SI.com Feature On Georgetown CB

[DFW HOYA]

Georgetown doesn't get a lot of positive press for football, but here's one from SI.com that reinforces the school's efforts to get players to think about career opportunities after football.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/sioncampus/07/19/brodrick.georgetown/index.html

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Why, oh why, does SI.Com fall into three traps in the second paragraph?


A member of the Division I-AA Patriot League...

FCS



...a football power Georgetown is not. It does not award football scholarships...

It does. If offers equivalencies.



..plays its games in 3,500-seat Multi-Sport Field and managed just two wins during Kelly's first season in 2006. The last time a Hoya played in an NFL game was more than half a century ago, in 1956 (though 2007 graduate Alex Buzbee does have an outside shot of playing in the league after signing a contract to attend training camp with the Washington Redskins).

How patronizing is that? "He has an OUTSIDE shot." And since when does having Hoyas in the pros the measure for a successful program?

Sorry, I just don't see why the emphasis has to be on the negative here in what otherwise is a positive piece.


Despite Georgetown's lack of success in professional football, Bodrick, who is vying for a starting position this season after recording 11 tackles in eight games as a freshman, is still holding out hope to play in the NFL some day. Kelly preaches optimism in that regard for his players, but also makes sure they prepare themselves for the near-certainty that a pro football career doesn't work out.

Why make special mention of this? There are PLENTY of FBS schools filled with athletes that don't have a chance at the pros. Why single out Georgetown?

[Lafayette71]

I agree wholeheartedly with you LFN. The vast majority of kids playing at the FCS level are not thinking about Pro-Ball. I'd be willing to bet that there is a higher level of professional success after football for FCS school grads who never even consider the pros as an option than there is for BCS school grads who have a cup of coffee on some teams practice squad before washing out into the real world, particularly when your talking about a school like Georgetown.

If you want to measure the success of Georgetown's program, why don't they look at what these players go on to do in their life after college as opposed to the alums at some of these "football factories", rather than just weighing the fact that they aren't sending players to the Pro's every year.

You could say the in this most recent Era Georgetown has had difficulty balancing the academic achievement and wins on the field. But to put things in perspective, you've got to consider that 20 or so young men are going to graduate from a great school on an equivilancy every year, and go on to achieve a high level of personal success after football. I don't think the Georgetown or their peers would consider that failure.

[Smendy]

Georgetown doesn't get a lot of positive press for football, but here's one from SI.com that reinforces the school's efforts to get players to think about career opportunities after football.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/sioncampus/07/19/brodrick.georgetown/index.html


Nice story Hoya. I guess if you play football at Georgetown, you can't really expect to make millions in the NFL, so you have to think about other things.

Good luck to Buzbee with the Skins'...that'd make a great story if he sticks.

[ncman071]

i'd have to disagree with you saying that the "vast majority of kids playing at the FCS level are not thinking pro-ball". Most DI college athletes have professional ball on their minds. I've had a chance to know quite a few. I also think they realize they need that degree in case it doesnt work out.

[Smendy]

i'd have to disagree with you saying that the "vast majority of kids playing at the FCS level are not thinking pro-ball". Most DI college athletes have professional ball on their minds. I've had a chance to know quite a few. I also think they realize they need that degree in case it doesnt work out.
071, I don't disagree with you completely. If you're talking about Appalachian State, Montana, Georgia Southern, or other top FCS schools, I can understand that most of the players want to prove FBS scouts and coaches wrong by going on to the NFL, but Georgetown really is a school that has almost no history of producing NFL players. Any player expecting being an NFL prospect after playing Hoya's football would be nuts.

Matter of fact, I think Georgetown in Kentucky (NAIA?) has a better track record of producing pro prospects than G'Town D.C.

Again, I don't disagree about some FCS players...but Georgetown is a different story.

[LBPop]

Why single out Georgetown?
Thanks for taking up the fight, LFN. In just three years as a Hoya football Dad I have learned that the Georgetown football community is often so grateful for any recognition that we too easily overlook the not so subtle slaps in the face that might come with it.

