¹ 2008 Spring Football/Summer Workouts (updates) ©

lol

whistle whistle whistle, I don't have a whistle I just say whistle.
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The actual game between the two schools... not the chip

Michigan Spring Game tomorrow, to bad it is gonna be 45 and raining
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tUO$ fans do have any word on the guys that have been rumored to have been suspended. I have heard Clifford, Mo Wells, D Washington and Jamario have failedsome drug tests. Clifford is smoking himself out of a good career. The rumor is they will get 2 games but Clifford might get the boot.
 
GUNNA GET IT wrote:
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[h1]Report: Plancher showed signs of distress at end of workout[/h1]
ESPN.com news services


Updated: April 11, 2008, 8:08 AM ET

Central Florida wide receiver Ereck Plancher was showing signs of distress during a team workout before he collapsed and later died, four UCF players told the Orlando Sentinel.

Plancher, 19, of Naples, Fla., collapsed and was taken to a hospital on March 18. he was pronounced dead half an hour after the workout, known as a "mat drill."

The players, speaking on condition they remain anonymous, told the newspaper that the practice was more intense than the basic conditioning workout described by UCF officials in the immediate wake of Plancher's death.

But UCF coach George O'Leary and members of his staff disputed aspects of the four players' story.

"I did not see him struggle on the field," O'Leary said of Plancher the morning he died, according to the report. "From my professional opinion, what should have been done for his care was being done."

In the report, the players said the workout in UCF's indoor field house, which followed an hour-long weight training session, included multiple agility exercises lasting five minutes each, two runs on a 200-yard obstacle course and two sideline-to-sideline to sprints. They said Plancher fell during the final sprint, as coaches yelled at him to finish the drill.

"Everybody was struggling at times," one player said of the workout, according to the Sentinel. "But he [Ereck] was running, and I could tell something wasn't right. His eyes got real dark, and he was squinting like he was blinded by the sun. He was making this moaning noise, trying to breathe real hard."

"Ereck took off running about 5 yards and fell; the coaches were yelling at him to get up, and of course he came in last," one player said, according to the report.

After the workout, the team huddled in the middle of the field, where O'Leary singled out Plancher for a lack of effort during the final sprint, the four players said, according to the report.

All four players told the newspaper that O'Leary said to Plancher, "That's a bunch of [expletive] out of you, son," in the huddle.

O'Leary denied cursing at Plancher but recalled telling people around him, "He's better than that," according to the report.

One of the players said that even as Plancher was being cursed out, he was still trying to catch his breath.

"Ereck was in the back when O'Leary was yelling at him, but Ereck couldn't even look at him," one of the players said, according to the Sentinel. "He was trying to catch his breath the whole time, and he never could."

The players said Plancher was noticeably woozy and staggering as he tried to take part in the final jumping-jacks drill, according to the report. It was after that exercise and a final team huddle that Plancher collapsed while walking away, the players said.

O'Leary told the Sentinel that after he broke the huddle, "the next thing I saw, I turned, I saw the trainer with Ereck. Robert Jackson was the trainer there. I went over, and Ereck was just taking a knee. I asked, 'Did you have breakfast?' "

But one player who took part in the workout said Plancher "was already not responding," according to the report.

O'Leary told the newspaper that trainers and the wide receivers coach tried to give Plancher water, then his teammates carried him outside to await an ambulance while UCF trainers began CPR, called 911 and attached an automated external defibrillator.

UCF police officers arrived at 10:52 a.m. to find Plancher unconscious and lying on a bench. He was taken to Florida Hospital East and pronounced dead at 11:51 a.m.

The four players told the Sentinel they came forward after UCF athletic director Keith Tribble, speaking the afternoon of Plancher's death, initially described the workout as a 10-minute, 26-second workout with a weights component. A week later, associate AD David Chambers clarified Tribble's statement, saying the workout lasted about 20 minutes.

"We were acting on the best information we had available in the hours immediately after Ereck's death," UCF spokesman Grant Heston told the newspaper. "Subsequently, we learned that the workout was lengthier than we originally believed."

According to several of Plancher's relatives and friends and his high school coach in Naples, Fla., the wide receiver said in the spring of 2007 that he had collapsed during an earlier UCF workout.

