What kills me, and why I'm not reading anything recruiting related until after this Tee Shephard episode is over, is that there was an article in the Notre Dame alumni magazine from a blind student talking about how his roommate who read his books to him, out of the goodness of his heart, in like the 1970s.... that's the kind of people that go to Notre Dame. The people at Notre Dame, whether it students or faculty or advisors, all care about being a family and community and succeeding.
USC treats kids like pieces of meat. Kiffin and Ed O sell them on whatever they need to hear and then cut them if they don't pan out. That's what they're doing this year... they're already at their schollie limit and they're still pushing for 10 more kids. That means they're just going to straight up cut 10 guys. How are they not getting called out on this???
Plus they already pulled schollies from guys like York who got hurt. And they only graduate like 50% of their players and even less than that for African Americans.
Kiffin is a slimeball and a liar to sell Tee on academic support and play to his disability. It's disgusting. And I don't know why I care so much when it's just an 18 year old kid I don't know... but this one really rubs me the wrong way.
*Lax, this isn't directed at you alone, your post just echoed some of my sentiment so I grabbed it.
I can tell you why it upsets you, its a number of things:
First and foremost, you're a fan and its obviously upsetting when someone we've all been looking forward to is possibly wavering.
Second, and I think this is why most people, not just ND fans, people at UT, Al Davis, etc hate Lane Kiffin... Most people are inherently good, sure we have our nut job fans and I'm sure there is at least someone at ND who is a closet scumbag, thats just statistics, but when good people see a complete disgrace of a human being like Kiffin have such sway over young, impressionable kids (Amir, and hopefully not Tee) it disgusts us.
Regardless of where he goes, Tee is likely going to leave that place a great ball player, but I think that if/when he leaves ND, he'll not only be a better baller, but a better person.
I may have some serious grievances with how BK called the game last night, but I like him as the coach, if for no other reason than how he handled Floyd. That kid was on his way to being an "Outside the Lines" story in 5 years, and Kelly, and the Notre Dame Community as a whole changed that.
Hopefully Tee and the rest of the class stay solid, recognizing what is being built at ND is not only a great team, great players, but also great young men.
We all get fired up after a loss, especially one as heartbreaking as last night, but we need to keep things in perspective, its only football, its only a game and, unless you're a coach or recruit secretly on IE, its all out of our control.
If you're still fired up and need some help with perspective, here you go, hope it helps.
Xavier Murphy gets his Notre Dame moment - Notre Dame Football Blog - ESPN
Jason McElwain Autistic Basketball Player - YouTube
Mark Herzlich's rare cancer diagnosis - 60 Minutes - CBS News