The only person from my HS who made it to the NFL

Doug Kotar.
Good read from the local paper yesterday for those of you locals who may be interested. I know his son. Good kid too. Quiet and built like a brick and extremely naturally athletic.

http://www.observer-reporter.com/ap...D=/20131130/COLUMN0109/131139913#.UpvR5WRDuIk

 

I've tried explaining this to people that wonder why guys who might be big college starts never really materialize or even make it to the NFL and maybe you will agree with me. It's incredibly impressive to actually make it to the NFL. I honestly believe that even the WORST players in the NFL or even the guys you will NEVER hear about are literally some of the greatest football players on the face of the entire planet. The level of talent and speed in the NFL is almost unbelievable. My buddy is a huge NFL fan too and is friends with this guy that's a huge college fan and that guy thinks that a great college team could actually compete against a horrible NFL team. I honestly believe that there's not a team in this country that could even compete against a team like the 0-16 Lions. I really don't believe they could even get in fg range against them. That's really impressive that he made it. It's a really rare privilege to make it. My uncle actually made it in the late 70s to the Bungles practice squad and played at Kent St. He hurt his knee in a scrimmage and that was it. Still cool that he can say he made it that far though ya know?

 

I know of two people from my HS that "made it" to the NFL. One played for the Chargers for a bit and the other some people refer to as Darth Hoodie.

 

Oh I agree about college versus the pros. Take the National Champions and let them play a scrimmage against the team with the first over all pick and the NFL team would skunk them. The college team wouldn't have a chance. All you have to do to prove this, is point out the number of rookies on the worst team in the NFL and look at their impact on that team...and then realize that those rookies are better players than probably 75% of the players on the National Champions roster. Think about the learning curve that even the highest draft picks go through in order to compete professionally and then realize that the National Champions haven't gone through that.

We had a group of guys who played flag football on a soccer field every Sunday from Sept to Feb for years. The tradition was actually started by a friend of mine's father back in the 1970s and continued up until a couple of years ago when his sons (my friend) just flat out got too old (30s and 40s) and couldn't recruit any young blood to keep it going. I played off and on for probably 15 years (mostly off as I got older). But for a bunch of rag-tag pick up guys, we did manage to have a pretty good bunch of athletes. A lot were HS athletes. A bunch more joined competitive flag leagues. We would even get the occasional local college kids who would play once their season was over. And before my time, the guy in this article, Doug Kotar, would play when he was done with the Giants since he went to HS with my friends dad who was running the whole show. I used to hear about how the guy would dominate and was many levels beyond anyone there. They said he was fluent and it wouldn't wouldn't look like he was moving at all but would blow by you. I played out there with his son a lot and he was much the same way. I don't think the son had the competitive drive that his dad had, but the effortless speed and athleticism was there. Anyway, it was always fun to have the kids from W&J and Cal come out. Even though they were from small colleges, they were just on a different level and very tough (not impossible) to play against. I remember trying to defend one guy who was an ex TE at IUP. I figured big guy, slow, shouldn't be too hard. Wrong. He could move for a big guy and I found myself chasing him all over the field. Tried to play tighter coverage. Bad idea. Just used his physical size to box me out. Gave me fits.

Anyway just my 2 cents on what its like for an average Joe/weekend warrior to compete against established athletes...

 

That's awesome dude. He's maybe the greatest football mind in history. Does he ever come around?

 

Yeah I agree totally that those guys in a league of their own. I remember a few years ago at Heinz when we played the Vikes I went to the game because I was a HUGE Favre fan growing up and I really wanted to get to see him play. I knew he was just a shell of his former self but I always get in the stadium as quickly as possible because I like to watch the warmups and go down to the field and I sat there watching Favre throwing out routes to Rice and Harvin and it was a thing of absolute beauty. They were 30 yards down field and he was just putting it right between their numbers every single time. My buddy is a die hard Packers fan and he was really jealous. LOL. But the thing about that was that people were talking about how Favre "sucked" by then but they need to put that in perspective. Yeah he WASN'T as great as he used to be but he was STILL one of the best on the whole planet and I'd bet you there's not an average joe anywhere that would walk on that field and show him up even to this day. Pro athletes are elite period. That goes for ALL pro athletes. NBA, MLB, NHL, and everything. They would absolutely ALL posterize even a GREAT NON pro.

