Baylor QB Robert Griffin Quits Hurdles

Baylor's Robert Griffin isn't just the most athletic quarterback in college football. He might just be the best athlete ever to play quarterback in college football. And now he's putting all his athletic focus on playing quarterback.

If you think what I said about Griffin's athletic prowess is an overstatement, consider this: A year ago, at age 17, Griffin graduated from high school a semester early and went to Baylor to start taking classes and run track in the spring. All he did was win the Big 12 title in the 400-meter hurdles, beating all the best college hurdlers in the conference while he could have still been in high school. He's still viewed as a likely 2012 Olympian if he decides to go back to track.

But Griffin started 11 games for the Baylor football team as a true freshman, and he's also plenty good at football, good enough that he was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year. And he's decided that for now, he'll put all his energy toward becoming the best quarterback in college football.

Baylor coach Art Briles, of course, was thrilled with Griffin's decision, saying this:

"That to me shows a lot of vision for Robert, a lot of focus and a lot of team togetherness. What he's doing is sacrificing an opportunity to defend his Big 12 title in the 400 hurdles for this football team and for the other players on this team. That's part of being a great leader."

By NCAA rule, if a multi-sport athlete plays football and another sport, his scholarship has to count toward the football team's limit. That probably put some extra pressure on Griffin to make football his top priority.

But whether Griffin felt pressure to make this move or not, I'm excited to see what kind of quarterback this young man becomes. His stats as a true freshman (160 completions in 267 attempts for 2,091 yards with 15 touchdowns and three interceptions, plus 843 rushing yards) were outstanding. Just think how good he'll be now that football is his sole focus.

Hat tip: College Football Talk.