Texas RB Commit Opts Out of Senior Year of High School
Four Star RB from Houston, Jaydon Blue, has opted out of his senior year after having almost 500 total carries as between his sophomore and junior seasons. I don’t have a link for the stats but I’m currently listening to a college football podcast that is discussing his decision.
Without context, this has vibes of Michael Scott declaring bankruptcy.
Makes sense. In the article, it mentions that he had a quarter of the carries of Johnathan Gray had in high school and he was a blue chip prospect as well. Gray had two Achilles tears in college which killed his pro chances.
I hope more college RBs realize the benefit of a committee approach. It saves wear and tear on bodies that typically don't have a long pro career compared to other positions.
If they like a RBC, then Michigan is definitely the place for them.
I don't think the RBC was the problem. Just something people here latched on to because the team was bad. Of course, before the last year or 2 it was a good thing here!
It wasn't really the RBC people had a problem with as much as it was the staff not going with the "hot hand" when it was obvious who was having success in a game and who wasn't.
If these kids want to prevent wear and tear during their collegiate career, we should have no problems recruiting the top WR's.
Worked for DPJ and Nico
Assuming the college offering the scholarship believes they have enough tape on him so that they won't pull the scholarship, this sadly makes sense. On bright side, he can now spend more time on his studies.
He's apparently going to enroll early so he's "just" missing his senior season, which I can understand for RB where you get so much physical wear and tear.
Smart move. He’s got his scholarship so might as well save his body from the wear and tear and concentrate on school.
How do his teammates feel about it?
And would they have won their bowl game next season if he would have played?
Who's advising him?
In twenty years we're going to hear about middle schoolers opting out of 8th grade football.
I was so bad, I did that.
If going to high school is the same monetary value in 20 years you’re probably right and it will make a lot of sense.
How do you prepare to play college football without playing high school football? This whole sitting out games and now seasons started a few years ago. At the time I said it was a slippery slope as players will continue to opt out of games and now seasons. It’s all about me and no loyalty to a team school or teammates anymore. I think it’s a sad trend
I believe in personal responsibility and freedom. Let the kid live his life how he wants to. If it ends up being a bad choice for him then so be it. I'm guessing Texas is fully on board with this. I hope he enjoys his last semester at school this fall.
Kid ran for almost 4000 yards before his senior year and ran a 10.70 100-meter dash. I don't know what else he has to prove now that he has his scholarship.
If you take the glass half full approach, his decision means that some other kid(s) are going to get the spotlight this fall that was going to go to him.
Kids prepare for college football by starting to play when they are 5 years old. This isnt 1970 - the sport is bigger, faster and stronger. If he chooses to sit out, let him. This is obviously a business decision for him and I hope it works out. The avg age of an NFL players isnt very high, and the avg life of a RB in the NFL is even lower.
Who is advising him?
His advisors.
Whoever is advising him, I hope that he's getting good advice.
He is either a) sticking to his commitment at Texas and truly focusing on school, or b) is protesting McDonalds.
Good for him. Hope it works out.
We asked a RB to do this a few years ago and we pulled his scholarship when he didn't listen and got hurt.
He's a top 100 kid committed to Texas, I think he will be fine.
Smart kid made a business decision. Saves the wear and tear on his body until he's closer to getting paid for it.
I'll bet college coaches drop hints regularly that committed kids should consider this.
I would agree with this and the general theory that if I'm a running back I want to go to a place with lots of other good running backs. Once you've got the 4 or 5 star rating, minimize the wear and tear until you're getting closer to that 3rd year out of HS.
Look at Najee Harris. Despite probably being the best running back in his class, he didn't get a lot of wear and tear until he was getting ready to go pro. He had 61 carries as a freshman and was arguably the 4th best RB, 117 as a soph and 3rd on depth chart, 209 as a jr and finally 261 as a sr both as the starter. He could have come out after his jr year, but staying and going in middle of first round probably ended up making him more money in the long run.
From a business standpoint, that would be the ideal strategy if I was a young RB.
Similarly, I hope that Donovan only gets about 60 carries this year, Black gets about 120, and Hassan carries the bulk of the load. We need to develop a progression in the running back room.
God damn it, I’m stoned, it took me 10 minutes to figure out you meant Blake, as in Corum. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out who Black is.
I think this might be a good decision not from a wear and tear standpoint, but if he can instead spend that time working on his body--getting stronger, faster, gaining better mobility, doing the "prehab" type training that helps him become more injury proof. He'll get a huge leg up going into college ball.
I doubt he has more to gain from juking out overmatched high school kids.
Once our OL becomes elite again i think it'll be easier to land a top NFL type rb.
I'm normally not in favor of players sitting out, especially a season, just to prevent an injury. I think being part of at team and everything that goes with it, is too valuable to pass up. But, if you carry the ball 500 times over 2 seasons and have already earned a scholarship, more power to you. I'm sure he's earned the respect of his teammates. On the flip side, what kind of HS coach puts that kind of workload on a kid? I'm sure he was, by far, the best player and I understand wanting to win, but in HS, you still have a responsibility to the player and a responsibility to try to develop other players. Honestly, the coach is getting what he deserves.