 

Interesting thread...
Good point about the level of talent in the NFL...
Even tho, I never met either of the kids that came from my highschool, to make it to the League, I am proud that two kids who went to my high school (Garfield Golden Rams, Akron, OH), a while after I graduated, made the leap, Antoine Winfield, and Chris(Beanie) Wells, both came from my school, and Tyrelle Sutton, who had a brief NFL career, was a legend here, not far away, at Hoban High School..
Take that... S.E.C. .... LOL!!!...
Not to mention some of the players from nearby Kent St., Like Jack Lambert, James Harrisson, Josh Cribbs, Julian Edelman, etc... and maybe one or two from the Akron Zips... I forget those, but I swear they had at least two... LOL...
And our Mount Union Purple Raiders, was where one of the Colt`s recent receivers was groomed, unless I am mistaken...
Brain fart on the name right now, but if it wasn`t Pierre-Garcon, it was the guy who replaced him...
If my memory was better.. I could rattle off a list of "Ohio Boys", who have made a name for themselves, in the NFL, and I mean, BESIDES "THE Ohio State Buckeyes"... I mean the kids from here, who didn`t play there...
We`re a pretty good breeding ground for NFL football players...
Maybe not at Florida, or Louisiana, or Georgia`s level, but pretty respectable, nonethelesss... Ted Ginn Jr, came from Cleve St. Ignatious... and there are more, that I just can`t recall off the top of my head... Brian Hartline, umm... ok, now I`m reachin... LOL..
I do seem to remember some kid named Ben Roethlisberger, playin for Miami of OHIO, in the MAC...LMAO...
GO STEELERS!

 

Edit... Sorry, didn`t mean to hijack the spirit of this thread...
BFT, did you ever watch "Pros Vs. Joes", on Spike tv, a few years back?
It made your point, perfectly...
If you never saw it.. It matched up "has been" Pros, against "average" athletes....
The results were USUALLY pretty predictable... Entertaining, tho, all the same...

 

I did see some of the episodes of it. It was a good show but there was pretty much no way for the "joe" to ever be truly competitive against the pro.

 

The church I am pastoring is in a community that is absolutely OBSESSED with with high school football. It is just right outside of Alcoa and that's where Randall Cobb came out of. Lynn Swann lived in Alcoa the first 2 years of his life also. I work with this REALLY big dude who played with Cobb and he also went on to play linebacker at UT but got released because of grades. He said he really thinks he could've made it to the pros but I really doubt it. If his football work ethic is as bad as his UPS work ethic I would say that he doesn't have what it takes to make it to that level. I saw a video of AB's workout on youtube once and I seriously almost had a heart attack just WATCHING it! LOL! Those guys work ridiculously hard to get in and stay in "football shape". Chad Pennington is another guy that's from here and he went to a really expensive school called Webb in high school. He actually owns a marina in my county. A friend of mine at work grew up with him and they used to play together and spend the night together and everything. But as far as my actual school there never has been or will be a pro athlete come out of it. They literally went almost 3 years without winning a GAME! However, Roy Acuff, CHET ATKINS, Carl Smith, and Kenny Chesney are all from my county. I'm still the most famous person from here though. LOL.

 

Pro vs Joes was great. Kordell was on it a few times. Ironically, this episode is on the Spike TV website right now. Keep in mind that the Joes are pretty accomplished athletes themselves. And Rich Gannon has got to be damn near 50. And Pac Man is still, well Pac Man.

http://www.spike.com/episodes/15y3b9/pros-vs-joes-the-fight-season-4-ep-404

 

That's awesome dude. I will definitely be watching that for sure.

 

Saw this posted to Facebook today. Sad, but an interesting read:
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/14/sports/doug-kotar-is-back-home-with-his-family.html?pagewanted=1

 

Man that's sad. What an awful disease.

 

The only football guy from my HS to make it was a receiver for the 9ers in the 90s? Can't remember his name and, of course he went to HS way after I did. My HSs claim to fame is David Wells and Don Larsen