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Yesterday was National Signing Day for the high-profile high school football players of America. Alabama quietly got the number one recruiting class in the country (again), we had kids jumping out of airplanes to announce their school of choice, and Jim Harbaugh put on some sort of circus for all of his new Michigan recruits. I didn’t know finishing third in the Big Ten was cause for Ric Flair to be in Ann Arbor, but I’m not writing this to cast stones.
The biggest story of the day might be Matt Heuerman, who I’m guessing was a one or two-star-rated wide receiver from Florida who turned down an offer from Jacksonville State to pursue a career in golf. I don’t hate this move, although I’m not totally sure he’s thought this one through. The kid said he casually plays on the weekend. Golf is not like basketball or football. You can’t just pick it up and learn on the fly.
Per Golf Magazine:
The 6-foot-6, 200-pound wide receiver from Florida’s Barron Collier High School had a scholarship offer from FCS powerhouse Jacksonville State but turned it down in favor of pursuing a career in golf, according to USA Today.
Heuerman comes from a football family: his brother Jeff plays in the NFL while his brother Mike played at Notre Dame. Matt, meanwhile, hasn’t played golf competitively since the eighth grade.
…
After spending his high school career grabbing weekend rounds when he could and working on his short game while rehabbing from an ACL injury, Heuerman is now turning his full attention to golf. His next step is to grind it out on the range in search of a perfect technique.
“I feel that if I put in as many hours as I did into football, I’ll continue to improve and get one step better each day,” Heuerman said.
If he’s just trying to get a D-1 scholly to hit the links everyday, he could probably make that happen at a place like Florida Gulf Coast or something. But I’d bet my rent next month that he’s not going to make it on the tour. If you’ve never read Tales from Q School, you probably don’t understand just how hard it is not only to get yourself onto the PGA Tour, but to stay on the PGA Tour. The book is about amateur and pro golfers alike who, once a year, literally play for their livelihood in a tournament to qualify for a PGA Tour card. It’s a grueling six-round tournament that only gives out thirty cards in the final round.
According to his swing coach, Heuerman is long off the tee, but that’s not going to get him a tour card. Drive for show, putt for dough. Any self-respecting golfer knows that. Hopefully Heuerman can parlay this into a college career. Hell, maybe even get a spot on the Nationwide Tour. I heard those guys get crazy hotel rewards points, not to the mention the 30K they rake in annually. Best of luck, kid, hopefully your decision to not play college football doesn’t haunt you for the rest of your life. .
[via Golf Magazine]
Image via Twitter
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jduda@grandex.co
Maybe he got tired of getting the shit beaten out of him on the football field? I’m a huge football fan, but I’ll never judge someone for not wanting to put their body through that ringer.
Also, golf is awesome.
18 year old me (who would have killed for a D1 offer), would berate this kid and call him a pussy. 29 year old me gets it.
I’d take cigars, whiskey, comfy shoes, and low impact motions over exerting effort any day too.
Yesterday, my little sister signed a D1 soccer LOA for half off. Today, I wrote another student loan check for $400. PGP.
My sister did the same with hockey. She went in as a sophomore, so she’s going to have undergrad and grad school paid for.
We are NARPs.
I still just blame my knees and back, and ankles, and shoulders…shit.
It sounds like his family doesn’t have monetary concerns about sending him to school, and his odds of making it to the NFL are probably equal to his odds of making the Tour.
I say go with not ruining your mind and body if you’re into golf too.
My money says the reason he isn’t going to play football is because he’s 6’6″, 200***, aka, one big hit away from being broken clean in half.
Yea, because everyone who plays college football ends up loving it. The life altering injuries and 2% chance of going pro for a year or two are definitely worth committing hours a day to something for free!
I’m sure every month, so many former college football players just curse not getting to write a check for their student loans. What an awful feeling that must be.
That’s one way to look at it. You have decide if chronic pain is worth it. If it is, more power to you. Also, I don’t think most people understand how much time players give up to to play college ball.
I think its all about the athlete’s priorities. Are they playing to eventually go pro, or are they just playing the sport as a means to get a free education?
I was friends with people who did even low-rent sports like crew who had little to no time for valuable pursuits like drinking beer on weeknights and chasing easy girls. And all for a partial scholarship at best. Fail.
Not if you’re a punter. #puntersarepeopletoo.
OTOH, it’s very difficult (but not impossible) to get yourself a meaningful degree in something useful with a good GPA AND play D1 sports.
I played one year of low rent D3 football. Even that sucked up my time more than I ever anticipated. 6am walk throughs and 7pm film study, plus mandatory tutoring hours. Even with all that, you could maintain a GPA (I didn’t, but that’s another story), but you have to sacrifice a “normal” college social life.
It’s probably worth it if you’re at USC on tv every week, and out crushing post game ass. Otherwise, if I had to do it over, I wouldn’t have played football.
That’s one of those situations where you just go to a D1 school and play intramurals. Zero pressure, minimal time commitment, and fun as hell.
As nearly 30 year old, I totally agree. But at 18, playing college football was all I wanted to do. Plus I was 18. So I was, ya know, an idiot.
I should point out that because I was at a D3 school, I wasn’t attending for “free”. So my decision is a bit easier.
This would have been way better if he turned down a I-A offer, was actually a legit college and future pro prospect, and made some total jerkoff comment like “getting tackled is for poors, I’d rather wear brooks brothers shirts when I go long.”
Really sounds like he just didn’t want to spend his summers running gassers and competing with wideouts that lettered for SEC teams last year but got kicked out of school. That’s mostly what JSU is
If he isn’t consistently shooting under 75 then he will have to try to play at a D2 or D3 school. D1 schools usually wont even look at you until they see you can shoot around 72 in tournament scores, which is a totally different set of golfing skills.
Yea he really has no shot in general to play highly competitive golf at any level of college. He hasn’t played competitively since 8th grade? Even D2/D3 tournaments still need consistent rounds in the 70’s actually compete to win. But c’mon Johnny… you don’t need to know dick about college golf to know that this kid has less than a 0% chance of playing D1, let alone a D1 school in Florida like FGCU as you mentioned.