Rivals Top 20 Is Your Gateway To Trouble

When over half of the 2005 recruiting classes top 20, according to Rivals.com, has had some sort of off the field trouble, I guess it's fair to say we have a story. In all fairness, I found myself in handcuffs at the age of 19. But I just want to point out that I blew a .000 and the Kanawha County Sheriff admitted to the Magistrate that it was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'll be explaining that one to my parents in 3...2...1...

Off field trouble isn't anything new to college athletes. I think to a certain extent it's something we should expect. It's easy for those of us with marginal athletic ability to say how we'd do it if we were in the shoes of a five star recruit. But since we'll never know that experience, it's probably better to expect that we would do everything exactly the same as we did it without the world looking in on us. And when kids that never had anything, for the majority, suddenly find themselves the recipient of rock star attention, sometimes things go wrong.

15. RB Jason Gwaltney Long Island, N.Y. West Virginia Steve Slaton was that "other" tailback West Virginia signed in 2005, but he quickly became the superior one when Gwaltney suffered a knee sprain midway through his freshman season and failed to perform academically. He transferred to Nassau Community College in Garden City, N.Y., but left there without any transferable academic credits. He was arrested for speeding and underage drinking in Morgantown in 2007 but is trying to regain eligibility so he can play with the Mountaineers as a walk-on.

Being a West Virginia fan, I'm always going to point at Jason first. And despite everything that has happened to him, he still finds himself in a position to make the Mountaineer squad and salvage his career. Other notable second chance recipients on that list are Ryan Perrilloux, Mark "Dirty" Sanchez, Justin King, and Fred Rouse who is expected to join Perrilloux at Jacksonville St. No word if the Gamecocks will be changing their mascot name to the Raiders. Others haven't been so lucky.

4. DE Melvin Alaeze Randallstown, Md. Maryland After failing to meet academic requirements to play for the Terrapins, Alaeze was arrested in February 2006 on five marijuana-related offenses. He wound up with Ron Zook at Illinois later that year but was quickly suspended for missing classes and left for what he cited as personal reasons. He was arrested that December in Randallstown for his involvement in a robbery and shooting and was sentenced this past November to eight years in prison.

Maybe this is the reward for so much coverage of and hope placed on kids that are still in their teens. The blame can be placed on the heads of a lot of people. Surely everyone that had a hand in bringing these kids up. But at the same time, that's a place I just don't want to go. I'd rather point at the websites and individuals that are dedicated to reporting on and glorifying the whole recruiting process. And those television networks that are showing more and more high school sports. I know there is a lot more that plays into this. A whole lot more! But the things that are out of my control, like how a kid grows up and the people they choose to surround themselves with seem like a waste of my time to call out. The fans, the websites, and the networks that make these kids out to be all world before they play their first down need to tone it down a notch. And since we all know who we are, let's spend a little less time glorifying these kids. And pat them on the back for their accomplishments, not their potential.