Rock Stars in the Making

Ever wonder why no one can control these college athletes?

It's because they have press conferences during their school day to announce where they are going to play in college.

National Signing Day might as well be a holiday. We should be off work. Today is the day that determines the potential outcome for your favorite college football team for the next few years. How many blue chips did you line up? Are the players you signed going to be coachable? Who's this year's biggest bust?

The fact of the matter is that Terrelle Pryor, considered by most to be the top player in the country, has the ability to go up against Julio Jones, the nation's top receiver, for the best time slot. Who's going to announce first? Better tune in!

This is what makes these kids so ridiculous. At the ages of 17, 18, 19, they have power. Not wealth, but the power of influence. Forty, Fifty, Sixty, and in two cases, seventy/eighty year old men will do whatever they can to sway these guys to their schools. From constant texts to visits, to promises to cash advances, these teenagers have a power that most of us will never have. They have a demand for their specific skill.

There was a demand for Paul Hornung's skills too. The difference is we have a lot more access to these kids than ever before. I mean, I go to Rivals every day...at least once...to see what's going on in the recruiting world. I'm hooked. Chances are, so are you. I have watched tape on about everyone in the Rivals 100. I know who I'd like to have more than others, and who I think is overrated and the vice versa.

These kids have had the power their whole lives. They've always been the first kid taken during recess. They've always been able to get the girls because they were good at sports. Now, they have the ability to command a national attention, and be the big man on campus at the university of their choice. You don't think that goes to an 18 year olds head?

You wonder why these kids have problems...it's because again, we start them. It's because of us that the heads get bigger, and they become the rock stars that they are. I mean, think about the kids that were ridiculously cocky in high school that, well thought they were good at football. I mean, if John Perkowski was one of the top 150 players in the country? Bad news. I am sure that some of you know some of the same.

We love signing day. So the players. They are transformed into rock stars, because we allow them to be. That's why they drink in the wrong places. It's why they get caught smoking the grass. Either way, we will still love them...until they never make it onto the field.