It’s been a few years since my favorite team, the Atlanta Braves, has given me anything substantive to cheer about. So every now and then, just to remember what it’s like to be on top again, I’ll dust off an old DVD and watch the highlight film from the Braves’ worst-to-first season of 1991. It still gives me goosebumps watching Terry Pendleton, John Smoltz and the rest make … [Read more...]
Insights from BrettEmbrace of grad transfers a risk worth taking
The graduate transfer market in college sports is similar in many respects to free agency in the professional ranks — with two glaring differences. For one thing, the players available to college programs are often someone else’s castoffs rather than some of the best in the business, as they are in the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball. And unlike those pro leagues, … [Read more...]
Insights from BrettAmerican embraces daunting mission
Alabama is universally recognized as the gold standard of college football. But it’s not a designation that simply came about because the folks in Tuscaloosa woke up one morning and proclaimed it to be so. The Crimson Tide’s elite status is something that’s been earned over decades of excellence, sustained by a seemingly never-ending stream of Hall of Fame players and … [Read more...]
Insights from BrettBills, Jones both meet their needs
Zay Jones’ NFL draft experience can best be summed up in a musical lyric from Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones. "You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometime you just might find, you get what you need.” The record-setting East Carolina wide receiver dearly wanted to be a first-round pick, just like his school Hall of Fame dad Robert Jones was with the … [Read more...]
Insights from BrettScott ups his game after coach’s challenge
There are only two ways to react to a challenge. You can either accept it or you can run away from it. Having already transferred once in his college football career and with time becoming an increasingly more precious commodity, Derrell Scott really didn’t have much choice other than to take coach Scottie Montgomery’s words to heart last winter when he asked what it would … [Read more...]