Gridironstuds.com Blog

For years now,  many have been forced to ask how some Florida athletes have been leaving the state to attend football programs outside of the Sunshine State.  Some have speculated that the day has come where there is enough information is available to athletes and their families about other programs that they don’t need to attend the Big Three and sink into a depth chart.  Others have argued that the kids just want a change of scenery.  While those two things and other innocent factors may be true,  others think that there is something more sinister going on.

The NCAA has heard enough of the sinister talk to put some manpower on it.   Now ‘The Feds’ are coming.  Starting next week,  the NCAA will be sending representatives down to do some digging into the goings ons of schools like Auburn, LSU, Ohio St. and a few select others as it pertains to recruiting the Florida athlete.  The focus is on the SEC and Big 10. Talks of duffel bag pay-offs, jobs set up for parents, family, members and handlers have piqued the lawman’s curiosity.  Not withstanding,  a probe into 7-on-7 tournaments, street agents and athletic trainers will be part of the shakedown.  There’s the saying that where there’s smoke,  there’s fire and I am fairly certain that the NCAA is going to find something.  The questions is,  what are they going to do about it?

If you’ve been to “The Bottom” as Florida is affectionately known by it’s natives,  you know that money can change hands,  rules can be broken and loop holes are not something just found on an ear lobe.  With any amount of competent investigation,  the NCAA will find a few things that stink.  I have to wonder if,  with a little digging,  a peel back of the layers will find a huge problem.  We should all stay tuned.  The NCAA has been on steroids with investigations lately.  First it was the Cam Newton situation,  then it was recruiting services with the Oregon Ducks,  followed by tattoo-gate in Columbus and now it is rolling into the sweep of the state probably supplying the most talent throughout the country.  Hold on to your hat my friends,  things are going to get mighty interesting.  That friendly man in the odd baseball cap could be an agent trying to find out just what the heck you are doing.   Summer in the South is going to be a hot one.

General auburn, cam newton, jim tressel, jim tressell, lsu, ncaa investigation, ohio st., tennessee

College football teams sure are breaking the rules these days.  From one day to the next there seems to be a college football program in hot water for some rules violation.   This leaves the coach in a position where he is in front of the camera putting on his best poker face as he tries to give as much information as possible without saying anything.

The latest casualty of the situation is Ohio St.’s Jim Tressel.  Tressel arrived in Columbus over a decade ago and immediately began a plan to take the Buckeyes to the next level and he was successful.  Tressel’s plan reached it’s peak at the conclusion of the 2002 season when the Buckeyes claimed the national title after an overtime win over the Miami Hurricanes.  Some nine years later,  Tressel exits the program amidst the shame of rules violations and the lies that followed them.

Tressel was just another college football coach sweating it out after being tapped on the shoulder by the NCAA.  Last year’s two national championship game participants,  Auburn and Oregon have dealt with and continue to deal with NCAA probes into their practices.  A casual observer of college football would be left to the conclusion that you don’t raise the trophy without breaking some NCAA rules.  It seems that along with the raising of the well weighted Sears trophy each season,  the victorious program should expect a letter from the NCAA about some violations before the beginning of spring practice for the next season.   It’s a troubling trend but who’s to blame?

We could say that it’s the blood thirsty media in our country that sells publications and air time by putting out disparaging stories on those who are revered by most.  Our culture has made a sport out of building up people and companies only to tear them down when they stick their flag in the ground at the top of the mountain.  So it continues.  The 20 or so teams that have a shot at all at the 2011 title should be preparing themselves for what comes after they achieve the ultimate.   While the players are lifting weights,  team counsel should be pouring through the NCAA rule books and checking out loopholes.   Winning the the title is just beginning,  the real circus starts after that.   Don’t be surprised one year if you see the Sears Trophy filled inside with business cards from attorneys because undoubtedly,  the holder of the prize will certainly be in some kind of trouble.

General auburn tigers, jim tressel, ohio st., oregon ducks

Gridironstuds.com members continue to get attention across the nation.  It all started with Jeff Luc back in 2009,  moved onto guys like Chandler Kincade and now another Gridironstuds.com young phenom is receiving big time attention.  8th Grade quarterback Brian Sutter has been turning heads with his performances on the field and is poised to make a splash when he enters the halls of McKinney High School in Texas.  Sutter’s smooth delivery,  advanced skills and production has people taking notice and was recently featured in an article in the Town Square Buzz a local paper in McKinney, Texas.  Check out the article by clicking here and check out Brian’s highlight video and Gridironstuds.com profile by clicking here.

