With all this talk about how transfer portals have ruined the purity of the game, with all this mumbo jumbo about how player empowerment has changed college football for the worse and how the sport is no longer what it once was.
With all this talk about how college athletes shouldn’t get paid, how name, image and likeness have tipped the balance of power, with all this chatter about how all these elements have forever changed the sport we cherish so dearly, I happily present two young men who defy that argument and who show us, through teary eyes and heartfelt sentiment, how grateful they were when their future was forever changed. For that, we have college football and the student athlete to thank: their past, their present and their collaborative future, which as it turns out will be just fine.
As most of us know, NFL Draft weekend came and went with the bulk of the attention focused on one man, Shedeur Sanders, son of Deion. Sanders was projected as a first round talent but dropped to round five for a variety of rumored reasons you can find elsewhere on the internet.
Photoshop Courtesy of XVIII Designs
Sanders was selected by the Perennial Drafters of Quarterbacks, the Cleveland Browns, four rounds later than originally anticipated, while two players you’ve never heard of before, a cornerback out of Notre Dame and an edge rusher from Boise State, who didn’t receive near the hype of the Colorado quarterback, reminded us that all is still right with the state of college football, if even for a day.
In dire need of secondary help, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looked at Benjamin Morrison to fill that gap. Before losing his junior year to injury, Morrison, the captain of Notre Dame’s defense, led the team in tackles and interceptions. Hip surgery ended his season and ultimately his college career. Now happy and healthy, he is laughing last (and crying) as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Once projected to be taken in the first round, the Bucs took him in round number two. Here is his reaction to his favorite ever phone call.
Not to be outdone, Detroit Lions head coach and overly emotional guy in general, Dan Campbell found his man in Ahmed Hassanein. Detroit’s defense, whose ceaseless injuries kept them out of a deep playoff run last season, may have found its answer, or at least Campbell’s emotional doppelganger, a young man clearly committed enough to make Detroit his future home.
When Hassanein was notified that he would be taken by the Lions in the sixth round, he celebrated with his family, reminding us that one young man’s dream to play pro football had come one step closer. If he makes the team, Hassanein will become the first Egyptian-born player to play in the NFL.
It’s hard to watch these videos and not be moved, for me at least anyway. If you’re not wiping your eyes right now, maybe there’s something wrong with you and not the state of college football. There was no talk of anyone getting paid. Just a payoff for all the effort.
And while we continue to gripe about how college football has lost its way and how players nowadays have no loyalty and are only interested in the quick buck, I give you Morrison and Hassanein, to remind you why we still watch so religiously on Saturdays, cheering on our alma maters, wearing our lucky shirts, gathering with friends for tailgates, and either cursing our coaches decisions or embracing them when our schools pull of the unlikely.
I don’t know about you guys but it’s only April and I’m ready for some college football. I’m guessing you are too.
