  at 6’0″ 260 lbs.  he was not really going to capture the eye of those top teams.  Rather than cry about it,  Donald went to Pitt where he would not be in the limelight of college football but could still go play football,  develop his talents and extend his playing career.  Ok,  I know what you are going to say, Pittsburgh is a FBS, Power 5 football team.  It is,  no doubt but it’s not Alabama or Ohio St. in 2010 when Donald came out.

Current NFL rookie of the year candidate Darius Leonard of the Indianapolis Colts barely had a 247sports profile when he was coming out of high school in 2013.  At 6’2″ 190 lbs. playing linebacker,  the FBS schools of the World were not really beating down his door.  Leonard dreamed of playing at Clemson like his brother but that would not happen.  Instead of throwing his hands up and walking on at some school that was going to throw him in the trash heap,  Leonard went to South Carolina State.  At South Carolina State,  Leonard lifted weights,  took in great coaching and studied the game.  What Leonard did was extend his playing career,  furthered his development and gave himself a chance at playing professionally.  Look at him now.

If you have a passion to play football and love all that goes into the process,  you’ll give the smaller school a try.  You will realize that all that matters is your self improvement which comes when you embrace all that goes along with it.  Big crowds and televised games are fun,  you can find them in the NFL after you have put the work in.  However,  if you sell yourself short by saying you won’t play if you don’t go big time or go to a smaller school and quit then I have to question your love for the game in the first place.  You know who else is questioning it,  the small school coach you are thumbing your nose at when he reaches out to you.  At some point you will realize that you won’t get that opportunity at that marquee school and will want to go back to that small school coach.  By that time,  he’s already determined that you probably don’t love football that much because if you really love ball,  you won’t be afraid to play small.

Quarterbacks Noticeably Absent from the Top in Class of 2019 Rankings

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds.com
Twitter: @GridironStuds

If you love quarterbacks in the high school recruiting game then you loved the class of 2018. That class produced the #1 and #2 overall ranked players by consensus between both Rivals and 247sports.  If you include USC signee J.T. Daniels in the mix,  then the Class of 2018 produced three Top 20 quarterback talents.  In 2019,  you have to go outside of the Top 20 to find any quarterback prospects.

The class of 2018 produced #1 rated recruit in Clemson signee Trevor Lawrence and the #2 ranked overall prospect Georgia signee Justin Fields.  One could get really excited about a class like that especially when you include the previously mentioned J.T. Daniels who was Rivals ranked #4 overall and 247 Sports ranked #16.  All three of these young gun slingers have seen action in a game as true freshman this year with both Daniels and Lawerence being starters for their respective schools.

The Class of 2019 is something quite a bit different.  The highest ranked quarterback in the Rivals Top 100 player rankings is Pro Style QB Bo Nix from Pinson Valley HS in Alabama.  Nix is an Auburn commit and comes in at #26 in the overall player rankings.  Right behind him is Pinnacle High School in Arizona’s Spencer Rattler at #27.  Rattler is committed to Oklahoma.  Only four pro style QBs in total are ranked in the Top 100 according to Rivals and their ranks are as follows: 26, 64, 68 and 100.   Rattler is the only dual threat QB in the Top 100 at 27.

According to 247sports’ rankings,  Spencer Rattler is a pro style QB and is their highest ranked at #23. Only two other Pro Style QBs are in the Top 100 with Ryan Helinski out of Orange, CA (South Carolina commit) and Sam Howell out of Monroe, NC (Florida St.) at #54 and #86 respectively.  247sports also disagrees with Rivals about what type of quarterback Bo Nix is.  247 says he’s a dual quarterback and he is listed as their 47th best prospect in the class. Only one other dual threat quarterback joins him on the Top 100 list and that’s 80th ranked Jayden Daniels from Cajon HS in California.  Daniels is currently uncommitted.

In contrast,  last year’s crop of QBs produced six pro style and six dual threat QBs in the Top 100 247 sports rankings.  Rivals ranked four pro style QBs and seven dual threat QBs in their Top 100 in 2018.

You would have to go all the way back to 2010 to find a class of QBs with their highest player ranked this low.  That year, 247 Sports’ highest ranked QB was pro style QB Blake Sims at #31 while Rivals also had Sims as their top QB but he was ranked #63 overall.  2010 was indeed a weak class for QBs.  The only notable names in that group from a NFL perspective were Blake Bortles (ranked 814th nationally),  Trevor Simien (ranked 596th nationally) and Bryce Petty (who was unranked nationally).  Rivals’ rankings do not go deep enough to include any of these prospects from that class.