"He told me he was having a hard time with the workouts and had even passed out once," Lely High School coach Chris Metzger told the Sentinel. "That was unusual for him because he was in great shape. I asked him if the team had checked him out, and he said they did. He said they told him everything was fine, so I told him to keep working at it and everything would be OK."

Ereck's father, Enock, said he had never heard of his son having health problems at UCF. "He was in perfect health," he told the newspaper. "He never even got sick or had a cold
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O'Leary better get his resume ready. With the way this is going it's going to get a lot uglier.
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YB, I guess you're the only one who read it, I was surprised no one else commented.

O'Leary is not in a position where he can be disputing what other people saw, His %#! is on the line on this one as well it should be.

not a laughing matter but when u said "get his resume ready I chuckled" I shook my head and chuckled, he might just be a DR. next time he shows upwith at an AD's office with his resume
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Dude is Shady. Period.

"Everybody was struggling at times," one player said of the workout, according to the Sentinel. "But he [Ereck] was running, and I could tell something wasn't right. His eyes got real dark, and he was squinting like he was blinded by the sun. He was making this moaning noise, trying to breathe real hard."

"Ereck took off running about 5 yards and fell; the coaches were yelling at him to get up, and of course he came in last," one player said, according to the report.

After the workout, the team huddled in the middle of the field, where O'Leary singled out Plancher for a lack of effort during the final sprint, the four players said, according to the report.

All four players told the newspaper that O'Leary said to Plancher, "That's a bunch of [expletive] out of you, son," in the huddle.


The players said Plancher was noticeably woozy and staggering as he tried to take part in the final jumping-jacks drill, according to the report. It was after that exercise and a final team huddle that Plancher collapsed while walking away, the players said.

O'Leary told the Sentinel that after he broke the huddle, "the next thing I saw, I turned, I saw the trainer with Ereck. Robert Jackson was the trainer there. I went over, and Ereck was just taking a knee. I asked, 'Did you have breakfast?' "

But one player who took part in the workout said Plancher "was already not responding," according to the report.





There's no way anyone else in this thread actually read the article.

how can any parent feel comfortable sending their child to play football for this piece of %#**
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Originally Posted by GUNNA GET IT

YB, I guess you're the only one who read it, I was surprised no one else commented.

O'Leary is not in a position where he can be disputing what other people saw, His %#! is on the line on this one as well it should be.

not a laughing matter but when u said "get his resume ready I chuckled" I shook my head and chuckled, he might just be a DR. next time he shows up with at an AD's office with his resume
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Dude is Shady. Period.

"Everybody was struggling at times," one player said of the workout, according to the Sentinel. "But he [Ereck] was running, and I could tell something wasn't right. His eyes got real dark, and he was squinting like he was blinded by the sun. He was making this moaning noise, trying to breathe real hard."

"Ereck took off running about 5 yards and fell; the coaches were yelling at him to get up, and of course he came in last," one player said, according to the report.

After the workout, the team huddled in the middle of the field, where O'Leary singled out Plancher for a lack of effort during the final sprint, the four players said, according to the report.

All four players told the newspaper that O'Leary said to Plancher, "That's a bunch of [expletive] out of you, son," in the huddle.


The players said Plancher was noticeably woozy and staggering as he tried to take part in the final jumping-jacks drill, according to the report. It was after that exercise and a final team huddle that Plancher collapsed while walking away, the players said.

O'Leary told the Sentinel that after he broke the huddle, "the next thing I saw, I turned, I saw the trainer with Ereck. Robert Jackson was the trainer there. I went over, and Ereck was just taking a knee. I asked, 'Did you have breakfast?' "

But one player who took part in the workout said Plancher "was already not responding," according to the report.
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There's no way anyone else in this thread actually read the article.

how can any parent feel comfortable sending their child to play football for this piece of %#**
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Yeah I had to add a little jab at O'Leary's resume.

But seriously, if O'Leary and his coaches pushed this kid too hard they need to man up in this situation and admit it. If he admitted from the start thathe pushed the guy too hard it would've been the smarter thing to do. I hate to say this considering someone died, but admitting he pushed a player too hardI think would've been "understandable" by the media if he was truely remorseful. Though obviously with the way it's going down it shows heisn't remorseful one bit.

