Proud Papa Update

[Shep]

Thanks, ND. It's so silly and petty. I hate stuff like that. Cult of personality.

[Greythan]

Shep, nickle's worth of free (and probably worthless) advice.

Tell Jack to make his HC is best, friggin friend. Call it ass kissing if you want, but if his goal is to maximize his opportunities then having the HC neutralized if not acting as an asset is part of the goal.

I remember being young and idealistic and feeling like I knew it all. I look back at some of the decisions I made then and laugh at the immaturity and short sightedness of many of them. In retrospect I was fighting myself when I thought I was fighting someone/thing else.

I'm out of bounds telling you what to tell your kid, but it sorta jumped out at me.

On a related note, I watched a nephew of mine who's a GREAT kid and was an elite soccer player actually not play his senior year because he knocked heads with his coach. Basically threw away any shot at playing college ball and he was being recruited prior to that.

You don't get some of these chances back.

(Wow, who the hell asked me for this post? Answer: No one. Sorry.)

[Shep]

The coach isn't penalizing Jack... they just don't talk. Jack's always polite and respectful but they don't have a relationship. Coach is VERY offensive minded, BTW.

In the end, it doesn't matter for much. It's just interesting.

[Shep]

Westlake won the "big game" 31-3. Thousand Oaks looked like they just didn't come to play. We weren't really even at our best.

Jack had a nice sack, but they ran to the strong side and wide side all night so he just didn't get to be nearly as active. I'd be stunned if he had more than 8 tackles total. They were there scouting the week before and I think they just avoided him.

Strangely dull game after all the buildup.

[Flugel]

Originally Posted by Shep

That stadium in Knoxville is nothing short of breathtaking.

He'd have to switch to safety, of course!

It looks great on tv - that's for sure. That's a good job by Dennis bringing that up. It's exciting to hear about your son.

Timing is everything Shep. I doubt he would have to make the position change. Remember what I always tell you about instincts and playing fast. Brandon Spikes ran over a 5.0 forty BUT he made those kind of tackles behind the line of scrimmage like your son makes. My guess is BB saw enough film to say instincts superceded top end speed and 40 times. Wimbley has WONDERFUL 40 times but he has the instincts of a possum crossing the road at nighttime when he's on the side of the formation where he does NOT rush the passer. That's what gave us the head scratching 2nd season when teams decided they would throw swing passes to the flats where Wimbley was (or wasn't if ya know what I mean). Marcus Benard appears to be alot better with that but his measurables didn't have him draftworthy SO once again here comes those instincts on a guy willing to work hard.

ALOT of kids gain a considerable amount of weight between ages 18-22 if that's a concern.

Here's ANOTHER thing to consider. Jay Cutler once had ZERO scholarship offers when the 1 interested program withdrew their interest. GUESS where he brought his films? Vandy. I don't mean to insult any other institutions or employees of them: but I'm told Vandy has BEST education in the SEC. If you look at the Chicago Bears current roster - there's 5 or 6 Vandy GRADUATES on that team. Meanwhile Urban Meyer has been answerign questions about 30 arrests and lousy graduation rates. Thank God he had Tim Tebow there talking about Jesus and encoruaging Bible literacy or that could have gotten really ugly.

It's Division I - it's SEC but I think he'd get the playing time he might not get at UT or other DI schools. I'm prolly the ONLY Vandy fan in Nashville that LIKES UT as well. They tell me that's because I'm new, which might be politically correct/polite for something else. People that grew up here usually like one or the other.

I'm not done with my sales pitch yet. I'm saving the best for last. Guess who's younger brother will be starting at QB here in the very near future? Aaron Rodgers. That's right - Jordan Rodgers would be the QB of this team when your son arrives. Your buddy Flugel has season tickets. That would be some small world irony hearing myself say "Sack the Quarterback Jack" or "Sic em Shep!"

Aside from winning a Bowl game just 2 years ago, Vandy has very respectable basketball and baseball programs. And Nashville is a pretty fun place to visit where you're guaranteed awesome seats at the most reasonable prices in the conference.
- Tom F.