E.J. Levenberry Confirms Why He Chose FSU (academic program)

Submitted by Logan88 on

Just thought I would post a bit of this article that I found on the Rivals.com college football page about players' who made their college choice based on something besides football.

In the article, E.J. Levenberry confirms that he chose FSU over Michigan because of their highly respected criminology department (he wants to work for the FBI after graduation).

From the young man himself:

 

Michigan has a better overall academic reputation than Florida State. The 2012 U.S. News rankings rated Michigan 28th and Florida State 101st among national universities. But Florida State does have a renowned criminology department. In fact, Florida State's criminology department was ranked No. 1 for faculty research last year in an article by the Journal of Criminal Justice Education.

The strength of that department led Levenberry to Florida State.

"That basically was the deciding factor because Michigan and Florida State were so close," Levenberry said. "They were basically identical for me. The only way I could choose a school was by what would be best for my future. Florida State had criminology. That's what I want to do. They had the major in the exact field [computer forensics] that I want to work in."

Willhouse

May 26th, 2012 at 12:05 PM ^

Fair enough. God speed E.J.

Hope we can wax your ass on the field in some sort of bowl game just to make you doubt yourself. Just a little.

Seems like a good kid though.

Victor Hale II

May 26th, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^

For all the skepticism many of us exhibit when recruits talk about academics being a priority, this should be a welcome story, regardless of where he attends school. His choice is a commendable one to say the least.

BlueLotCrew

May 26th, 2012 at 1:00 PM ^

Should be highly ranked and respected. With all of the felons on the football team, I would suspect there is a lot of hands-on learning without having to leave campus. By the way, how is Michigan States Crim program? It's gotta be number 2 right?

BlueCE

May 26th, 2012 at 1:37 PM ^

At least he thought it through.  It amazes that FSU seems to get a ton of players that commit for academic resons (Rolle) when they are definitely not in anywhere near the top of the academic rankings.  They seem to do a great job pushing their academics to the kids to whom it would matter.


I do disagree about choosing where to go based on the ranking of the degree vs. the university overall.  I did that and although it turned out ok, I think professionally I would've had a few more doors open coming from one of the bigger brand name school (for example, going to Harvard for CS... it is not highly rated as a department - http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings - compared to other schools, but I bet graduating from Harvard CS is much better than most of the others on that list)

RakeFight

May 26th, 2012 at 4:36 PM ^

"Academic reasons" could mean something other than just the best school.  It could refer to the academic support system provided for the football players... you hear a lot of recruits talk about that.  It could mean picking a school that is not as academically challenging because you want to put as much into football as you can while still remaining elgible.

I'm glad that in this case it means, the specific program in your field of interest is one of top in the country.

Danwillhor

May 26th, 2012 at 3:06 PM ^

Do not in any way fault a kid for making a choice in his life. However, I will kind of attack forensic science as a whole. The very things we have used to incriminate people for 100+ years (fingerprinting) has been proven to be a pseudo-science. No way to test the theory of everyone having a unique print and, in fact, had 2 major cases in the last 5 years where people were found to have 99+% identical prints (Spain bombings) and another that were exact. Also, the field of testimony "experts" is a joke. For 3k and an hours time you can go online and be certified as an "expert witness". Over half do this. No credentials. Computer science/forensics? probably a legit basisso good luck to him I just hope he knows life is not CSI. No neon lit rooms with computers that can clear up and zoom in on a pic to see a marking on the screw holding a license plate. haha. Doesnt exist.

Bill in Birmingham

May 26th, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^

Hated to lose him. But I respect his thought process and the way he handled that interview. Best of luck to the kid. Seems to be the kind of young man Hoke wants to recruit.

Perkis-Size Me

May 26th, 2012 at 11:41 PM ^

Certainly can't blame the kid for doing what he thinks is best for his future. And it's not like we weren't already well-stocked at the LB position. He has a much better chance to earn playing time at FSU.

That being said, it comes as no surprise that FSU would be #1 in criminology.

Mr. Robot

May 27th, 2012 at 12:39 AM ^

My goodness, somebody in recruiting dropped the ball bigtime on that one.

At Michigan, we don't need to dedicate a department to that. We have Halderman to teach everything these is to know about things that can be remotely considered a computer.