I don't get how he can go about trying to cover something like this up but I guess this is O'Leary we're talking about. There's 100 playersthat know what actually happened and they're going to talk about it. By him trying to cover up a players death it's just going to piss all thoseplayers off and they're going to come out and tell what really happened.

Here's a more in-depth article: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/orl-ucf1108apr11,0,1959050.storyhttp://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/orl-ucf1108apr11,0,1959050.story?page=2
 
The four players interviewed by the Sentinel said several players vomited during the workout.

"It wasn't just Ereck that was hurting. It was six or seven other people," one of the players said.

The players said they did not see Plancher vomit. O'Leary said he only saw one player vomit, and that player "throws up all the time."

O'Leary reiterated his March 20 comment that the workout was not taxing.

"I always look at the kids, at their sweat," he said. "They had little rings of sweat around their neck and a little under their armpits.That's how I just know whether it was a taxing workout."

One of the four players who spoke with the Sentinel, a veteran, disagreed, saying: "It was the toughest workout since I've been here. It definitelywas not a light workout."

O'Leary said that when the players got to the huddle after the drills, "I told them what time practice was tomorrow. I talked about academics. Ibasically said what the dress was for the next day. Then players went for their cool-down and jumping jacks."

O'Leary said he broke the huddle, and "the next thing I saw, I turned, I saw the trainer with Ereck. Robert Jackson was the trainer there. I wentover, and Ereck was just taking a knee. I asked, 'Did you have breakfast?' "

Plancher "was already not responding," said one player who participated in the workout.

O'Leary said the trainer and the receivers coach were trying to give Plancher water. Players carried Plancher outside and waited for an ambulance to arrivewhile UCF athletic trainers began rescue breathing and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, called 911 and attached an automated external defibrillator.

UCF police officers arrived at 10:52 a.m. to find Plancher unconscious and lying on a bench. Plancher was taken to Florida Hospital Eastand pronounced dead at 11:51 a.m.

Chris Metzger, Plancher's football coach at Lely High in Naples, said Plancher told him in late March or early April of 2007 that hecollapsed during a workout at UCF. Several of Plancher's relatives and friends also said the player told them he collapsed during a UCF workout.

"He told me he was having a hard time with the workouts and had even passed out once," Metzger said. "That was unusual for him because he was ingreat shape. I asked him if the team had checked him out, and he said they did. He said they told him everything was fine, so I told him to keep working at itand everything would be OK."

Ereck's father, Enock, said he had never heard of his son having health problems at UCF.

"He was in perfect health," Enock Plancher said. "He never even got sick or had a cold."

Ereck's mother declined to talk to reporters.

UCF officials said they have no knowledge of Plancher, a freshman who was 5 feet 10 inches and 180 pounds, having any medical problems. Officials said therewas a note in Plancher's medical file about him needing liquids during a summer workout in 2007.

Tribble said March 18 that Plancher passed an NCAA-mandated physical. Coaches andteam trainers later said Plancher had a spotless medical record.

"We have no record of Ereck requiring any medical attention . . . while at UCF," Tribble said in a statement.


YB, Thanks for the Link.
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maybe its just me, but I do not believe a word coming out of O'Leary's mouth.
I was damn near in tears when I heard Ereck's parents speaking to reporters the day of hsi death.

I m just glad some players had the balls to speak out on this **+*.
 
That is actually one despicable reads, and I don't follow college football very closely.

It doesn't matter if the work out was "taxing" or not, the fact the kid was having difficulty should not have warranted O'Leary'sactions.
There's a BIG difference between giving effort, and having your ability hindered in order to give said effort.

Pathetic.
 
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@ O'Leary... That's a terrible situation...

How about a little Bobby Reid reaction to the Mike Gundy rant... Long read, but worth it...

The lethal combination of testosterone, Red Bull and YouTube got us to this awkward place. It's a place where a coach is a cult figure for hollering: "I'm a man! I'm 40!" And it's a place where a quarterback is a vagabond -- for not hollering back.

Seven months later, the tirade of the century still has legs, and those legs are leaning against a rusted goalpost in Houston. The quarterback's name is Bobby Reid, and if his pulse is quick and his tongue is acid, it's because he's still stewing over the 3-minute, 20-second rant that "basically ended my life."