Thanks again for the support.xthumbsupx

[Lafayette71]

i'd have to disagree with you saying that the "vast majority of kids playing at the FCS level are not thinking pro-ball". Most DI college athletes have professional ball on their minds. I've had a chance to know quite a few. I also think they realize they need that degree in case it doesnt work out.


I'll stand by my opinion, but my point of view coming from Lafayette is a little different than yours may be coming from App St, since your school does get players into pro camps more often than many other schools. I think most players at this level understand the odds and do more to ensure that they are taking full advantage of the oppurtunity in school which is afforded by their talent on the field.

[Smendy]

Thanks for taking up the fight, LFN. In just three years as a Hoya football Dad I have learned that the Georgetown football community is often so grateful for any recognition that we too easily overlook the not so subtle slaps in the face that might come with it.

Thanks again for the support.xthumbsupx

No disrespect, but in what ways did anyone take a "subtle slap" at G'Town football players?

I acknowledge they recruit solid athletes, but G'Town hasn't sent a player to the NFL since the early 1950's, so why would any one go to Georgetown expecting to play in the NFL?

http://www.hoyasaxa.com/sports/nfl.htm

[LBPop]

No disrespect, but in what ways did anyone take a "subtle slap" at G'Town football players?

I acknowledge they recruit solid athletes, but G'Town hasn't sent a player to the NFL since the early 1950's, so why would any one go to Georgetown expecting to play in the NFL?

http://www.hoyasaxa.com/sports/nfl.htm

I did not suggest that anyone "slapped" any player. I said that it was a "not so subtle subtle slap" at Georgetown. It was unnecessary to the article. He is a football player at Georgetown. He got a wonderful opportunity. He's a good kid. The End.

The quality of Georgetown football is totally irrelavent to the story. The same is true about expectations of playing professionally. The article was about the internship and that a kid with the kind of commitment required by football could achieve such a thing. If someone had written something about an achievement of yours and said, He did a great job running that charity fund drive while holding down a big executive position, but his company is not highly respected in its industry and he probably won't advance much farther, that second comment would have been totally unnecessary. You did a great job...period.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled that Georgetown got any recognition at all that relates to football. Most people who aren't true FCS fans don't even know that the Hoyas play football. And if they do, they still think it's Club level football.

[DFW HOYA]

I agree with LBP's point that Georgetown's record is irrelevant in a story which should be about a bright young man and the opportunities college is affording him.

I've said this before and will continue to do so: If Georgetown had a game plan on football and could execute it, few schools could touch it in I-AA/FCS football. The academic, athletic, and career opportunities that Georgetown provides should absolutely set it apart from most schools, and place it alongside that of peer institutions like Stanford, Northwesterm et al.

It doesn't, of course, and not all of that is due to playing in the shadows of the men's basketball program, either. Yes, funding is a problem. Yes, facilities are too, and there probably aren't two or three schools anywhere in Division I with less adequate facilities.

No, the PL academic index isn't going to offer any quick fixes when you're the highest SAT range in the conference, and no, local recruiting has never gained any traction because of the perception of the program alongside the I-A teams which the local papers dote on.

Still, it comes down to winning, and Georgetown hasn't done enough of it, largely by being a team with little or no offensive depth. In the last five years, Georgetown has rotated through eight different starting QB's, finished in the bottom ten of I-AA in total offense three times, and return one offensive player in 2007 weighing more than 200 pounds. That doesn't mean they can't be successful, only that the hill is a lot steeper and potentially filled with a lot of rookies and returning players playing entirely new and untested positions.

This team could win five games in 2007. Or it might not win any.

But the real story SI.com was telling should be about what kids are doing off the field, which in this case is a positive and pertinent one. And here's a companion story from the GU athletic web site added from Bodrick which also talks to his commitment on the field:

"Since members of the football team work out every night, Bodrick's schedule has been busy. He is in the office each day at 8:30 and works until 5 p.m. Following work, he joins his teammates for workouts from 6:15 p.m. to 8 p.m. "I've made every workout," Bodrick says with pride. "It's the sacrifice you have to make. I'm glad I got the job I have [but] you have to make it happen. Football is very important to me and the off-season is when you get your training in. It's worked out for me."

http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/072007aab.html