Why the FCS brand is (just) better than the FBS brand
Feb 1, 2016 16:55:53 GMT -5
smokeybear and mercerfan like this
Post by FUBeAR on Feb 1, 2016 16:55:53 GMT -5
Here's Why FCS Recruiting Is More Fun To Follow Than FBS Recruiting
If you've been wondering why recently you just feel more drawn to FCS Football than you do to FBS...maybe this article will help you understand that feeling.
For me, reading it just was further reinforcement of what I've felt and known for 30+ years: FCS (formerly Division I-AA) is the highest level of REAL COLLEGE Football.
Unless your ego, for some reason, 'needs' to identify with "Big-Time," then FCS is where it's at. I don't care if you graduated from BIG STATE U., those players on the field (in oh so many cases) don't represent you as an Alum of BIG STATE U. They represent the colors, logos, and mascots you came to love, but not YOU - not the student you were and not the students at BIG STATE U now. Sure, some of them do...but it's really the small minority of them at most FBS schools (even worse in Big-Time Hoops).
At the FCS level, the young men playing on Saturday, in most cases, other than their size, are indistinguishable from the regular students. They are hustling to class, trying to make grades (in real classes & real majors), worried about summer jobs/internships, worried about what comes next. Many of them are worried about how to pay for the rest of their tuition (because they are on partial scholarships).
If you want to see the highest level of Football Talent out there - you should be a huge NFL fan! If you want to see the best COLLEGE Football there is, then FCS is the place where you should invest your heart and treasure...unless your ego requires fulfillment otherwise.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian McLaughlin
February 1, 2016
COMMENTARY
I covered the circus of National Signing Day at the BCS level for many years. Is it fun? At times. Are the fans into it? No question. Yet I'll take covering FCS recruiting over FBS recruiting any day.
The FCS is just a different animal. It is like taking the best of both worlds (quality product/amateur environment), both on the field and off of it. When you're talking to FCS recruits, you know for a fact you're talking to some future NFL prospects. You know you're talking to guys who will eventually win the Walter Payton Award (FCS version of the Heisman) or may break national records, or will be the star in the FCS National Title game one day.
I guess what I'm getting at is with the FCS, you're still getting Division I ballplayers. These guys are good, they just may be late bloomers. Maybe they grew 3 inches and put on 30 pounds of muscle since that hype-market combine the spring of their junior year of high school. Maybe they live in an area that isn't recruited well. Maybe the big boys just simply whiffed--it happens. Recruiting is an inexact science and mistakes are made in bunches.
With FCS recruits you're not getting all the noise, all of the narcissism, all of the unfounded hype, the silly hero worship. Case in point is the recruitment of Ronald Powell back in the signing class of 2010--the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the nation that year. I sat down with him for 30 to 45 minutes at a camp during a rain delay in the summer of 2009 for a one-on-one. His choices all along were Pete Carroll and Southern Cal, or Urban Meyer and Florida. That was it. He was a smart aleck in the interview, a sarcastic personality who openly joked about all of the other schools who wanted him and how they were all garbage and weren't worthy of his services. Closer to signing day, he was even worse to talk to. Ronald was an amazing physical talent, undoubtedly the most promising in the country in that sense. But he went to Florida, caused freshman dissention in Urban's final season (2010), never really lived up to the hype--and was taken in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
He may have been the No. 1 overall prep prospect in America in 2010, but he was only the 169th best player in the draft when the people who extend real contracts came along. And his two-year NFL career stat line? Two tackles. There are many, many FCS products who've gone on to have more productive NFL careers than Powell, who six years ago was supposed to be a future All Pro. I'm not blaming the recruiting services for putting him No. 1. He was a scary-looking talent coming out of high school, but everything got to his head. I'm blaming him and the people who "advised" him.
I know Powell's example is anecdotal, but many times that's exactly what you're getting with these five-star recruits. A lot of them don't amount to a hill of beans. They do not appreciate their scholarship offers, they arrive at preseason camp expecting to handed all-american honors from the beginning, academics have nothing to do with the decision, you name it. To sum up, the whole elite FBS recruiting process sucks. Hey, I'm a capitalist by nature. It's a free country with free speech. A kid can go where he wants and say what he wants--and look the fool afterwards as a consequence.