The problem is, nobody realizes it. He was at a party last fall with a teammate, receiver Adarius Bowman, when two co-eds found out he and Bowman were football players at Oklahoma State.

Co-ed: "Oh! Your coach is such a great guy, the way he stood up for his quarterback!"

Bowman: "This is the boy you're talking about right here. This is Bobby Reid. This is the quarterback."

Co-ed: "Well, your coach is such a magnificent man. He's a hero in my book."

Reid: "Sweetheart, pump your brakes. It's not what you think it is. Let me tell you the story."

So he told her a story ...
They built this quarterback in Southern Texas. They dubbed him the next Vince Young, they charted his long passes with a tape measure, and, when he led his Houston high school to the 2003 Class 5A State title, they figured someday he'd be playing on Sundays.

Reid had it all: arm, legs, smarts, manners and an unlisted phone number. Then Oklahoma State coach Les Miles, offered him his first scholarship and a mesmerized Reid accepted. Ohio State recruited him anyway, and Reid even let Jim Tressel into his home. But Reid's word was oak, and Miles considered it the biggest recruiting coup at the school since Thurman Thomas.

The kid was 6-foot-4, 235 pounds and so quick he'd never taken a direct hit. Better yet, he'd graduated from high school early, which meant he could attend spring practice before his freshman season.

It had a certain Oklahoma State quarterback coach frothing at the mouth.

A quarterback coach named Mike Gundy.
Right away, Reid thought Gundy was hilarious. The coach kept it loose in quarterback meetings and rarely went anywhere without a can of soda or Red Bull. Gundy, in the '80s, had been a stellar quarterback himself at Oklahoma State, but now he was a bit hyper, a bit overcaffeined and a bit entertaining. Reid dug him.

Miles and Gundy's plan had been to start the kid from Day 1, but, that first spring, Reid took his virgin hit. A linebacker smashed Reid's throwing shoulder during practice, and his labrum didn't survive. He required surgery. And not only did Reid lose his freshman season, he lost Les Miles.

Following a loss in the 2004 Alamo Bowl, Miles bolted to LSU, and Reid -- who'd grown fond of the coach -- felt like leaving with him. But as he was driving home to Houston, Reid's cell phone rang. It was OSU's new head coach on the line: Gundy.

He urged Reid to stay. He told him he was bringing in Larry Fedora from Florida to be offensive coordinator, and that Fedora's spread offense suited Reid's running and passing skills. Reid had only operated option or play-action offenses, but it sounded nice on paper, particularly when Gundy said, "You're the future of the program, son."

As promised, Reid started as a redshirt freshman in 2005, until, at midseason, he dislocated three toes against Missouri. His mother Rajika, a single parent, rode off the field with him on a cart -- store that image away -- and Reid was gone five weeks.

The injury turned his first season into a wash, but, even though Gundy brought in a new quarterback from Denver, Zac Robinson, Reid still felt it was his team. He began 2006 with solid efforts, and even had a five-touchdown, 411-yard performance against Kansas, breaking Gundy's school record for most total yards in a game.

But acrimony was on its way. Against Texas A&M the next week, Reid suffered a mild concussion -- careening his head off the turf after a run -- and there was sideline chatter that it was a minor nick, that he wasn't showing much grit.

The twist was that Robinson, in Reid's place, threw for three TDs and took the game to OT. It dawned on people that Robinson was better suited for the spread offense, that he was the more assertive runner. Reid tended to run with his shoulders too high, and, if nothing else, it had Gundy and Fedora re-evaluating the QB situation.

There was a sense now that Gundy didn't trust Reid, that Reid wasn't machismo enough for his tastes. And the gossip got out there, even made its way to the beat writers. They just weren't brave enough to print it.

But, before long, a story was staring them in the face. In the '06 season finale against Oklahoma, Gundy and Fedora drew up a bizarre game plan, platooning both Reid and Robinson. There were empty backfield sets and direct-snap running plays to Robinson, and the scheme had OU on its heels. When Reid tossed a two-yard TD with 6:41 remaining, the Sooner lead was only 27-21. Reid was jubilant. Earlier in the game, he'd taken a pain shot for a sprained shoulder and had returned to throw that TD. He was ram-tough, after all, and he wanted the ball back. He wanted to beat smack-talking OU.

