A federal judge ruled last week that high school players and college underclassmen are now eligible for the National Football League draft.
You read that right. High school players are now eligible for the NFL draft. Which raises the question: Will a high school player, as some have in the NBA and NHL, be ready to make the jump from, say, the Dual County League to the NFL?
"I don't think we're going to have to be worrying about that around here," said Acton-Boxborough High football coach Bill Maver, a winner of three straight Division 2 Super Bowls.
Of course it sounds crazy to think of a high school player jumping into the NFL. The league thinks so, too, and is appealing the decision. Yet the NFL has set a deadline date of March 1 for college underclassmen and high school players to declare themselves eligible for this April's draft.
The league's old rule required players to be at least three years removed from their final high school game to be eligible.
If you think about the way certain aspects of the game -- such as weight training and increasingly complex offensive and defensive schemes -- have progressed at the high school level over the years, it's conceivable that one day a high school player would skip college and go directly to the NFL.
"High school coaches are more educated today," said Billerica head coach Peter Flynn, who is not in favor of high school kids being eligible for the NFL draft but believes -- if the ruling stands -- one day someone will be drafted right out of high school. "Everything you see on Sunday [in the NFL] we do. We spread five wide, we run out of the no-huddle, and we've been doing that for years. Kids these days are more prepared for stuff like that."
Like many high school coaches, Flynn participates in and has benefited from coaching clinics where professional and college coaches teach the new schemes being developed at the higher stages of the game.
"It's all trickled down to us," Flynn said. "High school coaches go to clinics and learn from pros and college coaches. We are all more educated and up to date with new ideas to present things to the kids so they are mentally more ready to read and make offensive and defensive adjustments. Everything is so sophisticated now."
Woburn High head coach Rocky Nelson, who will be the first one to tell you he's more from the old school of football where kids went to college for four years and then thought about going pro, doesn't like the idea of kids now being eligible after graduating from high school.
"I'm certainly not in favor of it," Nelson said. "I think it's a lot different than basketball or baseball because it's physically more demanding. College has forever been the proving grounds for pros, and that's the way it should be."
Like Flynn, Nelson believes that one day a high school player could make the jump to the NFL, but he feels it will take a certain type of player.
"If it does happen, I think it will be a skill position player," he said. "I could see it being a running back or a wide receiver."
Maver agreed with Flynn and Nelson about the possibility, but he hopes most players shy away from the idea.
"There's probably always going to be that one exception," he said. "It's kind of ridiculous because most high school kids can't even go on and play in college.
"But there is always going to be the one like LeBron James in basketball, but that's a one-in-10-million shot. When basketball started drafting high school players, you always heard about the one player that did it, but you never hear about the ones that didn't make. It's probably hurt a lot of kids."
Flynn thinks it's important for high school players to go to college because not only will they learn more about the game but they will become adults in the process.
"I feel maturation-wise and in terms of the nurturing of skills and growth and development, they should definitely not go into the NFL," he said. ''Because if they were to play in the NFL they would be playing with grown men who have spent some time in the real world."
http://www.boston.com
You read that right. High school players are now eligible for the NFL draft. Which raises the question: Will a high school player, as some have in the NBA and NHL, be ready to make the jump from, say, the Dual County League to the NFL?
"I don't think we're going to have to be worrying about that around here," said Acton-Boxborough High football coach Bill Maver, a winner of three straight Division 2 Super Bowls.
Of course it sounds crazy to think of a high school player jumping into the NFL. The league thinks so, too, and is appealing the decision. Yet the NFL has set a deadline date of March 1 for college underclassmen and high school players to declare themselves eligible for this April's draft.
The league's old rule required players to be at least three years removed from their final high school game to be eligible.
If you think about the way certain aspects of the game -- such as weight training and increasingly complex offensive and defensive schemes -- have progressed at the high school level over the years, it's conceivable that one day a high school player would skip college and go directly to the NFL.
"High school coaches are more educated today," said Billerica head coach Peter Flynn, who is not in favor of high school kids being eligible for the NFL draft but believes -- if the ruling stands -- one day someone will be drafted right out of high school. "Everything you see on Sunday [in the NFL] we do. We spread five wide, we run out of the no-huddle, and we've been doing that for years. Kids these days are more prepared for stuff like that."
Like many high school coaches, Flynn participates in and has benefited from coaching clinics where professional and college coaches teach the new schemes being developed at the higher stages of the game.
"It's all trickled down to us," Flynn said. "High school coaches go to clinics and learn from pros and college coaches. We are all more educated and up to date with new ideas to present things to the kids so they are mentally more ready to read and make offensive and defensive adjustments. Everything is so sophisticated now."
Woburn High head coach Rocky Nelson, who will be the first one to tell you he's more from the old school of football where kids went to college for four years and then thought about going pro, doesn't like the idea of kids now being eligible after graduating from high school.
"I'm certainly not in favor of it," Nelson said. "I think it's a lot different than basketball or baseball because it's physically more demanding. College has forever been the proving grounds for pros, and that's the way it should be."
Like Flynn, Nelson believes that one day a high school player could make the jump to the NFL, but he feels it will take a certain type of player.
"If it does happen, I think it will be a skill position player," he said. "I could see it being a running back or a wide receiver."
Maver agreed with Flynn and Nelson about the possibility, but he hopes most players shy away from the idea.
"There's probably always going to be that one exception," he said. "It's kind of ridiculous because most high school kids can't even go on and play in college.
"But there is always going to be the one like LeBron James in basketball, but that's a one-in-10-million shot. When basketball started drafting high school players, you always heard about the one player that did it, but you never hear about the ones that didn't make. It's probably hurt a lot of kids."
Flynn thinks it's important for high school players to go to college because not only will they learn more about the game but they will become adults in the process.
"I feel maturation-wise and in terms of the nurturing of skills and growth and development, they should definitely not go into the NFL," he said. ''Because if they were to play in the NFL they would be playing with grown men who have spent some time in the real world."
http://www.boston.com
