There was an interesting article in the San Diego Union Tribune about SDSU's new head football coach, Rocky Long. The article went back and researched SDSU's junior college recruits under the past three head football coaches, Tom Craft, Chuck Long, and Brady Hoke.
Roughly 75 juco kids were recruited into the program in the 2000s decade and less than 20 made any significant contribution to the program (more than 5 starts). The biggest reason kids failed to contribute? They failed to qualify academically. New coach Rocky Long did not bring any JC transfers into his 2011 class primarily because of the poor success rate of a decade of recruiting mistakes. Coach Long further stated he had no plans to bring in JC kids in the near future.
What does that mean for the majority of high school kickers punters, and snappers looking to play at a four year school? Do they need to go to a JC?
San Diego School of Football's College-Prep Kicking Academy was founded to funnel families into a junior college program and we'll continue to do so. Our biggest hurdle has been that we tend to get families from private high schools and they need large doses of persuasion to get their sons to enroll at the local Juco after paying large sums of high school tuition.
California Community Colleges serve as an express lane to a four year school for a variety of reasons; kickers have to kick from the ground, punters have more pressure to get a punt off with better athletes coming off the edge, kickoffs come from the 30 with a one inch tee, and the level of competition is far greater than any high school program. But what four year schools should be considering when looking at a JC player is that they were able to get up and go to class, pass 24 units from season to season, and juggle school and sport.
SDSFootball will continue to lead the industry in giving four year schools kids of character with excellent transcripts. If it means spending a year or two at a JC we will guide and advise the family to do so. Then we will hand-deliver the student-athlete into a four year school -San Diego State included- as this business will always be one of personal relationships and meeting the needs of all parties. If SDSU needs a kicker and Grossmont College, for example, has one of ours, we'll send him to SDSU with excellent transcripts and the tools to succeed at the next level.
Recent Junior College Successes:
(FULL SCHOLARSHIP to a four year school)
Grossmont-Brandon Bogotay, Georgia
Southwestern- Abel Perez, SDSU
Palomar-Jake Harry, Missouri
Palomar- Briton Forester, Arkansas