The two teams traded scoreless possessions, and, with less than two minutes remaining, OSU had the ball and one last chance for an upset.

Gundy sent in Robinson.

"I was sitting there like, 'Coach, can I go in? Let me go in, Coach,' '' Reid says. "And he really didn't say nothing. I just blacked out and lost it. I was cursing and just going off."

Teammates told Reid to cool it, but he kept howling: "This is my team! I led us here! I should be in the game!"

Gundy's reaction was, "Our job isn't necessarily to satisfy every player, but to do what's best to win the football game." But the Cowboys didn't win. Robinson failed to reach the end zone, and Reid nearly quit the team -- weeks before their appearance in the Independence Bowl.

The next day, the good cop to Gundy's bad cop -- Fedora -- talked Reid off the ledge, saying he still was the team's unquestioned starter. Reid went on to lead OSU to a 34-31 bowl victory over Alabama, although Gundy called Reid's performance spotty. It wasn't a ringing endorsement, and Reid had a gut feeling something was brewing, something ugly, something that might even make its way into the newspaper.

If they were brave enough to print it.
This past September, it took exactly two Saturdays for the whole thing to blow.

In Week 2 against Florida Atlantic, Reid got hurt again, tweaking his ankle and knee. Robinson stepped in, threw for three TDs and stole Gundy's heart. Reid just didn't know it yet.

That Monday, Gundy and Fedora called Reid in, asking about his health. He told them he was raring to go for the next game at Troy. But Gundy told him to stop right there. He told him they were moving him to No. 2 and Robinson to No. 1.

Reid was trance-like. He'd started every game the previous season, tossing 24 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. His completion percentage had been 55.4 percent, he'd rushed for 500 yards, and he'd been the 16th rated QB in the nation. He'd been a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the country's top QB. And they were benching him after only two games?

He remembers mumbling, "OK, coach," because it was his instinct to be nonconfrontational. It's why his professors and teammates loved him. And, other than that Oklahoma game in 2006, he usually loved everybody back. So he didn't stomp his feet.

Instead, he left Gundy's office and stood and watched the team get walloped by Troy, 41-23. Then, he found a shoulder to lean on: His mother's.

She'd traveled all day to get to the Troy game, and was exhausted and hadn't eaten. She saw Reid chowing from a postgame box of Popeye's Chicken, and she stole it from him when his cell phone rang. When Reid hung up, he saw his mom with the box, talking to a male reporter. Reid walked over, grabbed a piece, ate it on the curb, and returned for more. When the reporter left, Rajika urged her son to ask Gundy why he was benched. And they said their goodbyes.

That next Monday, Reid asked Gundy, "Coach, why am I not playing? I'm the starting quarterback." Gundy's answer was, "I don't feel like you're being productive enough." Reid's head ached. He told Gundy, "You've just been waiting to pull the rug out." Gundy denied it and said Robinson was simply playing better.

"I thought my life was over," Reid says.

He almost quit and, on the night before their next game against Texas Tech, considered climbing out his hotel window so Gundy would have to kick him off the team. Instead, he showed up for the next day's pregame breakfast, where, curiously, not one copy of the local Oklahoman newspaper could be found. Reid thought nothing of it, but, truth was, every copy of the paper had been confiscated. Even in the hotel gift shop.

Why? Because a writer had finally gotten brave.

That morning, a columnist from the Oklahoman, Jenni Carlson, wrote that Reid was benched for being soft, for not playing through injuries, for being coddled by his mom. And, to prove her point, Carlson wrote Rajika had fed her son chicken after the Troy game.

In a lot of ways, it was a cheap shot -- because Rajika had fed no one but herself and because Carlson hadn't even been at the Troy game. But, in a lot of ways, the article reeked of everything the OSU coaches had been saying behind closed doors. Yes, Rajika had been a concern (remember the Missouri game in '05). And, yes, the staff felt Reid was made of tin.

Eventually, after an emotional 49-45 OSU victory, the article found its way to Gundy. He downed a Red Bull and quickly scanned it. And what he said, in his postgame news conference, ripped the doors of their hinges.

It was his inflections that made the rant famous. And his condescension toward the writer, Carlson. And the empathy he seemed to show for Reid.

