By Daniyal Habib
<[email protected]>

For 10,115 senior high school football players each year in America, a dream comes true. They receive a full-ride scholarship from a Division 1A school to play football. Sure, 10,115 is a big number, but 14,445 is even bigger. That is how many high school football teams there are in America, according to www.maxpreps.com. Add in the fact that there are single schools, such as power-house high schools from California and Texas, that have ten or so players on a single team who receive scholarships, leaving fewer for everyone else.

The obvious point that I’m making is that football scholarships are high in demand but low in supply. There is quite a bit of pressure for players competing for them, mainly because of the sheer number of people. Many times, players have to take what they can get, even if it may not be to the school they would have preferred. That’s because there’s a solid chance the school could find another player just like them, but who are more willing to attend that university.

Players would be more willing to compromise other aspects of college if they can get a full ride to the likes of Florida, Southern California and Miami rather than Middle Tennessee or Temple (no offense to the Blue Raiders or Owls faithful out there). Not only are these better football schools, chances are they have better academics too, and this is where the rest of the equation comes in.

Thinking about this topic, I remembered the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode where a college basketball scout comes to watch Will Smith and Marcus, a rival from Malibu Prep (played by Allen Payne). After some unnecessary details, Marcus said something that relates pretty well here. He said something to the likes of, “I’m not dumb, if somebody pays me a million dollars to play basketball, I’ll do it, but the minute I twist my ankle, I’m not worth ten cents.” He goes on to explain how his focus in college will be on his studies, because he wants a foundation in his mind for the rest of his life.

With so much financial aid being cut for colleges, there’s even more pressure on high school athletes, if that’s even possible. I’d have to assume that they want to save their parents some money with costs being what they are today. According to the cost and tuition numbers on www.collegeboard.com, senior Brooks Michel saved his family roughly $23,000 by securing a full-ride to the University of Minnesota while senior Morgan Newton saved about $22,500 when he chose the University of Kentucky.

Personally, I’d feel a ridiculous amount of stress if I knew a bad game could end up costing my team a game and my family twenty grand.

Good this is, they won’t be playing for cupcakes either; Minnesota is the alma mater of our beloved Tony Dungy and other notable NFL players, such as Marion Barber III of the Dallas Cowboys, Laurence Maroney of the not-so-beloved New England Patriots and Darrell Reid of our own Colts.

Kentucky was where the famous coach Paul “Bear” Bryant coached for nine seasons. The Wildcats won the Music City Bowl the last two years and finished 8-5 last year in the loaded Southeastern Conference (SEC).

At Kentucky, Newton will eventually have the chance to emulate the success of former quarterback Andre Woodson, who graduated at the end of last year. Not only will he wear the same uniform and play the same position, but they are also similar players.

The best comparison for Newton, however, is to quarterback Tim Tebow of Florida. Both are dual threat quarterbacks who can run you out of the building or launch an aerial attack on your secondary. Similarly, both are touchdown machines, whether running or throwing. Tebow has 40 career touchdowns three weeks into his junior season, and Newton has scored 58 since the beginning of his sophomore year.

Both Newton and Tebow have that knack for showing up big plays in big moments; just ask Center Grove and Ohio State University. They each seem to have a presence about them that instills confidence in the rest of the team; a sort of “we can’t lose with this guy” mentality.

When I think of senior running back Kurt Freytag, I see a similarity to former West Virginia full back Owen Schmitt, mainly because of their style of play. If you don’t know who Owen Schmitt is, search him on www.youtube.com and you will find a video entitled “Owen Schmitt beats self with helmet.” Watch it and you will see my point because of the pure intensity that both of these guys play with.

Freytag is always jumping up and down coming out of the inflatable helmet before the game, and he always flies to the top of the mosh pit/huddle at the center of the field. During the game, he’s always running defenders over, consistently dragging tacklers for extra yards and making them hurt while doing it. Neither Freytag nor Schmitt will consistently burn the defense for 60 yard scores, but both will, without a doubt, put their heads down and punish defenders for those extra 3 yards for the all-important first down. Both are guys you would really want on your side in a scuffle.

According to a report during a nationally televised game, Schmitt broke eight facemasks in his career; the same facemasks that are there to protect the player’s face (talk about scary). The similarities even show up in the style department, with both Schmitt and Freytag sporting Mohawks at one point or another.

As for the weight room, Schmitt was named “College Football’s top workout freak” by ESPN after the 2006 season, and benched 225 lbs. 26 times at the NFL Scouting Combine. Freytag sure looks like a workout freak in person, and the numbers according to the Carmel football team website back it up: 280 lb. bench, 430 lb. squat, and a 300 lb. power clean. The similarities are undeniable, any way you slice it.