Phall
Master
The 2012 winner is Matt McGloin, Penn State quarterback.
McGloin ends his career with the Nittany Lions ranked No. 1 in school history for career passing touchdowns (46), completions in a season (270), attempts in a season (446), passing yardage in a season (3,266) and passing touchdowns in a season (24). He helped Penn State finish the season 8-4, throwing for at least 200 yards and one touchdown in all 12 games. Penn State won eight of its final 10 games. McGloin, who redshirted as a freshman in 2008 and shared playing time in 2010 and 2011, threw for a career-high 398 yards and four touchdowns in a victory against Indiana. Currently McGloin, a May 2012 PSU graduate, ranks third in the Big Ten in total offense and fourth in pass efficiency. McGloin, 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, threw for 5,485 yards and 58 touchdowns in his career at West Scranton (Pa.) High School. Still, his only scholarship offer came from nearby Lehigh University.
McGloin edged out finalists Michigan safety Jordan Kovacs and San Jose State tackle David Quissenberry. All three players are white.
For fun, I took a peek at the ten semifinalists. The committee found two blacks and one Samoan to diversify the other seven whites.
Of course, the next step was to review the list of fifty nominees. Thanks to the internet, I learned that 38 whites, 11 blacks, and that lone Samoan were put forth for consideration as the best player to begin as a walk-on.
The selection committee consists exclusively of old white men who are caste participants. You can parse out the eight kickers and punters (all white, of course) and you are still left with about a 3-to-1 ratio of white vs. black players. This is way out of wack with the rest of the 2/3 black rosters across college football.
You can make the economic disparity argument that black kids are less likely to afford school. You can say that racial intelligence differences make it tougher for black kids to earn a general admission in the first place. You could even stretch for a case that black kids' "natural positions" of running back, wide receiver, and corner back are recruited more heavily, so there are less "natural" vacancies for them to fill.
But you can't look at a list like this in good conscience and fail to conclude that white athletes are overlooked out of high school and blacks are, in turn, overrecruited. There is an untapped reserve of white high schoolers that have the talent and potential to succeed at the highest level. Recruiters would do well to learn how to identify it.
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