Last year as the team started to circle the drain, I thought we see more young players getting playing time. You know, gaining experience to build for the future. Well he continued to trot out the same guys game after game. Near season's end, it was apparent that apathy had set in and they were just going through the motions.
Will the same thing happen this season? If it does, I believe that it's to the detriment of the team getting better. Young players lose passion and fire to play. A lot of these guys were sold on a narrative that they could help move the program to the next level. Apathy can be contagious. How many of 4, 5, or 6-year players who play every Saturday still have a driving motivation to play on Sundays? I would wager that most are thinking more about getting their degree and moving on to the real world.
I also believe that not playing young guys can hurt recruiting. High school guys have access to so much data on teams. They know the patterns. Other coaches will make sure that they know. For example, Duke is playing a lot of 2021 recruits. Players know this.
So I say, let's inject some young guys and see what happens. To me it's a lot better to see a redshirt freshman miss a tackle or fumble the ball than some 4-year guy.
Will the same thing happen this season? If it does, I believe that it's to the detriment of the team getting better. Young players lose passion and fire to play. A lot of these guys were sold on a narrative that they could help move the program to the next level. Apathy can be contagious. How many of 4, 5, or 6-year players who play every Saturday still have a driving motivation to play on Sundays? I would wager that most are thinking more about getting their degree and moving on to the real world.
I also believe that not playing young guys can hurt recruiting. High school guys have access to so much data on teams. They know the patterns. Other coaches will make sure that they know. For example, Duke is playing a lot of 2021 recruits. Players know this.
So I say, let's inject some young guys and see what happens. To me it's a lot better to see a redshirt freshman miss a tackle or fumble the ball than some 4-year guy.