Only time will tell what this 2019 class will produce in terms of quarterbacks but if we’re comparing it to 2010,  it’s not looking good.

GridironStuds College Football 3-for-3 Pick’em Week 12

Chad Wilson

By: Chad Wilson – Editor – GridironStuds Blog
Twitter: @GridironStuds

Well I just have not been able to shake the 1-2 bug of late.  Three straight weeks of this disease has dropped me to 15-12 overall.  The only team to handle their business for me last week were the embattled Buckeyes who awkwardly dominated Penn St.  I took losses point spread wise thinking that Auburn could hang long enough vs. Georgia and that Boston College could do the same vs. Clemson.  Both Georgia and Clemson asserted themselves as college football playoff teams.  Let’s see if I can take some Nyquil and put this 1-2 bug to sleep this week.  This might be the ugliest slate of games we’ve had thus far this season.  I just wanted to point that out.

Cincinnati @ UCF

UCF has this long winning streak going and we all know it.  We all know it because it’s impressive and because UCF keeps speaking loudly about it.  We’ve seen this before however.  Ever so often,  a mid-major will put together a nice run and through the media,  start putting pressure on the voters to include them in with the big boys.  At first they draw energy from it but at a certain point,  it becomes a distraction and provides pressure.  Pressure is what Cincinnati will bring in this game vs. a UCF offensive front that is not all that good.  The lack of vigor and talent up front has been masked by the hurry up offense that the Knights run to perfection.  That hurry up offense won’t be something new for Cincinnati to face so I think they will be able to stand in the paint.  I think the 7 point spread is a bit too large for UCF.  Yes they have been winning but in games like this,  they have needed every minute on the clock to complete the mission.  I am not really seeing why that would be any different in this game.  I would not be surprised to the see the streak end here but I am not expecting it.  This is a home game for UCF and Cincinnati’s offense does have that ability to come up short in a key moment.  I think it’s a fight to the death that UCF wins very very late .  UCF win 37 to 35.

Syracuse vs. Notre Dame

Notre Dame is having one heck of a season as we all can see.  Somehow though,  it seems to be losing a bit of steam. The media members and oddsmakers are seemingly expecting more and more with each passing week.  Last week the Irish staggered through their game vs. a miserable Florida St. squad.  As we push further through the season,  the less impressive the Notre Dame wins seem to look as their previous opponents don’t look so hot.  If I am a Notre Dame fan,  I am concerned about the lack of quality comp over the last few weeks.  Syracuse is battle tested.  They played Clemson tough on the road, played at Pittsburgh and got a solid W vs. NC State.  Don’t tell me that Trevor Lawrence got hurt in that Clemson game because they were giving the Tigers the business while he was in there and they were the ones who put him on the shelf.  Dino Babers has the boys playing hard.  This kind of game can be a program changer for the Orangemen and I can see them coming with a lot of fire.  I think the Orangemen have been overlooked a bit this season and here’s a chance for a coming out party.  With that said,  I think they come up just a bit short in this contest.  The Irish are solid with Ian Book at the controls and they are better in the trenches than Syracuse.  I like Notre Dame for the win but I don’t like them giving all the points.  Notre Dame wins 33-30.

Iowa St. @ Texas

If you’ve been following this column all season,  you know that I have not been long on the Longhorns.  The one time that I decided to back them,  they reminded me that I am not long and went real short vs. Oklahoma St.  Truth is that Texas has not played well the last three weeks.  It’s almost as if their head coach has been distracted or something. Hmmm.  Nevertheless,  each feeble performance each week brings further angst.  Enter the scrappy Iowa St. Cyclones looking to put a bull head on the mantle.  These pack of Cyclones play hard and they play for 60 minutes.  They won’t run from and they won’t back down from Texas especially in light of how Texas has been playing.  Oddsmakers have thrown out some bait by making Texas a slim 2.5 point favorite.  That number is screaming for the public to jump on Texas.  I am going to go the opposite way.  Today,  I think scrappy gets a victory,  a full victory.  Take Iowa St. 30-27 over Texas