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Polish Leppy 22

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I was at a party this past weekend, and friends of our family have a son in college. He is the kicker on a school in the SEC. I asked him how his son was liking the area, the team, his classes, the coaches, his schedule, etc.

1) The kid loves playing D1 football, but the school owns you once you're there. Offseason doesn't exist. Right now it's a 5 am wakeup, 530 am workout (2 hours), classes all day, meetings after that, then study hall, and bed.

2) The kid played injured all year and had an operation right after the season was over. The kid told his Dad people wouldn't believe what the trainers do with/ to running backs/ WR's/ linebackers at halftime with "injuries."

3) These kids are well-educated in terms of what they can and cannot do as student athletes. My Dad and a couple other guys went down there in the fall to see him play. They took him out to dinner after the game, and he paid for himself. He refused having someone pay for him because he could get in trouble.

4) The kid and his roommates wanted to have a few people over a few weeks ago, maybe 8-10 people. The star QB showed up unannounced, and 100 people were outside their door wanting in within 15 minutes.

I know so many of us on here think these kids are spoiled, they have it easy, academics don't really exist, etc. But this was a reminder of what life is really like, especially for a kid who came in as a walk on and earned a scholarship. And does take his academics seriously and has a 3.3 GPA in their business school.
 

phork

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You mean its not all partying and whores? I'm out.
 

BobD

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If you weren't such a reputable poster I'd say your story has some holes in it. SEC, "classes all day" and "he paid for his meal" hmmmm.
 

FLDomer

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Nice post and thread PL22. I have to say this is how is was where I went to school too and it was only D2 football, in the sense that 1 and 2 are SPOT ON! Its the equivalent to having a full time job and school.
 

Booslum31

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Thanks for the candid glimpse Leppy. I'm certain that's it's an absolute grind. I would also suggest that a kicker with a 3.3 GPA is probalbly more apt to adhere to all of the rules and restrictions then some others.
 

865IrishFan

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Nice post and thread PL22. I have to say this is how is was where I went to school too and it was only D2 football, in the sense that 1 and 2 are SPOT ON! Its the equivalent to having a full time job and school.

I also was on the d2 level and those 5 am workouts with class, labs, then mettings can take a toll on a kid.
 
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PraetorianND

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I played D1 (not football) and the regime was absolutely brutal. 5-8:30am and 5-8:30pm Mon-Thurs. Fri-5-8:30am. Sat-10am-1pm. This was during the school year only. Oh and all of those morning workouts were "optional" (not really) so they could get around practice restrictions.
 

scUM Hater

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This schedule and paying for your own meals will prepare him for life. If it is so rough, don't do it. Go ahead and get a full time job and pay for your own schooling. Wait until you have kids and working full time. I guarantee he will be begging to go back to college.
 

WakeUpEchoes

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This schedule and paying for your own meals will prepare him for life. If it is so rough, don't do it. Go ahead and get a full time job and pay for your own schooling. Wait until you have kids and working full time. I guarantee he will be begging to go back to college.

I don't think he said anyone was complaining or whatever.

And he is a walk-on, which means you do pay your own way.
 

Rack Em

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I respect the players that put in the time and effort to do this. I really do and I recognize that it's not easy. But I don't feel sorry for them. They're having their education paid for - this is essentially their job. They represent their respective universities in athletics in exchange for a scholarship.

EDIT: Even more respect for walk-ons. Two of my transfer buddies were walk-ons. It's still a choice to be on the team though.
 
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irishfanjho15

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The work out stuff is similar to what we did in the offseason at the D3 level. 6am workouts were 5 days a week. Those workouts were called "conditioning" and they were more like an "hr and half of death" With weights four days a week. Saturdays/Sundays off.

I was always beat. A lot of us had 8am classes M-W-F and it was f'in terrible. But I didn't get an athletic scholarship. I also didn't have media scrutiny, the pressures to win, nor were we really watched over a ton. As long as you didn't do anything really stupid you were fine. If you stayed away from failing a class, being kicked off campus, or arrested the coaches never really bothered us.
 
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