It was lines like: "Here's all that kid did. He goes to class. He's respectful to the media! He's respectful to the public! And he's a good kid. And he's not a professional athlete and he doesn't deserve to be kicked when he's down."

Or the line of all lines: "Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40! I'm not a kid. Write something about me, or our coaches. Don't write about a kid that does everything right, that's heart's broken and then say the coaches said he was scared. That ain't true!"

After Gundy was done, after he'd stormed out saying, "It makes me want to puke," there was hardy applause. Some fans had slipped into the news conference, and they liked the way Gundy had strutted around, the way he'd defended the kid.

Problem was, no one realized he'd offended the kid.

Reid was caught off guard. Here was a coach who'd been burying him and now he was going to war for him? It didn't add up. "At first, everything [Gundy] was saying sounded real and true," Rajika says. "But I'm a believer where there is smoke, there's fire."

In other words, Bobby and Rajika Reid felt info in Carlson's column came indirectly from Gundy or his staff. ("I'd have a hard time agreeing with that," Gundy says.)

In other words, they felt Gundy's rant was fake.

"Honestly, the way I took it, I felt like it was all a front," Reid says. "That it was all a big show. It didn't feel genuine."

Rajika: "It wasn't the truth. If it was the truth and this kid does everything right, why wasn't he back on the field?"

Gundy: "The last thing I would ever do would be to draw up some production to say in front of the camera. The first reason is because I don't have any interest in doing that. The second reason is I don't have time to do it. ... I didn't direct it toward football, I directed it toward he had done everything right. If they thought it wasn't genuine then obviously they have a right to their opinion. I'm not concerned with changing their mind."

In the days following the rant, Reid and Rajika waited for Gundy's call, a call that wouldn't come. During the tirade, the coach seemed hurt for Reid. So why wasn't Gundy asking Reid how he felt?

"Here's what I did," Gundy says, sighing. "I went to the team and told them, 'What's happened is over. And if anybody has any questions about why it happened or how it transpired, come see me in my office. Otherwise, I'm done with it.'

"[Reid] certainly heard that. He was in the front row. He could've come in at any time."

Instead, Reid bit his tongue, certain he and Gundy were through. "Our relationship after that kind of faded away," Reid says. "When that rant happened, I was like, 'Blugggh, I don't think this is for me anymore.' ''

Unfortunately, there was still three-fourths of a season to play.

Unfortunately, at the next home game, fans chanted: "I'm a man. I'm 40."

Unfortunately, Reid didn't own earplugs.
Reid sank into depression. "He'd tell me, 'Bro', I cry myself to sleep almost every night,' " says fullback John Johnson.

What kept him going was school. He was only months away from a degree in education, as a redshirt junior, and he figured he'd go to practice, graduate and then get out of Dodge. It was a good plan, too, if he hadn't surfed onto YouTube.

Gundy's rant was all over the Web site, and Reid hadn't managed to avoid it. He saw a new Toyota commercial spoofing Gundy ("Buy from me! I'm a man! I'm 40!"). And he saw a fake Coors Light Commercial (Interviewer: "You look a little young to be drinking. Don't you have to be 21?" Gundy: "I'm a man! I'm 40!").

"It was funny, but it wasn't funny," Reid says. "I was like, 'They're getting out of hand with this.' ''

It didn't help that Robinson was having one of the finest seasons in OSU history (23 TD passes, 847 yards rushing). It made Gundy look brilliant, and the coach deserved credit for the switch. He'd made a business move -- the kind coaches make all over the country -- and all Reid could do was wait for one more set of downs.

Two weeks after the rant at Texas A&M, that's what happened. Robinson suffered a concussion that day, and Reid entered and went 6-of-9 for 72 yards. But a late rally fell short, 24-23, and Reid was pointed back to the bench.

The final indignity came the next week. With OSU leading Nebraska 45-14, Gundy put Reid in with 35 seconds left -- just to kneel on the ball. It seemed cruel, and Johnson remembers the OSU fans cat-calling, "Hey Bobby Reid, we don't need you now! Game over!"

Reid took his snap, said nothing and went home. To pack.

"That game was the breaking point for Reid," Rajika says. "He felt totally humiliated. He said, 'I'm not taking this anymore.' ''

Rather than throw his own rant at Gundy, Reid skipped two days of practice. But he didn't want to be a quitter. So he returned, arms folded.

