I don’t claim to be any type of guru about football. This is really not a football article. This is a recruiting article. What the heck is this kid named Clowney who is from South Carolina thinking about? No disrespect to my friends from South Carolina but why would the nations best football player want to play at either USC or Clemson. I realize that playing at home close to your family is convenient. I wonder why kids are not able to look at things from a cost benefit analysis basis. In JD’s case it would consist of this type of thought process: Which school will give me the best shot in being prepared to play at the next level? No slap at Steve Spurrier or Dabo Sweeny but names of great NFL defensive lineman don’t come rolling off the tongue immediately.
JD what would happen if you called someone in the NFL and asked them which coach would have me the best prepared to play after three years in college? I wonder if the NFL would even know who Dabo Sweeny is and where he coaches? If you said Spurrier would they say “I thought you were a defensive end not a quarterback.” Nick Saban? Are you kidding me. Count the numbers of players he has playing in the league at this time. JD you ain’t got that many fingers and toes. Nick even has a mountain in the league. Son, we thought you were serious about wanting to be the best. I thought you said you wanted to be the number one pick year you leave college. You honestly think that that either of those South Carolina schools are going to do that for you. Hey, I’m not knocking South Carolina. If I wanted to go the ocean to swim or play a little golf I’ll meet you in Myrtle Beach. Hey, if you want to learn to be a demented politician then enroll in the government program at Clemson. Do you know what Clemson really is to us? It’s Auburn with a lake. What is South Carolina? It’s that school that Colonel Sanders gave a school Mascot. Carolina is Auburn with a wimpy bird.
What is Alabama? It’s were boys turn into men who turn into great pros. It’s where people say that Joe Namath was a New York Jet, but he played at Alabama. You can play on the 14th NCAA football championship team. You might play on the 15th and 16th championship team. In South Carolina you can play on a team that might compete on occasion with Florida to win an SEC Eastern Crown. You think you are going to be on Game Center when your team loses Kentucky? Hey, you might be compared to George Rodgers. Yeah, that is a career maker. They might retire your number. At Alabama they don’t retire numbers. There is simply not enough numbers left to retire the number of ALL those great players who went through Tuscaloosa.
Everyone understands that you are under pressure to stay at home. Everyone is telling you that you owe it to South Carolina. I’ll time you something kid, you don’t owe South Carolina a dime or the time of day. Has anyone told you about the great network of ex-Bama players who will welcome you into the Bama nation? In this State you can become a living legend. Your name will be whispered with awe in the same breath as Derrick Thomas or Mark Ingram. You can be the next young man who adds his name and handprints to Denny Chimes. You can walk on the same side line as Paul Bryant once walked. You can add your own legacy to those Hall of Fame names. Or you can wimp out and play at “home”. Son, your home isn’t a geographic place on a map, it is an abstraction in the minds of millions of people who appreciate and love real football. Your home is an intangible that compares you to hundreds of All-Americans and All-Pro players who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to play at the University of Alabama. JD what you owe to yourself and your family is to use the God given talent that only a few mortals ever experience. You can use that talent against boys. Or you can test yourself against history and create your own.
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