Alex Grace - tailback

Jimmy Chitwood

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Comparing Apples to Apples
Even when they're bigger, faster, and better, White kids still get screwed.

Collegiate recruiting, we are told, is simply a matter of finding the best possible athletes. Bigger is better than small, faster is better than slow, and explosive playmakers are what all coaches covet … at least, that's what the fans are told. There's nothing more to the recruiting process than that, because talent is all that matters.

So we're told, over and over …

Sports fans love making comparisons, arguing over which player or team is better. I enjoy making comparisons, as well, especially when the comparisons make the Caste System easily visible to even the most disbelieving. So let us make a comparison between two talented players with similar attributes and allow the rest of the story to tell itself.

Player A and Player B, both juniors (Class of 2015), were each named to the Michigan high school football All-State Dream Team as running backs this season, and each led their respective teams to undefeated regular seasons before losing in the playoffs.

Player A is 5-foot-10, 205-pounds. He runs a reported high 4.4 in the 40, but he doesn't run track so his speed could be said to be inflated. This season he rushed for 1,654 yards on 134 carries and 22 total touchdowns, after he rushed for 1,346 yards as a sophomore. He plays in Michigan's largest classification.

Player B is 6-foot-1, 205-pounds. He runs a reported high 4.4 in the 40, and he backs that up by having run a 10.75 in the 100-meters as a sophomore. This season, he rushed for a state-record 2,962 yards on 295 carries and 36 total touchdowns, after he rushed for 2,163 yards and 27 touchdowns as a sophomore. He plays in Michigan's second largest classification.

One of these players held scholarship offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Illinois, and Syracuse after his sophomore season and currently also holds offers from Nebraska, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Ohio State, among others. That same player is also ranked a 4-star recruit by Rivals as the #11 running back in the nation. Which player is it?

From the concise player profiles above it would seem obvious that Player B, the runner-up for Michigan Player of the Year, appears to be the better prospect. However, in the world of the Caste System, that isn't the case.

You see, Player A is the athlete that is coveted by major programs across the country. Conversely, Player B doesn't have a single scholarship offer to report. In fact, he doesn't even have a Rivals profile.

If you understand the Caste System, you understand this phenomenon quite well, because Player A, Mike Weber (Detroit-Cass Tech), is black and Player B, Alex Grace (Saginaw-Swan Valley), is White.

MikeWeber_zpsc7f3bf37.jpeg

Mike Weber

AlexGrace_zpsde4166c5.jpg

Alex Grace

The honest assessment skews even more in favor of Grace when you take the analysis even deeper. Weber put up his numbers on a gifted team that had 12 players sign Division I or II football scholarships in 2013 and several more are expected to sign this spring. Meanwhile, Grace put up his numbers on a team without a single (other) collegiate prospect, meaning that every team he faced knew exactly what was coming … and they still couldn't stop him.

Additionally, Weber already features a heavily muscled physique on his smaller frame, which indicates that it will be difficult for him to add weight at the collegiate level and still maintain his speed. Grace, on the other hand, is still relatively slender, which implies that he will be able to add more muscle mass to his larger frame and possibly increase his strength and speed once he hits the collegiate weight room.

You'd think that college "talent" "evaluators" would be salivating over Grace as a prospect, because he has so much "upside."

But once you understand the Caste System you know why it is, in fact, Weber who is considered to have tremendous "upside," while Grace isn't considered at all.
 
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referendum

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Some good news. As of late January, Alex was offered a scholarship by Central Michigan. However the scout profile lists him as both runningback and safety. The article about the offer doesn't say too much about what position he'd be expected (allowed) to play. Of course we'd love to see guys like Alex get lots of offers from big name schools, but this is a start at least.
 

Jimmy Chitwood

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a quick update …

Alex Grace has committed to play tailback at Western Michigan and coach PJ Fleck. Western, Eastern, and Central Michigan are the only schools i am aware of that offered Grace a scholarship, despite the fact that he has impressive physical tools and eye-popping on-field production. he also is an outstanding student in the classroom.

during his senior year, Grace extended his 100-yard rushing games streak to 23, and he ran for 200-plus yards in 8-straight games. he finished the season with a 23-carry, 188-yard, 3-touchdown performance in a second-round playoff loss to rival Sexton.

for the year, Grace ran for 2,228 yards and 33 touchdowns on 218 carries (10.2 yard average). during his three-year high school career, Grace ran for 7,353 yards and 96 touchdowns on 789 carries.

Grace, who is 6-foot-1, 205-pounds with 4.4 speed, and runs a reported personal-best 10.63 in the 100-meters (i couldn't verify this, but he ran a 10.75 as a sophomore), is a shining example of how the Caste System works. see my write-up titled Apples to Apples.
 

Leonardfan

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Thanks for the update JC.

It does seem there is a slight uptick in white RBs in the MAC and lower level FBS conferences.
 

Jack Lambert

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I found an article that talks about Grace and how great of a RB he's been for his HS team. It mentions that he has the third most rushing yards in Michigan state history and also 4.38 speed. So why then, is idiot "coach" PJ Fleck likely putting him at SAM LB then? What a waste. Screw this sorry team. How come NO black prospects are EVER switched from RB to LB or FB?? Why are they always white?
 

celticdb15

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I found an article that talks about Grace and how great of a RB he's been for his HS team. It mentions that he has the third most rushing yards in Michigan state history and also 4.38 speed. So why then, is idiot "coach" PJ Fleck likely putting him at SAM LB then? What a waste. Screw this sorry team. How come NO black prospects are EVER switched from RB to LB or FB?? Why are they always white?

Sadly this has been the norm for spineless caste whore coaches since the 60s.
 
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