He ended up throwing only 14 passes after the rant, and, when the season ended after an Insight Bowl appearance, Reid grabbed his diploma and loaded his car. At the final team function, he tried sneaking out a side door. But Gundy noticed him and asked him to join an impromptu team photograph. Again, Reid bit his lip and gave a faux smile. It's the same smile he'd been feigning all season, which is why most OSU staffers had no idea he was suffering. He felt he'd been the bigger man ... and he wasn't even 40.

"Being 40 doesn't make you a man," Rajika says, referring to Gundy. "It's your character that makes you a man. Your integrity. That's what makes you a man. Not how old you are. I read a Chinese proverb one time in a restaurant, and it said, 'A fool at 40 is a fool always.' That tells you everything."

Reid decided he'd never play college football again, and applied for the 2008 NFL draft. People at OSU chuckled, thinking, "If he can't play for us, how is he going to play pro?" But Gundy told them: Reid might just get drafted. He said that, in workouts, Reid will look like a million bucks.

The only question would be whether NFL scouts knew about everything else: the baggage, the article, the rant, the depression, YouTube.

Hopefully they wouldn't. Because it'd make them want to puke.
Problem was, Reid's body language was brutal. If an NFL scout had watched him this February, they would've closed their notepad and shuffled off. He had no fire, no swagger, no gleam in his eye.

But little did Reid know, a local coach at Texas Southern University had something in mind. His name was Johnnie Cole, and even though he'd just inherited an 0-11 team, he had a plan: Get Bobby Reid.

Cole had to sell Reid fast. He told him he'd tutored Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson at Alabama State, that he knew how to take a SWAC quarterback to the NFL. He told him he'd run a pro offense, with bootleg and play-action packages, that there'd be no gimmicky spread offense. He said, "You've got this cloud over you. They're questioning your heart. All it takes is a year to get it back."

Reid weighed it all, and withdrew from the draft. In the end, Cole -- a former QB at TSU -- promised Reid there wouldn't be a Zac Robinson looking over his shoulder. He promised he didn't drink Red Bull. Reid's smile resurfaced.

He was humble, too. Reid was once supposed to be Vince Young, but now he was practicing under goalposts that needed a paint job. Most would've turned up their nose at the opportunity, but Reid bunkered down. By the time spring practice began, this April 7, Reid was the unquestioned leader of the team.

"I've coached a lot of 'em, including Tarvaris Jackson, and Reid's special," Cole says. "I think he's going to be a first-day guy in the 2009 draft. If he'd left this year, he'd have been just a guy, so I think his decision to come back made him a couple million. He's got his swagger back. You should see that arm. The players are already following him."

He'll play this coming season against the Gramblings and the Alcorn States. But he probably won't be on TV, probably won't be on YouTube, probably won't watch Oklahoma State and probably ... won't read the newspaper.

"What I experienced up there in Oklahoma, something was taken away from me," he says. "Now I'm just trying to get it back. There was talk out there that I was soft and all that crap. But I just want everybody to know I'm not going anywhere. You can try to knock me down, but I'm standing on my feet strong."

It's just what he wanted to tell the co-ed at that party last year:

I'm a man. I'm 22.

I had heard Reid's mom was a trip, but lord... One of those over-obsessive high school parents throwing fits cuz their kid ain't playin...
eyes.gif


Whether Bobby was a great kid or not, Zac Robinson came in and took his job because Reid couldn't stay on the field. Once Robinson got there, he never gaveGundy a reason to take him off...

Good to see he made the right decision, though, in finding somewhere to play for a year and getting the chance to build himself back up a little bit... I'dlove nothing more than to see him succeed, but his beef over playing time at OSU was a little ridiculous.
Click to expand...
 
Originally Posted by Newbs24

tUO$ fans do have any word on the guys that have been rumored to have been suspended. I have heard Clifford, Mo Wells, D Washington and Jamario have failed some drug tests. Clifford is smoking himself out of a good career. The rumor is they will get 2 games but Clifford might get the boot.
Click to expand...

