It does beg important questions about development. Exposure its beneficial to a point--I'm not sure how positive an experience this season is for our freshmen. I hope they are able to improve despite the circumstances
Freshmen on every roster go through challenges. For other teams it’s the challenge of coming out of high school being the man, getting promised playing time- or at least being told you have a shot to compete for a spot- then being relegated to a practice player. You’re not dressing for games and you start to think about the other schools who told you they wanted you. Mentally you struggle because your life consists of practice and class- no games. Some of those kids transfer, some fizzle out and become four year bench warmers and others stay patient, work hard and rise to the occasion. For our freshmen they’re getting tons of playing time, traveling, seeing their names called and all that great stuff- but they’re getting their butts whipped every weekend and having to grind through practice while hearing the media and fans say they suck. Some may begin to question if they want to keep doing this, others question if they’re good enough. But some will look at all this playing time as a blessing. They’re getting used to the speed of the game and getting tons of experience seeing things on the field they’ve never witnessed in high school. And those kids will acquire a sour taste for losing and realizing how their deficiencies contributed to it and attack the off-season with pride and passion. The issue here is our team has the glorious opportunity to have their struggles placed on display every weekend.
It’s really not productive to micro analyze every single thing that is happening along their journey. Why oh why does anyone believe that what happened yesterday is such a surprise to the point where they don’t want to attend games anymore? To each his own, yes.
But gosh. It’s a process fellas. They are going through the same thing that we would go through if we were freshmen lining up against grown me. Most of us on here would miss assignments, lose some confidence and generally get our butts whipped- most of the time.
We judge these kids and bash them as if we would do better.
That’s the part that makes me chuckle.
For the guys who played football here, do you honestly believe if you were in their shoes, surrounded by a bunch of players who just left high school like you, that you could honestly do better- at the FBS level?
Seriously guys.
Chill out and let these young guys learn and adapt and hope they attack the offseason the right way.
The great thing is all the teams we will be playing in a few years- most of their players are on the bench right now. Ours are playing and will have a leg up in experience.
