[Hoot Gibson]

There is nothing selfish about looking out for one's future. If an athlete is being showered with D1 scholarship offers as a junior then locking down financing for a college education and enhancing his chances of an NFL career by reducing the odds of a serious HS senior season injury makes perfect sense.

Hoot, everyone is entitled to his\her own opinion, but if I were a coach, I would not want that type of.player playing for me.

If I were this boy's father, then i would not want him playing football for you.

My youngest son would not have been a D1 prospect because of his size, but he was a very good HS football player, loved playing the game, and had been a two-way starter as a sophomore. The school had a coaching change following that season. He attended a meeting called by the newly hired coach and afterward, he informed my wife and I that he would not be playing football under the new coach. Several administrators at the school spent the next two seasons harassing my son and trying to pressure him into playing football. The team won a total of three games in my son's junior and senior years and the coach did a horrible job. Most of the players who stuck with the program were miserable and team morale was never worse. The coach was replaced by Jim Matney the following year. My son made the right decision for the right reasons and I am glad that I supported his decision.

High school football players owe nothing to the schools they attend. It is the school's responsibility to provide athletic programs that students want to become a part of and it is each student's right to choose whether or not to participate.

Neither you nor I are aware of all of the factors that went into the Texas player's decision. I don't feel that it is any of my business why the kid decided not to play. What if the kid had been injury prone and had been playing through those injuries? What if his coach is simply a horrible human being and abusive to his players? What if the kid's family is very poor, the kid honestly sees himself as their ticket out of poverty and just wants to maximize his chances of being able to lift them out of poverty? What if he is weak academically and honestly believes that he needs to spend more time in the library to help ensure that he can cut it academically at the next level?

This kid's school and teammates should be thankful for the three years that he did play football instead of resenting him for not playing his senior season.