don't know if been posted but

[drummerdawg]

Great read on Big Pern

http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/article-1/Where-Pernell-McPhee-Gets-His-Hunger/fb9277ac-d20b-4b55-bffa-cddf3b15837f

[Political Hack]

he almost went to UGA. His mom, who wasn't very close to him, showed up with some UGA recruiters at his house. Tried to get him to sign with UGA out of Juco because they would "get him to the league." When they left he called someone very close to him and broke down. When asked what was wrong, he said "she forgot to tell me happy birthday." That's the day he decided for sure he was signing with State. The guy has been through a lot and made every bit of every opportunity ever presented to him. Proud he's a dawg.

[drummerdawg]

Wow, didn't know that. He was one of my favorites the short time he was at State.

[MetEdDawg]

This is the kind of story that shows you why recruiting and college sports in general can be a crap shoot. How do you know how a kid from a situation like that is going to respond to things that you and life throw at him? How can we expect kids to be productive members on the football field, much less society when they have to go home and deal with that?

As a high school teacher, it's sad to hear stories like this and to see how kids come to school and go through life every day coming from those situations. Kind of brings it all back into perspective. So glad he was able to make something out of seemingly very close to nothing.