FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

[ExTartanPlayer]

It appears Mr. Dorton isn't as pro-Emory as social media would lead one to believe:

http://ehcwhitetopper.wordpress.com/dortons-letter/

What a mess.

That's a fairly revealing letter, wouldn't you say?

Well it's a comprehensive complaint from one side of the story. Personally it made me cringe both from the behavior that E&H was accused of as well as the tone the parent used. Others pointed out the sense of entitlement in the tone and I completely agree. On the other hand, the hard sell tactics described, the promises, the behavior of alumni and staff, are all things we simply dread making its way into D3...

Mr. Dorton's letter had me until the "on-field standpoint" paragraph.     His letter is signed as Founder of "Athlete Advantage" so I plopped that into the Google machine and this is what's there: 

http://www.athlete-advantage.net/

Who is Athlete Advantage?

Athlete Advantage is a sports promotion service that specializes in providing high school players with opportunities to earn scholarships from universities and colleges all across the country. AA has contact with at least 600 schools  in each sport across the nation ranging from Division 3 to FBS level, and even NAIA. Athlete Advantage will help you get recruited and find the right school!

Here at AA we strive to make sure we build relationships with our clients. To most recruiting services clients are only numbers. We view our clients as opportunities to change lives. We genuinely care about promoting high school kids who just want a chance to play at the next level.

The groundwork for Athlete Advantage began in 2009.  The very first Athlete Advantage client is a wide reciever that signed at Appalachian State. After many years of refinement, Athlete Advantage officially launched in August of 2011. Every player that has signed with AA has received multiple inquiries from schools in our database. You will be known.

You would think that someone who's business it is in helping place high school athletes in colleges ranging from "the bottom of the NCAA ladder" D3 to D1 would be more deft in handling the recruitment of his son.   As he pointed out in his letter there was money made available to his son that he knew wasn't on the level but he was more than willing to take it.

Following up on this and some of the posts about the sense of entitlement from the father/son...I did some digging, and honestly, I hesitated to even post this because it's almost embarrassing to any rational person, but it's all out there in public on the Internet, and I found it all with a simple Google search of "Nathan Dorton football."

The bio on the athlete advantage site already linked on the previous page shows that he had 714 yards receiving in his high school career.  Nice (714 more than I had, after all, I was but a mere offensive tackle) but not exactly portending an NFL career in the offing.  That, combined with a fairly benign college career, would probably mean that the NFL just wasn't quite going to happen.  There's no shame in going to college and struggling to make an impact on the football team; college football is hard.  The NFL is a lot harder, so logic follows that a player who struggled to make much of an impact in college - at small colleges - is probably not going to the NFL.  However, it seems that he is not giving up the dream, since his LinkedIn profile lists his current occupation as:

NFL/CFL Free Agent at Pro Football Prospect

Then there's this:

http://www.newerascouting.com/2013/03/14/2013-draft-interview-nathan-dorton-wr-appalachian-state/

I'm sorry, but there is no way to read that with a straight face when you realize that they're interviewing a kid who barely saw the field at App State, transferred to E & H, and barely saw the field there.  He refers to having an agent, discusses the CFL as a backup plan in case he doesn't get drafted (uh, I don't think that was really in doubt), and in general seems out of touch with reality.  Then there's his website, which lists him as "Pro Football Wide Receiver" and is full of delusions of grandeur.  He has about a dozen films of himself running routes (against air, mind you, not in actual football games) in an apparent attempt to show that he's a professional-grade receiver.  He also lists the following on his LinkedIn profile:

"I'm very quick, precise, and efficient in my route running. I can use my speed to beat people. I can make guys miss, and I have excellent hands. I'm a hard nosed player who balls out on every play no matter what. I lead by example and show up to work day in and day out. I train very hard to constantly improve my abilities.

Gym rat. Hard worker. Nasty. Tenacious. Fearless. Intangibles. Gamer. Playmaker.

I will do whatever it takes to overcome. I WILL WIN."

