Big School or Playing Time?
June 25th, 2009 - byMany recruits struggle with the decision to walk on at a big school or receive a scholarship and a better shot at playing time at a smaller school. Many recruits picture Rudy and other famous walk-ons toiling in practice only to one day get their shot at glory on national TV. They assume that one shot will make all the work worth it.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way. Most walk-ons leave the program well before the get a whiff of playing time. Even those that do end up making it don’t always find their small role on a team worth it.
Yesterday’s news from the University of Illinois that Jeff Jordan, son of Michael, is leaving the program is one more example of a walk-on not lasting four years. He turned down the chance at a full scholarship at Valparaiso to walk on for the Illini. Last year he succeeded in earning a scholarship and averaged 8.4 minutes a game as a sophomore. Apparently, that was not enough as he announced that he was leaving the program to concentrate on his studies.
“I loved playing for the Fighting Illini and appreciate the support I was given by my teammates, coaches and the great fans here,” Jordan in a statement. “But I have come to the point where I’m ready to focus on life after basketball.”
Hats off to Jeff, for realizing the importance of his studies but it does make you wonder if things would have turned out differently had he accepted the Valpo scholarship.
June 26th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I think it is tough with Jordan just because he knows that he has to live in the legend of his dad, which obviously makes it tough. I think in some situations, money would have pushed him towards Valpo just because there was a scholly on the table. In other situations, the dream of playing at a major DI school would have pushed him there. It depends a lot on the financial situation of the family.