The recent problems at Arkansas are proof positive how high school stars and football players in general - are spoiled and allowed too much leeway in the most important game of all - life.
In case you’re not familiar with the story, the parents of highly recruited prep stars QB Mitch Mustain, TE Ben Cleveland and WR Damian Williams met with Razorback Athletic Director Frank Broyles to discuss the direction of the Arkansas football program.
The parents were unhappy because they thought the offense of head coach Houston Nutt didn’t fit in with the style of play of the young recruits.
As a matter of fact, Cleveland’s father Rick, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:
“Our boys are used to catching 60 passes a year. They want to go to a college where they get the same opportunity.”
That’s funny. I always thought college was about getting an education first.
Of course this shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us. In this day and age of mass communication and media, some high school athletes are just as famous as professional ones. Take LeBron James and Greg Oden as examples.
And with recruiters promising these kids and their parents the moon and the stars just to get them to sign, we shouldn’t be shocked by this.
Too bad…I am.
What grinds my gears is that Broyles would even listen to the parents in the first place. So what if your kids aren’t getting the ball enough. I thought football was a team sport. Arkansas had an amazing season, going 10-3 and playing in a major non-BCS bowl after two consecutive losing seasons. The three freshmen in question all got plenty of playing time. So what’s the problem?
Apparently, individual honors are more important to these guys and their parents than the team.
What’s Nutt supposed to do? Scrap his entire offense that’s built around stud running backs Darren McFadden, the Heisman Trophy runnerup, and Felix Jones, a 1,000-yard rusher, just to make some spoiled kids happy?
NO WAY!
In the end we have today’s sports culture to blame. It’s the worship of celebrity. With 100-million dollar professional athletes strutting around like prima donnas, showboating and putting the focus only on themselves - it’s only natural for young kids to pick up on that and act the same way.
If a kid is good at football he’s probably been pampered since his Pop Warner days and sees nothing wrong with his behavior - of putting ‘I’ before the team. The parents, on the other hand, have no excuses.
They are to be the moral compass, the center of values which a child learns and develops into adulthood. Instead, these individuals seem to be more concerned about living life through their kids’ eyes. Let little Johnny do what he wants, no matter if it’s wrong or not, so long as he scores touchdowns.
Mustain and Cleveland have decided to stay at Arkansas, while Williams, an SEC all-freshman selection, is transferring. His most likely stop should be Florida, although if Urban Meyer doesn’t give him the ball, he may just keep moving all the way to the CFL.
The offense should stay the same next year and Frank Broyles should not have to listen to parents and their meaningless complaints. You earn playing time by performance on the field. Nothing more or less will do.
McFadden is a superstar and should be the focal point of the Razorback offense, as his 1,558 yards rushing, a school record can attest. If the parents and players in question don’t like it, too bad, you can always go somewhere else.
It’s time for Arkansas, and all college football programs for that matter, to keep their freshmen away from the cookie jar. Unless that treat is earned, on and off the field.
