Signing Day 2015

[donovan]

Always hard to tell as it will be a couple of years before many will get playing time. Boise State recruited heavily out of Florida, Texas and California. Not sure why the geographical spread. Doesn't seem to be a lot from Washington, Oregon or Idaho. They did get a QB from Spokane, WA, Brett Rypien, his uncle is Mark Rypien, so there must be some good blood there. He was a four star recruit, but by and large their recruiting class has been three star kids. I am not sure the stock I place in that other than bigger, faster and stronger. Boise seems to get a lot out of their players. They, like other schools, went overboard with signing day activities...so much I don't get.

[Spence]

I get a little crazy with signing day. I try not to be that big a dweeb every year, but when the day gets here I am caught up.

One thing I have learned about rankings. If a kid commits to a school early and then doesn't go to any of the combines or camps out on by the ranking services, they don't get ranked very high. It doesn't make them good are bad. It has happened at Ohio State. Nick Mangold, who is a pro bowl center, was a two star guy out of high school. Ohio State offered him early and he shut his recruiting down. He got the offer he wanted, he didn't go to the camps or combines. He was probably the best center to ever come out of Ohio State.

[donovan]

My other observation is those interviewed, they are always the ones that choose the school because of the sport, nothing wrong with that. But then there are the other that say, this is where I can get the education I want, close to home, etc. Those are the kids that seem to adjust and have significantly less problems would be my take.

Oregon got who they wanted and Oregon State had a tough go of it. None of this shows up for a couple of years.

[Spence]

I think lots of them say they pick schools for the academics. I'm starting the process now with my daughter. She is a bright girl, but she hasn't a clue about the academic differences in the schools. It hasn't been her priority at all when visiting schools, though if you ask her she talks about the academics first. I assume the same is true with the football players. None of them have a clue at this point. I'm not sure they are supposed to yet. That doesn't make it easier on dad.

[donovan]

I think lots of them say they pick schools for the academics. I'm starting the process now with my daughter. She is a bright girl, but she hasn't a clue about the academic differences in the schools. It hasn't been her priority at all when visiting schools, though if you ask her she talks about the academics first. I assume the same is true with the football players. None of them have a clue at this point. I'm not sure they are supposed to yet. That doesn't make it easier on dad.

Times change and I am out of touch. I experienced what you are going through. There are a zillion considerations and that is why parents lie awake at night while the kids sleep. Some kids do best in small environments, some get swallowed up in a large school. Kids are more resilient than we believe, but making sure they make the best choice is important.

One point, and I am not sure it took, with all of our kids, we had five, was sports, someday is going to end. Maybe after high school, college, pro..it ends and you will have families and a lot of life to live. That is why you are going to college, all the rest, just a bonus.

[Spence]

The one I have going now isn't going to play sports. She has been offered a couple academic scholarships. While I would rather not pay for her next four years, I would just like her to look around and make sure she knows what is out there before deciding on a school. She has a very, very high IQ, she can knock out a 900 page book in less than a day and comprehend what she read. She learns but she doesn't have a great memory and seems to have little clue what is going on in the world around her. I could put her in a car and drop her off in a town 20 miles north of our house and she couldn't find her way home. Things that are simple for most people goes straight over her head. She is a good kid, but one who I am afraid would get lost on a large campus. literally and figuratively.

[Vileborg]

I miss a lot of things myself. I'm often no where near the conversation at hand. I'm a thousand miles away processing a 100 things at once and the world is but a side window I check on occasion. I literally queue up a conversation and then occasionally clear the queue. Sometimes it takes me a few seconds to react to what you said because I'm several seconds behind the conversation. I may even start sentences on something you've said and then stop half way because I just processed the part where you said something relevant to the current statement I was making. It's rare that you get my full attention and focus.
I process a lot of information and a lot of time unless it's pertinent information or something that interests me it gets purged. I don't hold on to anything that isn't relative except concepts and applications of theories. The bulk of filler is purged after a period of time to condense the stored data.
Out of curiosity is your daughter left handed? If the controller is the right hemisphere the processing of information occurs differently than if the controller is the left hemisphere. While not always an indicator of the controlling hemisphere handedness usually indicates the opposite hemisphere is in control. There are always anomalies. Some people have a left master eye and are right handed.
Left handed/right hemisphere people are visual learners with exceptional spacial understanding while right handed/left hemisphere people are exceptional auditory learners. Each is primarily processed in its respected hemisphere. Depending on the development of the corpus callosum there may even be a deficiency in one and excellence in the other. Hence, the delay in processing above.

[Spence]

No she is right handed. My Dad, my brother, and I were all right handed. My Sister, my mom, my wife, and all my kids are right handed. My Mom is a natural artist. She doesn't draw or paint anymore because here hands shake (she is in her 80's) My brother and I can draw a little, but nothing on the scale of what she could do. Except for that, we are largely average people. My daughters are all completely right handed. My oldest just walks on a different plain. Not sure how else to explain it.







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[Eric]

The biggest haul of the offseason might be out of Oregon: http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/12301149/fcs-all-american-vernon-adams-transfer-oregon-ducks

Vernon Adams was Eastern Washington's QB, and he can really play. He is making a step up in competition to join Oregon, who looks like they have a hole at the QB position. Adams is the real deal and, if he can seal the starting QB job, a probable Heisman contender. If you have any questions, just watch his footage against Washington in 2014 (threw for well over 400 yards and 7 TDs) and against Oregon State in 2013. He's a college graduate, so he can transfer without sitting out. It's always rare to see a guy make a step up, but in this case, I think he's the caliber of player who can pull that move off.