The top-ranked player in last year’s high school basketball class, Brandon Jennings, skipped college to play professionally overseas. Could the same thing happen in football?
Brian Butler, the controversial manager of the top-ranked football recruit, Bryce Brown, is open to the idea. Butler told The Times that if approached by a Canadian Football League team, he’d consider sending Brown there.
Butler said he planned to have someone explore the possibility of Brown playing in the C.F.L. next season. “If they were talking about any amount of real money, I’d guarantee it,? Butler said of Brown potentially playing in the C.F.L. He mentioned a C.F.L. team paying Brown $5 million a year for three years.
He added: “We’re not playing around. I can promise you that. I’m not scared at all to do anything, and Bryce isn’t either. Hey, he’ll hurt your feelings. He’s not worried about your feelings. He’s worried about what’s right and what’s wrong.?
Brown would be eligible to play in the C.F.L., because there’s no minimum age limit. In the N.F.L., a player has to be three years removed from his high school graduation class. But Brown’s price tag could be a hitch in Butler’s plans: C.F.L. teams have $4.2 million salary cap … per team.
Still, this notion raises an interesting possibility. Could we actually see a player leave an American high school and go straight to Canada?
Bryce Brown, running back
East H.S. (Wichita, Kan.)
Verbal commitment: Miami
Brown has continued to keep up his reputation as one of the finest running backs in the country by recording huge individual game performances in the first half of the 2008 season. He possesses a great combination of speed and power. Brown is an explosive running back who has great vision and makes sharp cuts without losing acceleration. He is an exceptional cutback runner; he consistently makes the opposition miss in the open field.
Brown also displays solid receiving abilities and demonstrates the confidence necessary to beat a linebacker, one on one, on the option route or when going vertical. He has the ability to make the ever important yards-after-catch and turn a short pass into a long gain. Brown has the skills to be an impact player at the next level and could very well break into the two-deep in his freshman year of college
Clearly, his investigations come up short. 1) Just because he is a great recruit doesn't mean he is anywhere near ready for CFL or any other pro league. 2) I also don't see a remote possibility of a player receiving 5 mil to play in the CFL.
There are fundamental differences between a HS players development and readiness for the NBA or a pro basketball league and that of a football player.
i fully agree with comments i posted same to get people thinking about the absurdity of it all.
though the argonauts have been known to take on absurd causes without a flinch
more critically it shows
the continuing dellusional nature of US sports , agents and athletes-- even in this time of economic unease
the nature of bartering that goes on between agents and teams...5 million in the CFL? pennies perhaps
No he didn't! Where do you dream up these thoughts about "quit training camp"? :roll:
He signed a contract with Cleveland and then when they reneged on the deal he WENT TO SARNIA to play...BECAUSE HE COULD PLAY...AND GET PAID! PERIOD! (it was another time)
Uh, no, he signed a contract with Paul Brown who told him he could make the team. Glichrist took that as a promise so when he went to Cleveland's tr.camp and found out no rookie is guranteed a spot he quit and walked out claiming Brown broke the contract. Brown later denied a contract ever existed since it broke NFL rules.
Instead of attacks , getting hysterical and throwing a hissy fit why not get yourself educated on the topic. The Cleveland incident is outlined in nearly every bio concerning Glichrist on the web.
I don't know with 100% certainty about the in-between stuff between high school and Sarnia, but Cookie did come from U.S. high school and end up with Sarnia. Eventually the Ticats where he was Eastern All-Star '56 and '57. Then to Saskatchewan, then Toronto, then to Buffalo Bills.
Having seen all the great RBs from Marion Motley to Tomlinson, I humbly and respectfully submit Cookie was one of the best, most versatile RBs or athletes I have ever seen.
Perhaps this kid is as good, but I suspect not; his manger/agent may be only using the CFL as a bargaining chip, trying to get an NFL shot (do I hear legal challenge to the NFL's restrictions on employment?) or a "scholarship".
I should hardly be taking any advise on the subject of Cookie Gilchrist from the likes of YOU!
You are right in one thing...Cookie's Story is available all over the web.
HOWEVER...I've got it from Cookie himself...from my father who was there with the Sarnia Imperials when he came in 1954, as well as many who played with him and knew him well. As a very young child, I saw him play!
Ive sat in his back yard in Breckenridge Penn. (just outside of Pittsburg) I've talked with him for hours and I've looked over his keepsakes! I've seen the many college and university scholarships that Cookie lost out on as a result of signing a pro contract as a young black high school student tempted by money at a time when opportunities and equality were not like today!
I know the man...I know the story, and I'm well qualified to suggest that the subject of this thread would be well advised to take advantage of a college education and forgo playing football in Canada!
Argos already have RB Da'Shawn Thomas on the roster. I don't think he played any college football and was found at a tryout camp. He impressed management enough to resign him for another year even though he was injured much of 2008. He's only 21.
As I recall, Dave Fleming didn't go to university either, did he? I thought he played some semi-pro ball before coming to Hamilton. Anybody know the details?
