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tlinc
All-American
OmahaBeef;979442; said:I can't specifically speak for football because he was still the centerpiece of the drumline when I was at St. X (), however one thing this kid does not lack is passion. He showed more passion on the basketball court than anyone else in the program while I was there. Attitude isn't something to worry about with this kid. You have to realize, until very recently his goal was to graduate from his local public school. He's not at a relatively prestigious and selective high school, and is on his way to go to college for free.
That is good to hear. As a St. X alum myself, I had been hoping he got an offer. There was just something about his comments that made it seem like football was just a means to an end (free college education). I don't see anything wrong with that, but it made it seem like he might be better off at Stanford or Northwestern where he could get a great education and just sort of play football on the side.
Again, I have never met him and have no idea his passion, etc. Just seems like his attitude in that article was very different than that of many of the other recruits in the class. When talking about what he was looking for in a college, he didn't once mention winning a national championship (compare to Brewster, Shugarts, etc.). He didn't mention coaches that could help him be his best (compare to Thomas, Sweat, etc.). He didn't mention wanting to compete against the best in practice (Goebel and others).
I hope you are right and he is as big of a competitor as you say and that he comes here and thrives under the pressure of competition and big expectations.
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OmahaBeef
Intergalactic Planetary Planetary Intergalactic
tlinc;979674; said:
His attitude will not be the same as those other guys in the class--but how could you expect it to be? Many of our other recruits have probably had playing football in college as a goal for many years. Greg has just had this opportunity opened to him.
...and just to share my favorite Scruggs moment: I was watching the JV X vs Moeller game before the varsity game ('06). It was a tightly contested game for the JV GCL title. At one point in the 4th quarter Greg absolutely stuffed this kid under the basket, and let out what I can only describe as a primeval roar lol. (Keep in mind that the kid's a generally well spoken and articulate person, so he's not normally running around yelling at people.) It was just great to see because it always seemed to me during my years at X that although we'd often have good basketball teams, few people showed the passion Greg played with.
Okay, story time's over.
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dozerbuck
You shut your mouth when you're talking to me
tlinc;979674; said:
I have a feeling that the student athletes at those schools don't look at football as a "side gig" and I think its pretty lousy that you make an assumption like that. I have a feeling that Tyrell Sutton doesn't view football as a "side" activity, and I dont think those kids at Stanford were just happy about being at Stanford when they beat USC.
This kid will be the first in his family to go to college, and to go for free has to be an amazing feeling....especially for a sport he has just starting
to play. So, if getting a free education is the first thing that pops into his mind should be something you applaude, not criticize.
Kids that don't take things for granted are the first ones in the weight room....the first ones at study table...the type of student athletes that make a program proud. They are the leaders and the backbone of everyteam.
There have been plenty of Hall of Fame football players that realize football isn't the end all be all. I actually find it quite refreshing that he his excited about the free education and not complaining about the money that the school is stealing from him.
Im sorry, I just can't see a negative in that :(
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tlinc
All-American
dozerbuck;979716; said:
Okay, I guess I worded that awkwardly. I didn't mean that they don't care about it there. I guess the opening paragraph just struck me as weird and a bit out of the ordinary for the type of football player that you normally see get an offer from Jim Tressel:
?I was in the band. I?m in love with playing drums. I?ve been playing the drums all of my life. I played football in grade school a little bit. Freshman year I didn?t want to. Sophomore year I thought about it, but then I didn?t want to. Our football team won state that year, so I was having a lot of fun in the band. Last year I started working with the football team and then I stopped because it wasn?t for me at the time. Once nothing was rolling around with the band, I played a little bit of basketball, but there was nothing too big there. My coaches kept telling me, ?man, if you want to be, you?re a division I football player. You just have to work at it.? It took a lot for me to really trust that. My best friend is Darius Ashley. He and my other friend Stephon Ball were saying that I should come out and that it would be a great experience and that I would have a lot of fun. So I decided to do it. I really just wanted to get college paid for. That was my main goal."
Again, not that big of a deal and I'm not trying to downgrade him. But, as a St. X student who played sports, I knew that there were a lot of kids who used sports as a way to get accepted to the college of their choice (Ivy league for example) or as a way to get a college scholarship. A lot of the ones who did that but didn't really love the sport they were playing quit after a year or two or after the first injury they got. They went on to receive great educations, great jobs and are good people. Their parents are proud of them and they did a great thing by working hard and finding a way to get college paid for. But, they were just using sports as a means to an end and did not care as much about winning NC's, being great players, etc.
Just an observation as an outsider after being struck by a couple comments in his interview. I'm not drawing a conclusion, but more throwing the question out there to people who have more knowledge. Does Greg love football? If he doesn't, does that have an effect on his ability to gut it out through the tough times (injuries, being buried on a depth chart, etc.)?
