One of our bloggers, Becky Nordyke, the ever-present K-State fan, showed me this story. All university athletic departments and PR folks should read it.
Posted by John Taylor on February 4, 2010 2:07 PM ET
There are a lot of things to not like about the game of college football sometimes. From shady recruiting tactics to Lane Kiffin (wait, is that redundant?) to the BCS to the NCAA itself, there are a plethora of things to bitch about when it comes to the sport this Web site covers.
Then you stumble across a story like the one we are about to post, and it makes you realize that, more than some would care to admit, there are some really good people involved in the game at the collegiate level.
Back in December, linebacker Jake Nicolopulos, a Clemson verbal commitment since February 2009, suffered a stroke, which made it likely that the high schooler would never be able to play football again.
Fast forward two months, and Nicolopulos faxed Clemson his signed letter of intent. And the university will honor it.
That's right, a player who likely will never step on the field for the Tigers will be on scholarship and receive a college education because of some very classy people at the university. This move is not a surprise to those in the program because Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips told head coach Dabo Swinney shortly after the stroke that the school would honor the scholarship.
"This is realized dream for him that he achieved, that he earned," said one observer close to the situation. "God had a little bit of a different plan for him. But I don't have doubt at all Jake Nicolopulos will make an impact at Clemson."
Speaking of impact, what the people at Clemson did for this teenager and his family should be roundly and loudly applauded, and serve as a reminder that, regardless of how cynical we all are, there are indeed some very classy people in the game.
I showed you the article because I was impressed with an athletic department at a major university actually doing something ethical for a change. Too often , it seems to me, athletic departments chew up their athletes and spit them out when the athletes are no longer useful. Case in point is a former OU football player in one of my classes who lost his scholarship when he had a career ending injury. OU told him to pay for his own classes, so he came home to Wichita and is now a Shocker.
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