Bearhawkeye
The King of Breakfast
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RE: Tommy Tuberville An Unfair Target?
I wonder why CTT caught so much flak, when Bielema actually told him Arkansas would honor his commitment before later revoking it:
Cogswell saga
Quote: Tyler Cogswell's saga shows double-standard of recruiting
Loyal to Arkansas through the school's most trying year, a new coach throws the American Hertiage QB out
December 24, 2012|By Dieter Kurtenbach, Sun Sentinel
American Heritage-Plantation quarterback Tyler Cogswell thought the worst was over.
The Arkansas commit stayed firmly committed to the school, even as the head coach of the Razorbacks, Bobby Petrino, was caught in a web of lies that made him the laughingstock of college football.
Cogswell was proud to be a future Razorback even as the Hogs dropped from their preseason Top-10 ranking to the bottom of the SEC.
Cogswell stood firm in his choice of Arkansas, even when the man that recruited him, offensive coordinator Paul Petrino fled the program, taking the head coaching job at Idaho after seeing the writing on the wall that he wasn't going to be welcome in Fayetteville in 2013.
Cogswell held his commitment when the new Razorbacks head coach, Brett Bielema, freshly imported from Wisconsin, rang up the commitments of the old tenure to tell them of the new direction of the program. Cogswell wanted to be part of that new era of Arkansas football — he was told he would be a part of it.
The six-foot-five, 225 pound, consensus three-star quarterback had plenty of opportunities to drop his Arkansas commitment and look elsewhere. He eschewed offers from other top-notch schools, knowing that Arkansas was the place for him.
So last Wednesday, when Cogswell was told by Bielema that Arkansas had revoked his scholarship offer, Cogswell was blindsided, hurt and lost.
The recruiting quiet period means that he'll have weeks before other teams' coaches can even contact him. The schools that he kept in touch with, his plans B, C, and D? They're done signing quarterbacks. It's a dead end for Cogswell, who will have to start his recruiting process over when recruiting begins again, going for less than a month after the BCS National Championship Game.
Where to begin? Cogswell can't really tell you. He's formulating a list of schools who need a quarterback, hoping his résumé — it's a good one, his composite rating from the major scout services make him the fourth-best quarterback in the state of Florida and one of the top pocket-passers in the country — can start a conversation and entice them.
Right now, with the phone lines quiet, there's a bit of panic for Cogswell. He doesn't have any options, and while surely he will receive calls the second the quiet period ends, the situation is terribly unfair to a kid whose only crime was being too loyal.
There's a double-standard in recruiting. In the age of information, when everyone has an opinion and shows no restraint in sharing it with the world, criticism falls upon high school prospects and a despicable rate. One of the worst crimes a recruit can commit is to break a recruitment from a school — in the eyes of the fans, it's treason.
But if a school is to break the commitment to a prospect, despite offering him a scholarship and agreeing to honor it after he commits to the program? Well, they must have had a good reason.
It will work out for Cogswell, he's too talented a quarterback to not have schools line up to sign him, but the stress incurred by the disloyalty of Arkansas was unnecessary and unfair.
The reasoning behind Bielema dropping Cogswell is rationalized as "it's a business." His job is to win football games, and he needs to make decisions that he believes will bring that desired outcome.
But it's not a business for Cogswell, it's his life, and it's been turned upside down. The NCAA has stated time and time again that student-athletes commit to a school, not a coach. It's about time that the NCAA starts holding the coaches to the same standards as athletes.
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Tommy Tuberville An Unfair Target?
Cat-Man, nothing personal, but can we please find a REAL column? 