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matcar;979655; said:
This has been one of the questions from tOSU...
Don't be surprised at all to see Greg go to a Northwestern or a Stanford...Michigan is in a great spot.
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dozerbuck
You shut your mouth when you're talking to me
Thats more like it tlinc....now I see where you are coming from!!
Pretty scary to think that he is that gifted of a person and athlete that he can pick choose what to do.....and excel at whatever he chooses.
I tend to think that if you are around individuals that are doing the same things as you, you tend to absorb some of the sentiment that they have.
You play in the band, you start to see what is enjoyable about being in the band. ( I wasn't in band, so Im not sure :) )
You play baseball, you see the strategy and the smarts you have to have to know what to do in the limitless situations you get put in.
You play football, you see the closeness of a team, the thrill of Friday night/Saturday afternoon and the big play, and playing to help the guy next to you succeed.
Lets hope he sees what is special about football.
Pretty scary to think that he is that gifted of a person and athlete that he can pick choose what to do.....and excel at whatever he chooses.
I tend to think that if you are around individuals that are doing the same things as you, you tend to absorb some of the sentiment that they have.
You play in the band, you start to see what is enjoyable about being in the band. ( I wasn't in band, so Im not sure :) )
You play baseball, you see the strategy and the smarts you have to have to know what to do in the limitless situations you get put in.
You play football, you see the closeness of a team, the thrill of Friday night/Saturday afternoon and the big play, and playing to help the guy next to you succeed.
Lets hope he sees what is special about football.
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Cincinnatibuck
Heisman
tlinc;979793; said:
I don't see anything wrong. His main goal was to get college paid for. You don't just get a scholarship for playing on the team. I would have to believe he knew that with hard work, determination, and committment he would be putting himself in a postion to EARN a scholarship.
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StoRMinBrutus
Great 2 B A Buckeyes !!!
osugrad21;979808; said:
Bite your tongue (or typing fingures in this case) Grad21!!! This is a good kid and he deserves better than the school up north ...
p.s. j/k shhhhhh don't tell anyone but it is a good school academically. I still wouldn't want my kids going there. They won't if I am paying for it.
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tlinc
All-American
Cincinnatibuck;979872; said:
This will be my last post on this because I don't want to hijack the thread further. I think it is great that Greg worked hard and made it so his parents don't have to pay for college.
My one worry (based solely on the interview and no inside info at all) is that maybe he only worked hard at football for the scholarship and that he doesn't really love the sport. As an analogy, say a guy is drafted into the NFL. He doesn't do much his first 3 years. He isn't "feeling it" as Greg said when he quit the team early in his career. But, come that 4th year, his contract year, he really turns it on and has a great year. He comes out and says his goal was to get a big contract to support his family. That is all well and good, but in that situation, I would have concerns that my favorite team would sign him to big money and he would go back to not really caring about football because his goal of getting the big contract (or school paid for) has already been accomplished.
Let's compare a player from a similar academic background, Anthony Gonzalez out of Ignatius was also a great kid and great at academics. But, he also loved the game of football (he slept in that ridiculous tent even). Can you imagine Gonzo quitting his high school team because he just wasn't into football?
In short, that is why I viewed the interview in a negative light. It didn't diminish my view of his character or anything of the sort. It just made me worry that he isn't the type of kid who loves football to the extent thate he will give his all to improve and be a winner in the same way Gonzo did.
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akgoel77
Desert Buckeye
http://www.stxavier.org/s/106/stxavier.aspx?sid=106&gid=1&pgid=847
Statistically for St. Xavier, Darius Ashley led the team with 17 rushes for a total of 211 yards. Luke Massa continued to manage the game effectively at quarterback, completing 6 of 13 passes for 78 yards. Danny Milligan led St. Xavier in receiving, with 2 catches for 18 yards. Stephon Ball, Jon Scheidler, and Luca Romeo added a catch as well. Defensively for St. Xavier, Greg Scruggs had his best statistical game of the year, sacking the Elder quarterback twice for a total loss of 16 yards.
Statistically for St. Xavier, Darius Ashley led the team with 17 rushes for a total of 211 yards. Luke Massa continued to manage the game effectively at quarterback, completing 6 of 13 passes for 78 yards. Danny Milligan led St. Xavier in receiving, with 2 catches for 18 yards. Stephon Ball, Jon Scheidler, and Luca Romeo added a catch as well. Defensively for St. Xavier, Greg Scruggs had his best statistical game of the year, sacking the Elder quarterback twice for a total loss of 16 yards.
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X Buckeyes07 X
Heisman
OmahaBeef;983828; said:
That is correct, he was doing a whole lot of it. Coach Specht basically used Greg to lock up Kyle Rudolph, as Elder's O line is mediocre and Rudolph was the only one even close to capable of containing Greg.
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