When I was a kid there was a lot less college football on television but a lot more coverage in the press. There was also more in-depth discussion of the sport with college football as a whole being a topic followed by the major programs and coaches and then the top players. Don't get me wrong, the blocking schemes at Syracuse were never a topic of discussion, but fans knew who the top players were in the country.
Now? College football's television ratings are through the roof. We fans can watch our fair share of games on TV even if we go to games on Saturday afternoon. We think we have a good grasp of the sport and the players who lead the best teams.
But then the draft rolls around in the spring, like Christmas the anticipation and coverage begins earlier and earlier every year. But coverage of the draft uncovers a problem. Why are the draft experts talking about a player that we barely know as if he is the second coming? If ESPN and other media outlets did their jobs from May until March, why is it that we are now being introduced to key players from major college programs?
Part of the problem of course is that they are over-hyping these guys prior to the draft. And some guys project to be better pros than college players. Take Shariff Floyd of Florida who may go as high as number three tonight. A huge recruit out of Philadelphia Floyd has had a solid but underwhelming career in Gainesville. He did make All American teams this past year but he is being drafted on his size and speed combination and not his production (31 tackles in 2012 including 8.5 for a loss).
But the player who really sticks out for me is Oregon defender Dion Jordan who is being compared to Jason Taylor and Aldon Smith. How does a guy who has been recognized as an All Pac 12 performer and praised by scouts for his physical skills and play on the field go virtually unknown while playing for a school that is usually ranked in the top ten? That would not have been possible in any other time in American sport.
Who is to blame? The American sports public cannot be taken off the hook. They demand coverage of celebrity and a guy who was excellent at dropping back into coverage was never going to become one of those. ESPN is a major factor here, which is ironic as it then over reacts to anyone who is a draft prospect. So Dion Jordan gets ignored until this spring then gets covered as future star and then goes to the pros while Collin Klein gets press while KSU is undefeated but then gets ignored now as he is not expected to be drafted too high if at all and then hopefully goes to the pros. Sadly guys who are very good college players but not pro prospects tend to get ignored all the time unless they are, like Klein, the QB for a top team.
ESPN is to blame because they have adopted a policy that it is better to talk non-stop about one player, say Johnny Manziel or Manti Te'o, than to mention anyone else. I guess this began with Michael Jordan and some meeting in Bristol, Connecticut at which a producer was dressed down for a piece on Mitch Richmond that was done before the network had reached its 100-per-week segments quota on MJ. While that is a really bad way to cover the NBA and its dozens of stars it is an impossible way to cover college football and its hundreds of major players. ESPN is also to blame because they break sports coverage down to quick hits. Once they establish a story line it is easier to just run with that than delve deeper. Oregon is know for a speedy offense. So why bother mentioning Jordan?
And major newspapers fall into the same stupid trap based on laziness. They will over-cover the stars and provide coverage of their area of interest but do not even bother with the nation as a whole. If you polled 100 college football fans from throughout the country, how many members of the 2012 AP All America first team could they name? Sure Manziel and Te'o would be easy. So too Marqise Lee and some of the many Alabama players that earned the recognition. But Terrance Williams, Will Sutton or Phillip Thomas? How about a first team AA RB who topped 1,900 yards? Of the 100 fans polled how many know Ka'Deem Carey of Arizona? But how many of those polled could rattle off the names of the first team AA RBs from earlier generations? When did rushing for that many yards in a major conference not earn you some press?
So do not be surprised when your favorite pro team drafts guys you never heard of even if they are from big-time programs. It is not that they are not good players. They were just not as good a story as Johnny Football.
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