..You heard huh? of course. lol
2nd time you are done. That'd be Clifford and Washington both. I havent heard anything about Mo. What will probably happen is Clifford is gone and Dwash and JamO will be on their last 'X' and sit the first 2 games. Its prettymuch confirmed b/c none of the 3 were at practice. No matter what, they're done for the spring.

This really sucks b/c the depth in the secondary was gonna be huge this yr. I swear...cant go the entire offseason w/o somthing happening
grin.gif
.
 
Week 1...


Thursday, August28

Hofstra at Connecticut

Jacksonville State at Georgia Tech

South Dakota State at Iowa State

Vanderbilt at Miami (OH)

Northeastern at Ball State

UTEP at Buffalo

Eastern Illinois at Central Michigan

Indiana State at Eastern Michigan

Charleston Southern at Miami (FL)

Troy at Middle Tennessee

Eastern Kentucky at Cincinnati

North Carolina State at South Carolina

Oregon State at Stanford


Friday, August29

Temple at Army

Southern Methodist at Rice



Saturday, August30

Louisiana-Monroe at Auburn

Tulsa at UAB

Western Illinois at Arkansas

Idaho at Arizona

UC Davis at San Jose State

Michigan State at California

Colorado State at Colorado

Hawaii at Florida

Tennessee-Martin at SouthFlorida
Georgia Southern atGeorgia

Syracuse at Northwestern

Western Kentucky at Indiana

Appalachian State at LSU

Delaware at Maryland

Utah at Michigan

Northern Illinois at Minnesota

Illinois at Missouri

Memphis at Mississippi

James Madison at Duke

Virginia Tech at East Carolina

McNeese State at North Carolina

Western Michigan at Nebraska

Youngstown State at Ohio State

Chattanooga at Oklahoma

Coastal Carolina at Penn State

Bowling Green at Pittsburgh

Alabama at Clemson

Wake Forest at Baylor

Southern University at Houston

Florida Atlantic at Texas

USC at Virginia

Oklahoma State at Washington State
Akronat Wisconsin

Illinois State at Marshall

Villanova at West Virginia

South Carolina State at UCF

Maine at Iowa

Florida International at Kansas

North Texas at Kansas State

Boston College at Kent State

Mississippi State at Louisiana Tech

Towson at Navy

Grambling State at Nevada

Washington at Oregon

Louisiana-Lafayette at Southern Miss

Southern Utah at Air Force

Ohio at Wyoming

TCU at New Mexico

Northern Iowa at Brigham Young

Arkansas State at Texas A&M

Eastern Washington at Texas Tech

Cal Poly at San Diego State

Idaho State at Boise State

Northern Arizona at ArizonaState
Utah Stateat UNLV


Sunday, August 31

Kentucky at Louisville



Monday, September 1

Fresno State at Rutgers

Tennessee at UCLA



Bama/Clemson

Illinois/Mizzou

And a bunch of crap
sick.gif

 
Just a heads up to everyone. We get our college football feenin eased for a little while tomorrow.

COLLEGE GAMEDAY TOMORROW @12 NOON. ESPN
 
yea UF Spring Game is being televised.


Add one more tale to the legend of Eric Berry. Apparently in an effort to improve his agility, Berry has spent some time working out with the Lady Vol soccer team. By the way, Berry's two younger brothers were on campus this week because of spring break and both of them look like they are going to be able to play the game as well.


GIve them Scholly's right now!
laugh.gif
Click to expand...
 
I am pumped for tomorrow. Nothing significant is expected from Michigan's spring game. Just 100 plays. The D should dominate. If it doesn't I will beshocked and worried that we will give up 30 per game. The other bad thing, is that the game is being held off campus due to the renovations at the Big Houseand that means no contact directly with the recruits. Stud QB Kevin Newsome is expected to come in. He should love the 45 and rainy weather. Garbage MotherNature always gives our recruits horrible weather.

I am excited to see UF's game tomorrow though. Got the TiVo ready for GameDay before, then the game then the 10PM showing of GameDay Final. That dink JoeSchad is gonna be at Saline for the Michigan game. Should be an uneducated view from that hack.

Sean Lee for PSU tore up his knee today. Sucks for him. Big loss with Connor gone to the L.
 
Mustain mic'd up:



Also, Joe McKnight will miss the rest of Spring due to academic issues. He'll need to make up units during summer school.
 
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