Now, on the flip side? FCS recruits have been delightful to work with and report the news of. These guys aren't jaded--they are hungry. Many of them committed to the school that offered them their only scholarship. None of them have 50 or 60 offers like the five-star guys. Most of them have only 2 or 3 hard-earned options, mostly at the FCS level. They'll be playing in front of 8,000 or 18,000 fans, not 80,000 fans. But how many of us have played anything in front of even 1,800 fans, much less 18,000? These guys are the perfect mixture of D-I level talent while still being grounded in reality. And make no mistake, they aren't 5-foot-nothing and 100-and nothing like in the movie Rudy. These guys can play some football.
Oh, and when one of them says they picked a school because of academics--they actually mean it. Matt Dame (featured above in the photo) could have accepted a scholarship offer to play quarterback at nearby University of Miami. But he picked Columbia, one of the rebuilding programs in the Ivy League. What do you think his primary motive was? More playing time? The style of offense the Lions run? Think a booster offered him a couple thousand bucks? Or maybe, just maybe, he was thinking about what he'd be doing to earn a living at 50 years of age.
The truth is, the normal FCS recruit has accepted the reality that the NFL is a career option for only a small percentage of college football players. When they say they're going to a school because of academics, they actually mean it. Yes, they love football, but they know it'll be over soon. I think that's pretty cool, actually. Maybe I'm being an idealist here, but it's actually believable at this level when a kid says he wants to go to William and Mary or UC-Davis because of academics.
So this week, FCS and FBS players get to put it all down on the dotted line. Wednesday's the first day. It's time to sign the scholarship papers. On Wednesday, we'll watch five-star prospects act like infants, some mom or dad will hold up the signing because they don't like the color or mascot on the chosen school's helmets, somebody will hold up a live mascot to announce their school, and some asinine action will go viral on YouTube and will make headlines. We'll listen to meaningless interviews about why they chose "Alabama University" or "The University of Ohio State" or "The University of UCLA" and how great the campus is and how it felt like home.
Meanwhile--all around the country with no ESPN live views or accompanying shenanigans--a couple thousand kids will simply sign with FCS schools. In five years, some of them will be in the NFL, but more importantly a large majority of them will hold degrees.
This week is just another great example of why the FCS brand is better than the FBS brand.
If you've been wondering why recently you just feel more drawn to FCS Football than you do to FBS...maybe this article will help you understand that feeling.
For me, reading it just was further reinforcement of what I've felt and known for 30+ years: FCS (formerly Division I-AA) is the highest level of REAL COLLEGE Football.
Unless your ego, for some reason, 'needs' to identify with "Big-Time," then FCS is where it's at. I don't care if you graduated from BIG STATE U., those players on the field (in oh so many cases) don't represent you as an Alum of BIG STATE U. They represent the colors, logos, and mascots you came to love, but not YOU - not the student you were and not the students at BIG STATE U now. Sure, some of them do...but it's really the small minority of them at most FBS schools (even worse in Big-Time Hoops).
At the FCS level, the young men playing on Saturday, in most cases, other than their size, are indistinguishable from the regular students. They are hustling to class, trying to make grades (in real classes & real majors), worried about summer jobs/internships, worried about what comes next. Many of them are worried about how to pay for the rest of their tuition (because they are on partial scholarships).
If you want to see the highest level of Football Talent out there - you should be a huge NFL fan! If you want to see the best COLLEGE Football there is, then FCS is the place where you should invest your heart and treasure...unless your ego requires fulfillment otherwise.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brian McLaughlin
February 1, 2016
COMMENTARY
I covered the circus of National Signing Day at the BCS level for many years. Is it fun? At times. Are the fans into it? No question. Yet I'll take covering FCS recruiting over FBS recruiting any day.
The FCS is just a different animal. It is like taking the best of both worlds (quality product/amateur environment), both on the field and off of it. When you're talking to FCS recruits, you know for a fact you're talking to some future NFL prospects. You know you're talking to guys who will eventually win the Walter Payton Award (FCS version of the Heisman) or may break national records, or will be the star in the FCS National Title game one day.
