Leo lewis

[msstate7]

With champion and Myers going the juco route this week, does this indicate lewis is looking better as far as qualifying? Could we see the same move from lewis pretty soon?

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Champion & Myers had no chance to qualify. Leo has a chance but he can't slip up. That's the difference.

[msstate7]

Champion & Myers had no chance to qualify. Leo has a chance but he can't slip up. That's the difference.

So it's a risky move to go for it, huh? If he qualifies, he gets in as freshman. If he doesn't qualify, he gets in as junior.

[MetEdDawg]

This is getting ridiculous. Champion and Myers already going JUCO. Jay Johnson already going JUCO. Rumors of Leo Lewis and a few others from MS that might end up at JUCO. How is this still happening? How are this many kids potential JUCO candidates?

I teach and this pisses me off. How does this continue to happen that these kids don't have academics placed as a higher priority? Some of these kids received scholarship offers in the 10th or 11 grade. They KNOW they have to make the grades to get in. How are people not hammering these kids to do better? I just don't get how this many highly ranked kids could end up in JUCO. It's baffling to me.

[ShotgunDawg]

This is getting ridiculous. Champion and Myers already going JUCO. Jay Johnson already going JUCO. Rumors of Leo Lewis and a few others from MS that might end up at JUCO. How is this still happening? How are this many kids potential JUCO candidates?

I teach and this pisses me off. How does this continue to happen that these kids don't have academics placed as a higher priority? Some of these kids received scholarship offers in the 10th or 11 grade. They KNOW they have to make the grades to get in. How are people not hammering these kids to do better? I just don't get how this many highly ranked kids could end up in JUCO. It's baffling to me.

I agree, and it's even more disappointing because I thought it was getting better. It seems like we had a good few years, and that maybe the average is starting to catch up with us.

Either way, these kids going to JUCO in January and only missing one season should have a positive impact on MSU and Ole Miss' talent level since they'll consistently have 2 or so more good players on campus than they used to have.

[RougeDawg]

This is getting ridiculous. Champion and Myers already going JUCO. Jay Johnson already going JUCO. Rumors of Leo Lewis and a few others from MS that might end up at JUCO. How is this still happening? How are this many kids potential JUCO candidates?

I teach and this pisses me off. How does this continue to happen that these kids don't have academics placed as a higher priority? Some of these kids received scholarship offers in the 10th or 11 grade. They KNOW they have to make the grades to get in. How are people not hammering these kids to do better? I just don't get how this many highly ranked kids could end up in JUCO. It's baffling to me.

I'll give you the cliff notes version of the answer. These highly talented kids have been talented their entire lives. Most have little discipline at home and only experience discipline at school or in sports. But the caveat is, all throughout their sports careers they have been given preferential treatment. Be it not having to go to class or not being disciplined for loafing or missing practice. The coaches need to win and these guys can flip the switch and be the best athletes on the field in a high school setting. Most have rarely had to work hard to get where they were. Most have been given grades early on 6-8th grades and they assume that HS will be the same. They have been coddled so much for so long, they have a difficult time seeing reality. I went to high school with a kid who had NFL talent, but he didn't care about grades and eventually dropped out. No discipline but he was the best athlete on the field from pee wee to 10th grade. Sad but reality.

Ok so not really cliff notes.

[LC Dawg]

This is getting ridiculous. Champion and Myers already going JUCO. Jay Johnson already going JUCO. Rumors of Leo Lewis and a few others from MS that might end up at JUCO. How is this still happening? How are this many kids potential JUCO candidates?

I teach and this pisses me off. How does this continue to happen that these kids don't have academics placed as a higher priority? Some of these kids received scholarship offers in the 10th or 11 grade. They KNOW they have to make the grades to get in. How are people not hammering these kids to do better? I just don't get how this many highly ranked kids could end up in JUCO. It's baffling to me.

I agree but I'd rather see this happen than for schools to just pass them through because they are athletes. Maybe missing out on going straight to D1 will wake some of these guys up and make them take their academics more seriously so they have the opportunity to be successful after football.

[MetEdDawg]

The problem is that in order to set the standard and set the example, you have to hold your best players to the highest standards, not hold them to lower standards than anyone else because they are talented.

I teach a couple kids that in a few years might go D1. Do I live and teach in a little more affluent area? Yes. But these kids aren't borderline kids. They work their tails off in the classroom, have very good grades, and the standard is set my me, by coaches, and by parents that they have to apply to the rules or they don't play.

I understand it's self preservation for a coach. Don't want to threaten lack of playing time to a star because in the end it hurts you because your best players miss games. But how is there no checks and balances here? These kids AND the coaches have to be on it from day 1. I just don't understand how there isn't more of an outcry about this. JUCO is not a bad thing. But in today's college football world, a lot of kids should have a pretty good idea by 11th grade where they stand in terms of their D1 potential. There needs to be a bigger push to show these kids the benefit of a 4 year degree IF they plan on playing football. This is not my philosophy for other kids not doing athletics (a topic for another day), but for those that have a legit chance at playing D1 football.

And trust me, the classes these kids take are NOT hard in high school. A lot of them take general classes which are very manageable. How someone can't help them learn this stuff or get the grades necessary to get out of high school with a 2.5 or above is beyond me.

[ShotgunDawg]

The best way to solve this problem is to make the average student in many MS high schools smarter.

They say that the you are the average of the 3 people you hang around the most. For many of these kids, who go to smaller schools in MS, they are surrounded by people who are just like them, and thus they can't see reality.

Notice how rare it is that the JUCO kids come from Clinton, Madison Central, Brandon, Olive Branch, Warren Central, etc... It is rare because, at these schools, the kids are surrounded by kids that come from more discipline families and typically make better grades and that leads to athlete themselves evolving into a kid that makes better grades.

[scottycameron]

I went through this in another thread. The days of slow smart kids are over. Speed is why the SEC has risen to the top of college football.

[defiantdog]

I went through this in another thread. The days of slow smart kids are over. Speed is why the SEC has risen to the top of college football.

Gerri Green was valedictorian of his class

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Gerri Green was valedictorian of his class

So was Chris Rayford.

[shoeless joe]

I'll give you the cliff notes version of the answer. These highly talented kids have been talented their entire lives. Most have little discipline at home and only experience discipline at school or in sports. But the caveat is, all throughout their sports careers they have been given preferential treatment. Be it not having to go to class or not being disciplined for loafing or missing practice. The coaches need to win and these guys can flip the switch and be the best athletes on the field in a high school setting. Most have rarely had to work hard to get where they were. Most have been given grades early on 6-8th grades and they assume that HS will be the same. They have been coddled so much for so long, they have a difficult time seeing reality. I went to high school with a kid who had NFL talent, but he didn't care about grades and eventually dropped out. No discipline but he was the best athlete on the field from pee wee to 10th grade. Sad but reality.

Ok so not really cliff notes.


100% correct

But the reality is also much sadder. What you describe is not only the case for D1 athletes but for a large number of just "good high school players". Meaning that these kids don't have a future in sports but because of how they are treated in school have very little chance of success at anything.

But at the end of the day everyone is responsible for their own actions and all will reap what they sow.