I mean, this kid sounds like a real-life Rudy, except maybe slightly less talented and slightly crazier.  There is something to be said for determination, drive, and hard work.  But at some point there is also an acceptance of reality.  The kid's Twitter account, sadly, is an exercise in delusion and self-promotion as well.  His father also recently tweeted the following:

"To all you kids trying to play at the next level: do not have your parents call coaches FOR you. I want to hear from players. Not parents"

One could just choke on the irony.

Frankly...as wildcat11 says...it's really, really hard for me to believe that the father's letter has given a completely accurate account, considering the rather, um, generous view he and his son seem to have of Nathan Dorton's talent.  Heck, he even mentions in his letter that he spoke to the head coach during the season about his son's lack of playing time (what kind of father calls a COLLEGE coach to complain about that? One who has a serrrrrrrrriously inflated opinion of his son).  Do I believe that perhaps some promises were made and not kept by E & H coaches and/or administrators?  Yes, that seems plausible.  Do I believe that the dad and son are acting like jilted lovers that have an axe to grind?  Absolutely.  Nobody that delusional is going to just give a straight-up account of the facts.

*Edited later to clarify: my primary purpose in posting all of this information is to illustrate that, while there may have been some wrongdoing on the part of E & H, I am very, very hesitant to take the Dortons' account of things as the gospel truth because, frankly, I find them somewhat lacking in credibility.  Wildcat11 also makes a crucial point above, that someone who claims to run a business placing high school athletes in college probably ought to know when things aren't on the level, and if the father knew things didn't pass the smell test on the front end (which his self-serving letter attempts to show was the case), he probably should have said something then. 

[tigerfanalso]

ExTartanPlayer

Great post and I think any reasonable person will agree with all of your points.
Well thoughtout and explained.

[hasanova]

Guilford's starting to announce Class of 2018 recruits.  I'd expect a half dozen students or so a week for the the next month or two.  This first list is also published on d3football's first screen.

http://www.guilfordquakers.com/sports/fball/2013-14/releases/201403172n4efm

[HSCTiger fan]

Congrats to Will Ferrell on a good pro day.

http://hscathletics.com/sports/fball/2013-14/releases/20140319hlkrzp

[metstones]

Hey Tiger Fan, any word on the Tigers offensive line next season with with so many of them not coming back?

[HSCTiger fan]

HSC started 5 seniors on the OL last year. One was granted a medical redshirt (Ritter)so they have one returning starter.  They cannot replace the talent of Ferrell but they will have a talented group.  We'll learn a lot on Sept 6. Wabash returns 9 starters on defense from a team that went 9-1 last year. 

It stands to reason that Ritter can provide leadership. Lee was versital last year playing both guard spots and FB. Fogleman and Willis looked good when they played. I know they have recruited well and I've heard they got a d2 OL transfer. The reality is that last year the OL was a question mark as well. They replaced 3 starters last year and had an awesome year. 

Will the OL be as good as last year?  Probably not. Will they be bad? No. I think they will put 5 really good linemen in front of Nance and Macko.

HSC does return Nance at QB, Walker, Mey and Kernan at WR, Druhan at TE and leading rusher Macko.

[metstones]

HSC started 5 seniors on the OL last year. One was granted a medical redshirt (Ritter)so they have one returning starter.  They cannot replace the talent of Ferrell but they will have a talented group.  We'll learn a lot on Sept 6. Wabash returns 9 starters on defense from a team that went 9-1 last year. 

It stands to reason that Ritter can provide leadership. Lee was versital last year playing both guard spots and FB. Fogleman and Willis looked good when they played. I know they have recruited well and I've heard they got a d2 OL transfer. The reality is that last year the OL was a question mark as well. They replaced 3 starters last year and had an awesome year. 

Will the OL be as good as last year?  Probably not. Will they be bad? No. I think they will put 5 really good linemen in front of Nance and Macko.

HSC does return Nance at QB, Walker, Mey and Kernan at WR, Druhan at TE and leading rusher Macko.

Tiger Fan, Did this Ritter kid fail some courses and need to come back to graduate? Very strange a DIII player comes back for a 5th year.