General brian sutter

Here is repost of Palm Beach Post article written by Jorge Milian on Gridironstuds.com onwer Chad Wilson

Sixteen years later, ex-UM football player Chad Wilson earns his degree

by Jorge Milian

Among the 49 current and former UM athletes going through graduation ceremonies last week was Chad Wilson.

Nothing odd about that except that Wilson received his bachelor’s degree in business management a few days shy of turning 39.

Chad Wilson during his playing days at UM.

“Nothing like being dressed up in your cap and gown with gray hair sitting next to some 22-year-old,” said Wilson, a cornerback from 1992-94 under the Dennis Erickson-coached Hurricanes.

Before returning to school last year, Wilson last attended a class at UM in 1995. Since then, Wilson had started a family, opened a small business and gotten into coaching.

“I already had a very busy schedule,” Wilson said. “I have three kids, I’m a dad and I’m a husband, I have a business and I’m also a football coach. It was very difficult for me to juggle those things. Adding school to it was extra difficult. It was a tremendous sacrifice.”

But Wilson thought it was well worth it because of the children – step-daughter Damianis Eusebio, 17, and sons Quincy, 14, and Marco, 12 – he shares with his wife, Carmen.

“I’m stressing education to them,” Wilson said. “I wanted to be able to say to them, ‘Hey look, I have my degree. Now you guys get to where I am and go beyond.’”

Wilson thought of returning to school to complete his degree – he was 18 credits short –five years ago. But he thought better of it after learning that each credit at UM would cost him $1,100.

“I was already getting by without the degree so laying out $20,000 wasn’t the best idea,” Wilson said.

But a former Hurricanes’ teammate, Gerard Daphnis, told Wilson about a UM program in which the school’s athletic department picks up tuition if a former athlete is close to obtaining a degree.

Wilson jumped at the chance and began classes last summer.

The first day in class Wilson starkly realized the age gap between he and his fellow students. The professor displayed a picture of an Atari video computer system, which had the computer entertainment market cornered in the 1970s and early ‘80s.

“He said, ‘I know none of you are old enough to remember what this is,’” Wilson recalled. “I raised my hand up and was like, ‘Not everybody.’”

Wilson is one of the sharpest young men I’ve met in my 17 years on the UM beat so I can assure you his falling short of a degree during his playing days wasn’t about smarts or effort. Instead, Wilson was a victim of circumstances.

Wilson, who grew up in Pembroke Pines before moving to California in high school, played his two seasons of college football at Long Beach State. When Wilson transferred following his freshman season, UM declined to accept 30 credits he earned at Long Beach. Later, Wilson lost 18 more credits when he switched majors.

“I was sitting there with 120 credits, more than enough to graduate,” said Wilson, who started 13 games in two seasons for UM and was a second-team All-Big East selection in 1994. “But I hadn’t completed all the required courses in business. I had all these classes, all these credits. It would have been silly for me not to finish.”

Not that it was easy. To graduate, Wilson had to pass a mind-bending statistics course. He took the prerequisite 15 years ago.

Being an old head, Wilson didn’t panic. In fact, he served as something of a mentor to his classmates, many who were nearly young enough to be his children.

“It felt good to offer to advice to kids who are going where I’ve already been,” Wilson said.

Wilson has plenty of experience in working with young people. He’s been the defensive coordinator at University School in Davie for four seasons. Last year, University School reached the state 2B championship game before losing 56-55 in triple overtime.

Wilson also is the owner of Gridironstuds.com, a website that allows youth and high school football players to create a profile and add highlight videos that can be viewed by college recruiters.

So Wilson wears a lot of hats. Husband. Dad. Coach. Business owner. And now, college graduate.

“I had to finish what I started,” Wilson said.

