PJ Fleck Interview on Sports Huddle 4-29-18

Alabama and tOSU reload each year and have the pick of the liter. Plus they have multiple players drafted each season. There are players like JC Hassenauer who chose AL or tOSU and become reserve players while as they may become stars at a place like MN. Definitely a different tier of players go there.

Year Alabama Ohio State
2018 12 7
2017 10 7
2016 7 12
2015 7 5
 

Alabama and tOSU reload each year and have the pick of the liter. Plus they have multiple players drafted each season. There are players like JC Hassenauer who chose AL or tOSU and become reserve players while as they may become stars at a place like MN. Definitely a different tier of players go there.

Year Alabama Ohio State
2018 12 7
2017 10 7
2016 7 12
2015 7 5

This is one thing that always makes me wonder why players flock to helmet schools or the Dukes and Kentuckys of the basketball world. You're a great player, but if you're player number 6 on a team filled with all-stars...you're not going to play.

At a minimum give yourself a chance to play the game. I would rather start on a lesser program and play for 4 years than be a glorified practice dummy who stands on the sidelines and cheers for the other 5-star athletes.
 

This is one thing that always makes me wonder why players flock to helmet schools or the Dukes and Kentuckys of the basketball world. You're a great player, but if you're player number 6 on a team filled with all-stars...you're not going to play.

At a minimum give yourself a chance to play the game. I would rather start on a lesser program and play for 4 years than be a glorified practice dummy who stands on the sidelines and cheers for the other 5-star athletes.

Players good enough to go to those schools don't have that mentality. They believe that they're the best and can stand up to any competition. They don't even consider the possibility that they're going to be a "glorified practice dummy."
That's why they're as good as they are.
 

I get having supreme confidence but there is such a thing as reality. All you have to do is look at all of the highly recruited players standing there on the sidelines. Only so many get to play...might not be you. I'm not saying you should go fetal position and try and crush DIII but if my choice is lining up at OL for Alabama or lining up and playing for 4 years at Illinois I'm thinking Illinois is my place.
 

every choice is personal. Some kids want to be part of the best program possible - maybe they think it makes them better by association.

I honestly think the % of kids who would choose a "lesser" school solely for reasons of playing time is very low. If you're a competitor, you want to compete against the best. And if that means you wind up as a reserve on a top-10 national team, I believe a lot of kids would take that bargain, as opposed to starting 3 years for a team that is outside of the top-20.
 


every choice is personal. Some kids want to be part of the best program possible - maybe they think it makes them better by association.

I honestly think the % of kids who would choose a "lesser" school solely for reasons of playing time is very low. If you're a competitor, you want to compete against the best. And if that means you wind up as a reserve on a top-10 national team, I believe a lot of kids would take that bargain, as opposed to starting 3 years for a team that is outside of the top-20.

I think it's really a bragging rights deal.

If you and some friends are all being recruited, it's a lot more fun to say you're going to Bama or tOSU.

It's like going on spring break.
Hey, I can go to Miami Beach, or I can go to Branson, MO.

"well, there are a lot of people at Miami Beach and it might be crowded, you should go to Branson, MO instead since it's not as busy".


(maybe not my best analogy)
 

every choice is personal. Some kids want to be part of the best program possible - maybe they think it makes them better by association.

I honestly think the % of kids who would choose a "lesser" school solely for reasons of playing time is very low. If you're a competitor, you want to compete against the best. And if that means you wind up as a reserve on a top-10 national team, I believe a lot of kids would take that bargain, as opposed to starting 3 years for a team that is outside of the top-20.

I don't know that it's anything to do with competition, per se. I agree with Dpo that none of these players think there is a chance they aren't the best, so they just want to be on the "best team" with the most people like them. Who would be telling them they won't start/play? Not the coach - he's going to tell the player they'll have a chance right away (which translates in the player's mind into - I'll get to play). Not their friends/family/hangers on.

Most of these players have been told since they were little that they are the best. They absolutely believe they are better than anyone else at their position.

Reminds me of a story I've told on here before. I met a guy 10 years ago or so who years earlier was a really good running back at a small high school in MN. He was dominant in his conference. When he didn't get any D1 offers, instead of going D2, he walked on at the U (non-preferred if there was such a distinction back then) because he knew he was better than any of the other RB's. No matter what anyone told him, he knew he'd be starting for the U. Until his first day at Fall Camp, when he realized he was miles behind all the other RB's who were miles behind Chris Darkins. He didn't last through Fall Camp. But until the first practice where everyone else blew him out of the water in every drill, nobody could tell him he wasn't going to be great and go on to the NFL. He laughs about it, now.
 

I don't know that it's anything to do with competition, per se. I agree with Dpo that none of these players think there is a chance they aren't the best, so they just want to be on the "best team" with the most people like them. Who would be telling them they won't start/play? Not the coach - he's going to tell the player they'll have a chance right away (which translates in the player's mind into - I'll get to play). Not their friends/family/hangers on.

Most of these players have been told since they were little that they are the best. They absolutely believe they are better than anyone else at their position.

Reminds me of a story I've told on here before. I met a guy 10 years ago or so who years earlier was a really good running back at a small high school in MN. He was dominant in his conference. When he didn't get any D1 offers, instead of going D2, he walked on at the U (non-preferred if there was such a distinction back then) because he knew he was better than any of the other RB's. No matter what anyone told him, he knew he'd be starting for the U. Until his first day at Fall Camp, when he realized he was miles behind all the other RB's who were miles behind Chris Darkins. He didn't last through Fall Camp. But until the first practice where everyone else blew him out of the water in every drill, nobody could tell him he wasn't going to be great and go on to the NFL. He laughs about it, now.

That sounds like millennial disease.
 







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