2x Super Bowl champ Chris Long says Pitt players in the NFL are pro-ready, confident, have an edge
- Thread starter PittSqueak
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One reason why maybe they aren't coddled and spoiled into thinking their crap doesn't stink that you get at some of these football factories full of fanboys who would allow their daughters fellate the football team if it would help them win.
Might just be the environment. You might pick up a thing or two from pro guys about playing the pro game if you're sharing a facility with them. But it's a great endorsement either way.
Since it is ALL about getting to the NFL for the best recruits one would think this factor would be weighted highly by recruits. Yet it oddly doesn't seem to help us much. I guess the top guys assume they'll be starters and 1st day draft picks wherever they go (note that this assumption coming to fruition for the majority is probably dubious).
They will see that blue bloods send a lot of guys to the pros and they also get treated like gods, get massive perks and payola and slatternly coeds and exemption from laws etc.. But that's really a self fulfilling prophecy to some degree. Big programs put a lot of players in the pros, because a lot of top players go there, because they put a lot of players in the pros, because a lot of top players go there ... and so on and so forth.
The numbers put into the pros may indeed be high, but what of those who don't? The first string of Bama or Clemson 5 star guys clearly will get NFL shots. But what of the second and third string of 4.5 to 4 star players that end up with no shot (or lesser shot) because they never played there, but likely could have started and starred here, or a UVA, or BC or the like?
Clearly many more of those types of high star recruits are willing to risk getting buried at a blue blood vs taking the leap to come here, or a school like us. I'm not sure I can blame them; 3 to 4 years of god treatment and near sure thing to travel with the team to the NC playoff or the highest bowls (which ironically, many may choose not to play in!) is damn tempting, even if ending up collecting towels like Jason Melon for all of them.
But on another level, I absolutely blame them. It's shallow, shortsighted and even cowardly to join a stacked team knowing you may sit for 3, 4, even 5 years (or get unceremoniously run off when recruited over). And it's bad for the sport to be so top heavy. It can only be rectified with curtailing scholarships to distribute the top talent better. I know it's unamerican in some ways to suggest, and that's a hot button (and never gonna happen anyway) but it absolutely needs to.
They will see that blue bloods send a lot of guys to the pros and they also get treated like gods, get massive perks and payola and slatternly coeds and exemption from laws etc.. But that's really a self fulfilling prophecy to some degree. Big programs put a lot of players in the pros, because a lot of top players go there, because they put a lot of players in the pros, because a lot of top players go there ... and so on and so forth.
The numbers put into the pros may indeed be high, but what of those who don't? The first string of Bama or Clemson 5 star guys clearly will get NFL shots. But what of the second and third string of 4.5 to 4 star players that end up with no shot (or lesser shot) because they never played there, but likely could have started and starred here, or a UVA, or BC or the like?
Clearly many more of those types of high star recruits are willing to risk getting buried at a blue blood vs taking the leap to come here, or a school like us. I'm not sure I can blame them; 3 to 4 years of god treatment and near sure thing to travel with the team to the NC playoff or the highest bowls (which ironically, many may choose not to play in!) is damn tempting, even if ending up collecting towels like Jason Melon for all of them.
But on another level, I absolutely blame them. It's shallow, shortsighted and even cowardly to join a stacked team knowing you may sit for 3, 4, even 5 years (or get unceremoniously run off when recruited over). And it's bad for the sport to be so top heavy. It can only be rectified with curtailing scholarships to distribute the top talent better. I know it's unamerican in some ways to suggest, and that's a hot button (and never gonna happen anyway) but it absolutely needs to.
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Someone needs to show Josh Rawlings' this video. This is coming from a Virginia Cavalier.
Starting at the 8:00 minute mark...
https://sportstalk.triblive.com/hud...-donald-the-best-football-player-in-the-world
Starting at the 8:00 minute mark...
https://sportstalk.triblive.com/hud...-donald-the-best-football-player-in-the-world
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All the recent recruits should be THRILLED with his FACTUAL comments.
