Jimmy Chitwood
Hall of Famer
Coaches Recruit Talent! Uh, Really?<O
></O><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">A true investigation of the recruiting process reveals a very different agenda.<O
></O>[/I]By Jimmy Chitwood (10-2-10)<O
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></O>In the college sports game, media pundits, sports information press releases, sports talk show hosts, and of course the collegiate coaches themselves all preach a consistent, oft-repeated sermon when it comes to the players that "their"Â teams pursue: "We recruit the most talented players available."Â <O
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></O>The devoted zealots (after all, the root word of "fan"Â is "fanatic"Â) who mindlessly worship at the altar of "their"Â team unquestioningly swallow and repeat this mantra, blindly accepting this platitude as they faithfully pray for a win on game day. But with literally billions of dollars involved in the cult of sport, why do so few devoted parishioners question whether their alms are being given to a true belief? <O
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></O>Yes, only blind faith could be so "¦ well "¦ blind as to accept such an obviously false premise. Yes, I said it. The precept that "coaches recruit the best talent available" is a HUGE lie.<O
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></O>Simply put, it is easily shown that collegiate coaches do not recruit the best talent available. Their primary agenda when recruiting players is something else entirely. And I'll prove it.<O
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></O>Anyone who follows college sports has heard the ages-old maxim that "if you can play, they will find you."Â It applies to a commonly held (but misplaced) belief that coaches actually want to find the best players available, no matter where they play or who they are. If you don't fit a certain profile, however, this simply isn't the case. <O
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></O>Coaches claim to look for players who are big, fast, and strong. They insist they want winners and look for athletes who win championships in high school. They want high-character guys who will do the right thing when no one is watching. Perhaps most importantly, they preach that speed is coveted, and they will do nearly anything, go anywhere, to get players who have it. That sounds reasonable, but in reality there is another characteristic that they add "¦ but they don't say it out loud. <O
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></O>You see, they want all those things "¦ but they want them from Black athletes.<O
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></O>To demonstrate my point, I will focus on the sport of college football. And while I could literally do a similar story for virtually every collegiate football team in the country, I'm going to focus this essay on the Wisconsin Badgers. (My only reason for doing so is that I watched a Wisconsin game the other day, andyet another collegiategame proved the basic premise behind this work. No surprise there.) <O
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></O>Wisconsin, like many other football programs, has a long tradition of walk-on players who became big-time contributors. A walk-on, for those who may not know, is a player who was deemed unworthy of a scholarship by the coaching staff. But, convinced that he is good enough to play at the college level, the walk-on pays his own way in an attempt to make the team. For the most part, walk-ons are little more than glorified tackling dummies, with only confidence in their own talent and the refusal to give up the sport they love to help them persevere until they get the most elusive of all things for an undesired athlete: a chance to make a play.<O
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></O>Oh, there's one more important item I've not mentioned. Virtually all walk-ons, those players who are rejected as "not talented enough"Â to be offered an athletic scholarship, are White athletes. <O
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></O>Going back to the script of what coaches claim they look for from athletic prospects, let's take a look at a potential athlete's resume. It should prove enlightening to those who have eyes to see.<O
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></O>We'll examine a home state kid. One who, based on the public statements made by the Wisconsin football coaching staff (and other coaches across the country), should be an ideal fit for an athletic scholarship.<O
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></O>First, let's look at the size requirement. The athlete in question is a wide receiver who was 6-2, 175 pounds coming out of high school. While somewhat thin (a common issue in high school players who project as wideouts), the height is a terrific plus for the position. So the potential recruit matches the profile. <O
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></O>Now, can the kid run? Speed kills, as they say. And all coaches covet it "¦ or so we're told. This athlete is a state record holder in both the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles. He holds his school record in the 100-meters (10.6), 200-meters, and 400-meters, as well as the two aforementioned hurdle events. As a dual-threat quarterback, in his senior year alone he ran for 1,490 yards (8.6 avg.) and 26 touchdowns. So can he run? This is an obvious yes.<O
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></O>Is he strong? At 175-pounds, he can bench press 255, clean 255, squat 385. Oh, and he has a 34-inch vertical jump and a 10-feet 2-inch standing broad jump. Pound for pound, he's incredibly strong. In fact, in 2009 he was named the Bigger, Faster, Stronger National Male Athlete of the Year. He definitely fits the bill here.<O