General Chad Wilson, Miami Hurricanes

New University of Miami head coach Al Golden is bringing his highly popular football camps to Coral Gables on the campus of The U.  Golden’s camps are unique in that they are six one day highly intensive sessions jam packed with instruction, motivation and skill building.  Along with the Hurricane staff,  the camp will be hosted and assisted by former Hurricane players and coaches from other BCS, Division I, I-AA and II programs.  It’s a great opportunity for exposure for all in attendance.   Each session is only $55 and is open to those in 6th through 12th grade.   Here are the dates of the camps:

Sunday, May 29
Sunday, June 5
Saturday, June 11
Sunday, June 12
Saturday, June 18
Saturday, June 25

For complete info on the Al Golden Camps,  please visit http://www.algolden.com

General Al Golden, university of miami

In an effort to continue progressing forward,  Gridironstuds.com has unveiled a brand new site design.  The new design gives Gridironstuds.com a more professional feel and enhances the user experience.  The traffic continues to pour as do the complimentary comments about what we have created here.   We appreciate your support.

In the interim stages of the new site design,  it may not be unusual for you to come across a link that does not work or to run into a bug or two.  If you come across a non-working link or a ‘funky’ bug while navigating the site,  please send email to cwilson@gridironstuds.com so that we can correct it.

Thanks once again for visiting Gridironstuds.com

General gridironstuds.com

Here is a current list of football commitments for the ACC Conference.  This comes compliments of the Atlanta Journal Constitution which does a great job of covering college football recruiting.  Check out this latest list of commitments and see where your favorite ACC team is in the recruiting race.  New Miami head coach Al Golden is leading the way with seven commitments.  Virginia Tech is also up there with five commitments.  Everyone else is either sitting at one or two commitments.  These numbers will certainly change in the coming month as coaches hit spring practices at prep schools across the country.

General, In the Pit acc

There are certainly a load of talented players on the Gridironstuds.com site with many of them deserving 1,000′s of views from our visitors.  From running backs to wide receivers to quarterback to offensive linemen, defensive backs and more.  There are some seriously talented individuals playing football in this country from the youth level to the high school level.  With that said,  here are the Top 10 most viewed videos on our site for the month of February 2011

(1)  Allan Cui III – youth QB – Hawaii
(2)  Jonathan Rush – youth RB – Texas
(3)   Dylon Leslie – high school LB – Nebraska
(4)  Areg Nazarian – youth RB – California
(5)  Sony Michel – high school RB – Florida
(6) Griffin Elbert – high school DB – Indiana
(7) Macgarrett Kings – high school WR – Florida
(8) Jordan Cunningham – high school WR – Florida
(9) Timonth Jiminez – youth running back – Nevada
(10)  Daniel Braverman – high school WR – Florida

General allan cui, areg nazarian, daniel braverman, dylon leslie, griffin elbert, jonathan rush, jordan cunningham, macgarrett kings, sony michel, timothy jiminez

The defensive backs matched up well in terms of 40 times at this year’s NFL combine in contrast to year’s past where it looked like the wide receivers were just the better athletes.

Miami’s DeMarcus Van Dyke (pictured right) put himself on this illustrious list: http://www.gridironstuds.com/blog/the-fastest-40-yard-dash-ever/ when he clocked an amazing 4.28.   It was the fastest 40 yard dash time in the combine this year and one of the fastest times ever in Indianapolis.  Van Dyke’s run will send teams scurrying back to the video tape to take another look at his career at Miami.   Van Dyke is helped by the success of former Miami teammate Sam Shields playing for the World Champion Green Bay Packers.

What’s frightening is the speed of some of the bigger players that are being produced these days.  Patrick Peterson weighing 220 as a 6’0″ cornerback is not normal.  More abnormal is him putting down a 4.34 while weighing 220 lbs.   Ohio St.’s Chimdi Chekwa proved faster than people thought with a 4.40 as did Nebraska’s Prince Amukamara with a 4.43 time.

General DeMarcus Van Dyke, Patrick Peterson, Prince Amukamara

With all of the talk of the NFL Labor situation other stories involving the NFL can fly under the radar. One such story of significance to visitors of this site is that the NFL pulled the plug on players attending a charity poker tournament back in February. The proceeds from the tournament were to go to Raise Your Hands Africa via the Starkey Hearing Foundation. While both the foundation and the charity are worthy entities, I support the NFL’s decision to keep the players out of the tournament. While this tournament was harmless, allowing the players to participate could have opened a door that would have been difficult to close down the road. Future tournaments could have used players’ participation in this tournament as precedence to players involving themselves in poker events that were not charitable in nature. The best way to avoid a problem is to stop it before it becomes one. For that reason, I back the NFL brass for putting the breaks on this tournament. Poker is a great game and enjoyed by many but the NFL can not turn their heads the other way on something like this.

General nfl, poker