Day: May 22, 2024

It is a really strange feeling looking at the AZ top 100 freshmen players and thinking about how many of those kids I’ve personally coached or play with or have played with my kid over the years be it on these elite 7on7 teams or Youth Football or even now at the High School level. They are just freshmen, so this is only the beginning of discovering who has the skills and the dedication to make it to the next level. That being said, I don’t see my kid on the list although they’ve covered 50 of the 100 to be named. I don’t know how to feel about it either.

Though he only played in 5 games due to injury, he recorded 400+ receiving yards, 4 TDs, and two interceptions including a pick 6. Those numbers are comparable to many named in the top 50 already. It does leave me to wonder how the list is chosen, but it also makes me question my kid, his dedication, and where he will wind up this season. The boy lacks confidence. He claims to be confident, but this is really him echoing the good things that are said about him. He is a phenomenal athlete, but like any boy just coming into his 15th year, he’s a bit of a kid. He wants to hang out with his friends. He decides to sleep in on days he shouldn’t. Each one of these behaviors are things he needs to train out of himself in the next critical year if he wants to make it to the NFL. He does. He doesn’t know which position (the glory of WR is better to him right now than the doldrums of playing corner and nobody wanting to try him–that is what I call rich people problems). He still lifts every day. He still is focused on getting bigger, faster, and stronger. He still studies film and studies the game. He just isn’t ? quite yet. In fact, if I could suggest anything it would be to lock in over the summer and make this dream into a reality. He’s due a growth spurt, and at 6’2 already, he’s primed to be maybe 6’4 and up to 180 this summer if he puts in the work. Clearly that size singles him out as a safety (passes the eye test) so we have to wait and see where he lands on the Varsity roster.

Some Thoughts:

1. NCAA 25 is bought and paid for. I did the deal with the Madden purchase, though it is clear that Madden is going to be trash. NCAA may not be trash, but it also may not be all we want. We can’t expect everything. Still, getting anything is dope. Yeah, I wish my kid who plays FCS could be in the game, but maybe next season

I don’t even want to turn back. I was bowling a bit ago and felt my knee give. The pain that followed was a stark reminder that I am getting old. This is right knee that I overcompensated on for years after messing up the left one. So as a result, this is now the bad knee–so bad that I couldn’t get through two rounds of bowling with my fat booty. They say you should not negative talk yourself, and reading through that last sentence is evidence of why. Over the past year or three I’ve accepted myself as a declining human. I’ve accepted so many negative things about myself both mentally and physically that I don’t think I am even the same vibrant person that I was a decade plus ago. That man was drowned.

Now I gotta build a better me.

Day in and day out I need to be building a better version of myself. One that can get through a few rounds of bowling without near collapse. That is, as most things worth doing, easier said than done. Yet it is as I said, worth doing. It is worth becoming a better, more mindful, more centered, and more understanding person who doesn’t let himself be dragged along by the words and feelings and attitudes of those around him but is internally fueled by the love he gives himself and the pride in what he does. I knew a me like that a really long time ago. I remember him sitting on the floor in his mother’s living room dreaming about tomorrow. I remember his successes and his failures and how he grew from each. I remember how he taught himself things. I remember how he struggled to be better every damn day.

He had the blueprint. It still isn’t too late to execute that plan.