I came across this article about how Penn State will most likely be starting several of their incoming recruits next year
Toward the end of another troubled season, Penn State coach Joe Paterno spoke excitedly about the Nittany Lions’ incoming freshman class of football recruits.
To longtime Paterno observers, that was somewhat astonishing because the 77-year-old legend had long held to a tenet: If you depend on freshmen, you have problems.
Of course Paterno once believed that if you blame refs for a loss then you didn’t deserve to win.
Times change.
Of course, I guess that means JoePa won’t be putting his support behind another coaching legend (who had the good sense to retire) who seeks to make freshmen ineligible.
Former ACC coaches Terry Holland and Dean Smith expressed serious concern Monday over the state of college athletics and renewed their push to make freshmen ineligible.
…
Smith, longtime North Carolina coach and the all-time leader in NCAA coaching victories, said freshman recruits should play only for freshmen-only teams. He also suggested that junior college transfers be forced to sit out a year before playing with the varsity.“You have to show you’re a student first before you have the privilege of playing intercollegiate basketball,” Smith said.
Whether any of the proposals will get far beyond the meeting room is uncertain.
Oh, I’m certain. No.
Dean has no clue. This is just the latest stupidity. I’m sure he thinks this will keep more kids in school longer. All it will do is convince more kids to try to get to the NBA in basketball; and in both football and basketball it is yet another way to try and keep the established powers entrenched by erecting more barriers for other programs with restraint on JUCOs and potentially sensational recruits.
Dean had previously testified before Congress to get a ban on college betting. Never mind that lines on games by professional gamblers has been more effective at providing leads and tips for point shaving and throwing games.
Just to get back to the original article, there was an interesting bit about Morelli
Tom Lemming of ESPN.com has Morelli ranked No. 8 in the country on his list of top quarterback prospects. Wallace doesn’t regard the strong-armed Morelli quite as highly, ranking him No. 14.
“He has a lot of physical tools, but he’s going to have to get a lot smarter at the game,” [Allen] Wallace[, publisher of California-based SuperPrep,] said. “We ranked Anthony farther down from where people thought he might end up at the beginning of the year. He really needs to show a better understanding of the game. You could see that when he was out here at the Elite 11 quarterback camp. He couldn’t grasp the overall game as well as the other kids.”
This echos some thing John Beard cited. Interesting.