[HSCTiger fan]

No. He was injured his freshman year prior the deadline - appealed to the NCAA and was granted a redshirt. It not strange at all. Safety Fogleman played a 5th year last year. Redshirt rules for D3 are different than the other devisions. You have to either not play or practice after the first game or have a documented injury prior to a deadline set by the NCAA and then not practice after that. 

[Pat Coleman]

No. He was injured his freshman year prior the deadline - appealed to the NCAA and was granted a redshirt. It not strange at all. Safety Fogleman played a 5th year last year. Redshirt rules for D3 are different than the other devisions. You have to either not play or practice after the first game or have a documented injury prior to a deadline set by the NCAA and then not practice after that. 

Agreed it is not strange.

[ExTartanPlayer]

No. He was injured his freshman year prior the deadline - appealed to the NCAA and was granted a redshirt. It not strange at all. Safety Fogleman played a 5th year last year. Redshirt rules for D3 are different than the other devisions. You have to either not play or practice after the first game or have a documented injury prior to a deadline set by the NCAA and then not practice after that.

Just seconding this.  Players that get injured before games even start should get one mulligan that allows the chance to play four "healthy" seasons, IMO, and it's certainly not that rare.  We usually had at least one, maybe two fifth-year guys on the CMU team while I was there, always a kid that'd been injured or had off-season surgery and sat out a season.  As for the academic side of things, some kids will just take five years to graduate naturally (switching majors, picking up a second major) and others will enroll in grad classes.  My recollection is that most of our fifth-year guys were enrolled in graduate programs, but some were still wrapping up their degree.

I'm guessing that metstones may be a little newer to the Division III scene.  Kids don't come back just because they failed classes, but it certainly is "common" for a player to return for a fifth year if he has eligibility remaining, whether he's graduated or not.   It's not like HS. 

[tigerfanalso]

Hasa

How many starters does GC return next year ?

[hasanova]

Hasa

How many starters does GC return next year ?

tfa, their press reports say 18 are scheduled to return.  I feel good about the skill positions, especially on Offense ... the QB, receivers and kicker are rising juniors.  I think we lost one key player on Defense who should have returned, but otherwise in good shape there also.

[tigerfanalso]

Hasa

18 starters returning is strong. I think HSC 7 starters returning on offense/8 on defense.  odac will be a fist fight again next year.

[tigerfanalso]

JK

Assuming all return, how many starters for W&L are expected to return ?

Anybody know how many starters RMC is expecting to return ?

[jknezek]

I'm not sure but I don't think it will be overly different from this year. Departing seniors left holes include QB, Slot back, DB, OLB, WR, DL, and a big one off the Oline. The biggest playmakers in last years junior class were found at RB in Eisenhofer, DB with B. Taylor, and OL. The rest, I think, have been more role players, though I'm probably shortchanging a few guys who I shouldn't be. Don't really want to spend the time this question probably deserves this far away from the season. There will need to be some more players from this group if W&L is going to be a contender.

Either way it leaves a lot of space for the rising underclass. Rising juniors to watch include RBs Stanfield and Moynahan as well as some of the DBs who saw time this year like McDonald and Cranford and LBs like Heard and Barr. We'll have to see who else steps up from this class. It is a "non-flashy" class so far, but with guys that have seen a lot of time playing the dirty roles.

Of the rising sophomores, QB is possibly going to be won by Charlie Nelson who got some game time last year. Rising sophomore RB Hollerith is going to terrorize the ODAC for a few years in my opinion. He is incredibly talented and a very bright spot in the W&L universe. DB Will Dyson, also a rising sophomore, saw a lot of time last year as well. I think that 2016 class is going to be very strong, but it could also be because it seems the opposite of the rising juniors, very flashy with the expected difference makers in the glory positions.

In my opinion W&L is at least a season away from being a significant ODAC factor. I thought last year was a game or two dissappointing, especially the loss to Shenandoah. We'll see how it goes but it's too far away for me to get too excited about yet.