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></O>Is he a winner? The first-team all-state quarterback won the State Championship in football and was named the Wisconsin Gatorade Track and Field Athlete of the Year as a senior. He won three individual State Championships and one team State Championship in track, and another conference championship as a wrestler. Is he a winner? This is another definite yes.<O
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></O>What about his character? The two-time team captain carried a cumulative GPA of 4.14 on a 4.0 scale, was a National Honor Society member, and was actively involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and community service events. He also has proven that he is tough and can handle adversity. In his sixth game as a sophomore, an awkward tackle tore his ACL and broke off the end of his femur. Doctors didn't know if he would ever play again. His tremendous work ethic had him back within a year. <O
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></O>According to the publically acknowledged guidelines that coaches espouse, it would seem that giving a football scholarship to this young man would be a no-brainer. But as I told you before, there is one more requirement that coaches look for. And as such, Jared Abbrederis didn't receive a scholarship from Wisconsin. Or any other school, for that matter.<O
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></O>You see, Abbrederis didn't completely fit the profile "¦ because Abbrederis is White.<O
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></O>The Wisconsin coaching staff determined that this phenomenal athlete wasn't worthy, so Abbrederis had to walk-on while lesser athletesoften times with major character problemswere rewarded with a free ride to college. Of course, those athletes are Black.<O
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></O>Does that sound like "fair"Â talent evaluation to you?<O
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></O>Fortunately for Abbrederis, though, fate has smiled on him. Due to a series of injuries to "real" athletes (and due to his tremendous talent and continued self-belief), the redshirt-freshman got his first true chance to play in the second half of a game this year against San Jose State. The result? He led the Badgers in receiving. Through 4 games this season (of which he has only played wide receiver in two and a half), he is the team's second-leading receiver. He has also emerged as the team's top punt returner. But, remember, according to the same coaches who now rave that he may have the best hands on the team "¦ he really doesn't have the talent to even be on the team. <O
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></O>They didn't want him. They wanted his talent"¦ but from a black kid.<O
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></O>And it's not as if Abbrederis is some rare quirk. He's not some anomaly that crops up from time to time asan interesting oddity. He's not even unique on the Wisconsin football team. <O
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></O>I won't go into lengthy detail, but his fellow redshirt freshman, Kyle Zuleger, is another elite athlete who had to walk-on simply because he lacked the necessary melanin to be considered a "real"Â talent by the Wisconsin coaching staff. <O
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></O>Zuleger, who possesses ideal size for either of his natural positions (tailback or cornerback) at 5-11, 183-pounds, was another record-setting track athlete (10.62 100-meters) and a nationally competitive power lifter in high school with a list of honors longer than he is tall. Those honors include being the 2008 Midwest Combine Most Outstanding Performer where he set an event record with a sub-4.0 second shuttle.<O
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></O>Despite weekly accolades so far this year "¦
<OSept. 7, 2010<O
(quoting Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema in the post-UNLV game press conference) Special teams-wise, a guy that was going at a different speed more than anybody else was Kyle Zuleger. Number 27 was incredible on all phases that he was involved in. His role will expand from here.<O
Sept. 15, 2010<O
Perhaps the most noticeable player on the unit has been reserve running back Kyle Zuleger, a 5-foot-11, 183-pound redshirt freshman from Appleton East High School. He has two tackles on the unit but on almost every kickoff has disrupted the opposition with his tenacity and fearlessness.<O
"It's hard to not notice him," (Wisconsin special teams coach Charlie) Partridge, said. "The pace he goes down, the reckless abandon in terms of how quickly he works to defeat blocks.<O
"He is one of our key guys right now."
Sept. 27, 2010
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(quoting Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema in the post-Austin Peay game press conference) Special teams-wise, we gave (the game MVP) to Kyle Zuleger."Â
></O>"¦ it appears that the fleet-footed powerhouse is unworthy of being more than another White Special Teams Demon ... who is NOT on scholarship. <O
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></O>Clearly, these obviously-swift playmakers are not really faster or better than the "real"Â athletes they routinely outrun and outperform. Clearly, they aren't athletic enough to be on athletic scholarship. Clearly, they're not what the coaches are looking for. Clearly, Wisconsin isn't the only team that has superior talents like these who have to be walk-ons because they're White.<O
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></O>I wonder, could the lie be any clearer?<O
></O>Edited by: Jimmy Chitwood 
