Balance of Talent

Congratulations to the LSU Tigers baseball team. They won their sixth national championship since 1990. In watching them play I noticed some familiar names on the field. The first player I noticed was Chad Jones, who not only plays on the baseball team but is probably better known for his talent on the football field. Jones was brought into the game as a middle reliever pitcher and made his presence known by striking batters out with his fastball. He started the season as an outfielder but struggled some and then decided to try out pitcher, which seemed to work. On the football field, he is a hard hitting safety on defense.

Another player I recognized playing in the outfield was Jared Mitchell, who also plays wide receiver on the football team. Mitchell was recently drafted in the first round of the MLB draft. On the football field, he is not a big star but still gets some reps on offense.

This got me to thinking about what seems to be a current dilemma at Florida State University. For some reason a player must choose one sport to focus on and can not do well at both. Take for example from my recent posting about D'Vontrey Richardson. He like the two LSU players is a very talented athlete and may even be better than the two in either respective sports, football or baseball. Yet for some reason the coaches on both sides do not know how to manage a talented athlete excelling at both sports. Gone are the days of Deion Sanders or Charlie Ward, who excelled in two sports while in college. Now of days it causes so much of a problem that both sides just try to ignore the player and alienate him into quitting. Football coaches have not been in contact with Richardson since the season was over. And in baseball he saw his time severely diminish. Yet he was good enough to be drafted in the fifth round of the MLB draft.

Can FSU please start to get their act together when it comes to player relations? They seem to practice the philosophy that he who cares the least, wins. However, it seems like no one is winning. It makes me feel sorry for D'Vontrey in that he stuck with the school he choose out of high school, when he could have gone to a school like LSU and could've had better opportunities.

Fun Fact.

Leon Washington, in his interview by ESPN the magazine, made it known that he likes to drop a deuce before a game. "I gotta take a dump. It's a huge benefit to release that gas you don't need. The facilities are beautiful. We're spoiled. If I get a good one, I know I am gonna score two touchdowns." I couldn't have said it better myself. I can see the pre-game reporters now, "Leon just dropped a giant one so he should have at least 2 touchdowns today, which makes for a long day for the Miami Dolphins." Let this be a lesson to all you youngsters out there, in order to fully succeed on the playing field, it all starts in the toilet.

If you are a fantasy football player, make Leon your first pick this coming year. This is the kind of information you need in order to pick a fantasy stud. He is the back up running back and special teams ace for the New York Jets.

Good News!!!

Finally, FSU football receives some good news. 5-star defensive tackle recruit, Jacobbi McDaniel has made up his mind as to what his future will be, and that is football. McDaniel was recently drafted in the 30th round of the major league baseball draft. At first it seemed to be a no brainer that he should pass on baseball and pursue football. However, the Milwaukee Brewers threw a wretch into the decision by offering him a contract of $800,000. A lot of money for a kid just coming out of high school. But, after weighing his options and future in either sport, he decided on football at FSU. After reading interviews on McDaniel and his decision, it sounds like he had a lot of good people helping him. Education is one big reason why is declined the easy money right now because he foresees more money with an education.

His next phase in life moves pretty quickly after making his decision. He will report to FSU this coming Saturday to begin summer workouts with his new team mates. McDaniel brings much needed depth to the defensive line. He has a very good chance of being a starter or at least being heavily used in the rotation on the line. The future looks bright for this kid and who knows, in a few years the NFL may come calling and offer a substantial amount of money. Work hard and it all should pay off in the end.

Please play football...

Dear D’Vontrey Richardson,

Let me first apologize for all the frustration you were put through last year with the football team. You really had some flashes of greatness and set some impressive records. However, the team decided to go the safe route at quarterback instead of possible greatness. I greatly appreciate the hard work you put in last year on the football field and the great strides you made in progressing as a quarterback. I know your love of playing baseball made it impossible to fully commit to one sport.

With all of your athletic talent as a football player, I would like to ask you to come to practice and try out for the wide receiver position. This position has had a lot of set backs in the off season and we would love to use your stellar talent. I believe in your abilities on the football field and think you would be a huge asset to the offense. Also, I know baseball is looking very interesting as a possible future for you. However, by making the transition to wide receiver, it might just make you a valuable commodity for the NFL.

So let me officially say that the football team needs you, even though some of the coaches are a little humiliated to admit it. I promise if you continue to work as hard as you have in the past you will have a very successful rest of your career on the college football field.

Yours truly,

R-Squared (FSU fan)

College Football QB Ranking (Pre-season) continued

Rest of the Nation Quarterbacks for 2009 - Fall:

This is a continued post from a previous look at upcoming quarterbacks. While I have already covered the Southeastern region, here is my take on the rest of the nation.

1. Colt McCoy, University of Texas. With one of the greatest names in college football since Major Applewhite, McCoy is poised to have a great senior season. He has led the Texas offense since his freshman year and should finally win the Heisman trophy this football season.

2. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma University. Probably should have tested the NFL waters but decided to at least wait another year. His offense will be missing some major receiving threats and offensive line players.

3. Zac Robinson, Oklahoma State. High power offense with the best wide receiver in the nation, Dez Bryant, Robinson has all the tools to have stellar season.

4. Robert Griffin, Baylor University. This upcoming season will be his sophomore campaign and he should be a one man show for Baylor. Probably the most athletic quarterback in recent years in college football. He had an outstanding offseason for conditioning - could be a Heisman hopeful by year’s end.

5. Case Keenum, University of Houston. Who you ask? Last year he passed for 5,020 yds, 44 TD’s passing and 7 rushing TD’s, 11 INT’s. He has some lofty numbers to follow up from his sophomore year, but playing in conference USA should allow him to put up those numbers again.

6. Kellen Moore, Boise State. As a freshman last year he led the team to an undefeated season. Another player that operates in a high powered offense and has a lot demanded of him to run it.

7. Max Hall, BYU. BYU has been known in the past for putting out some great college quarterbacks and it looks that trend is being reignited with Hall. Has a big showcase game against Oklahoma to open up the season and then they hose Florida State a couple of weeks later.

8. Todd Reesing, Kansas University. Little guy with a big arm. He is the major reason Kansas has been so successful in the past couple years and he will finish up a great career in a really good conference for quarterbacks.

9. Colin Kaepernick, Nevada. A 6’6” QB that passes and runs for touchdowns. With 2,849 yards passing, 22 touchdowns passing and 1,130 yards rushing, 17 rushing touchdowns, he shows some impressive numbers. He is the team's main playmaker and as long as he stays healthy with all this work load he should have the same numbers this coming year. Hopefully this will lead to team wins.

10. Taylor Potts, Texas Tech. Head Coach Mike Leach always has a quarterback that can run this massive pass attack offense and Potts will be the new man in the backfield putting up huge numbers.