I guess what I'm getting at is with the FCS, you're still getting Division I ballplayers. These guys are good, they just may be late bloomers. Maybe they grew 3 inches and put on 30 pounds of muscle since that hype-market combine the spring of their junior year of high school. Maybe they live in an area that isn't recruited well. Maybe the big boys just simply whiffed--it happens. Recruiting is an inexact science and mistakes are made in bunches.
With FCS recruits you're not getting all the noise, all of the narcissism, all of the unfounded hype, the silly hero worship. Case in point is the recruitment of Ronald Powell back in the signing class of 2010--the consensus No. 1 overall recruit in the nation that year. I sat down with him for 30 to 45 minutes at a camp during a rain delay in the summer of 2009 for a one-on-one. His choices all along were Pete Carroll and Southern Cal, or Urban Meyer and Florida. That was it. He was a smart aleck in the interview, a sarcastic personality who openly joked about all of the other schools who wanted him and how they were all garbage and weren't worthy of his services. Closer to signing day, he was even worse to talk to. Ronald was an amazing physical talent, undoubtedly the most promising in the country in that sense. But he went to Florida, caused freshman dissention in Urban's final season (2010), never really lived up to the hype--and was taken in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
He may have been the No. 1 overall prep prospect in America in 2010, but he was only the 169th best player in the draft when the people who extend real contracts came along. And his two-year NFL career stat line? Two tackles. There are many, many FCS products who've gone on to have more productive NFL careers than Powell, who six years ago was supposed to be a future All Pro. I'm not blaming the recruiting services for putting him No. 1. He was a scary-looking talent coming out of high school, but everything got to his head. I'm blaming him and the people who "advised" him.
I know Powell's example is anecdotal, but many times that's exactly what you're getting with these five-star recruits. A lot of them don't amount to a hill of beans. They do not appreciate their scholarship offers, they arrive at preseason camp expecting to handed all-american honors from the beginning, academics have nothing to do with the decision, you name it. To sum up, the whole elite FBS recruiting process sucks. Hey, I'm a capitalist by nature. It's a free country with free speech. A kid can go where he wants and say what he wants--and look the fool afterwards as a consequence.
Now, on the flip side? FCS recruits have been delightful to work with and report the news of. These guys aren't jaded--they are hungry. Many of them committed to the school that offered them their only scholarship. None of them have 50 or 60 offers like the five-star guys. Most of them have only 2 or 3 hard-earned options, mostly at the FCS level. They'll be playing in front of 8,000 or 18,000 fans, not 80,000 fans. But how many of us have played anything in front of even 1,800 fans, much less 18,000? These guys are the perfect mixture of D-I level talent while still being grounded in reality. And make no mistake, they aren't 5-foot-nothing and 100-and nothing like in the movie Rudy. These guys can play some football.
Oh, and when one of them says they picked a school because of academics--they actually mean it. Matt Dame (featured above in the photo) could have accepted a scholarship offer to play quarterback at nearby University of Miami. But he picked Columbia, one of the rebuilding programs in the Ivy League. What do you think his primary motive was? More playing time? The style of offense the Lions run? Think a booster offered him a couple thousand bucks? Or maybe, just maybe, he was thinking about what he'd be doing to earn a living at 50 years of age.
The truth is, the normal FCS recruit has accepted the reality that the NFL is a career option for only a small percentage of college football players. When they say they're going to a school because of academics, they actually mean it. Yes, they love football, but they know it'll be over soon. I think that's pretty cool, actually. Maybe I'm being an idealist here, but it's actually believable at this level when a kid says he wants to go to William and Mary or UC-Davis because of academics.
So this week, FCS and FBS players get to put it all down on the dotted line. Wednesday's the first day. It's time to sign the scholarship papers. On Wednesday, we'll watch five-star prospects act like infants, some mom or dad will hold up the signing because they don't like the color or mascot on the chosen school's helmets, somebody will hold up a live mascot to announce their school, and some asinine action will go viral on YouTube and will make headlines. We'll listen to meaningless interviews about why they chose "Alabama University" or "The University of Ohio State" or "The University of UCLA" and how great the campus is and how it felt like home.
Meanwhile--all around the country with no ESPN live views or accompanying shenanigans--a couple thousand kids will simply sign with FCS schools. In five years, some of them will be in the NFL, but more importantly a large majority of them will hold degrees.
This week is just another great example of why the FCS brand is better than the FBS brand.
