Overblown College Football Recruiting Coverage Takes Toll On Players' Mental Health

by Jon Johnston on Jan 31, 2010 10:00 AM CST in Nebraska Husker Football

It takes a doctor to state the obvious, doesn't it? In the case of recruiting coverage, a psychologist states that all this recruiting coverage just might affect new recruits in a negative way: (HT: Tomahawk Nation).

The blowout coverage should come with a warning, printed in plain language on the sides of computer and television screens: Recruiting might have a negative impact on young people. Dr. Eric Goldstein, a sports psychologist in South Miami, sees it nearly every day.

According to Goldstein and other psychologists, the massive amount of attention being dumped upon the heads of 17- and 18-year-old football players is not necessarily good for their mental health. The potentially harmful side effects include an inflated ego, a false sense of self, entitlement issues, identity foreclosure and a general detachment from reality.

If you'd like an example of where this kind of stuff leads, you need look no further than Jason Peter's book, Hero of the Underground.

In it, Peter talks about how he was put on a pedestal because he of his football playing ability. He emphasized that further during an interview I did with him regarding his book:

You start there, then you get to Nebraska, sign, and become a household name. There’s no where else on earth where people love their program like here. You become a starter, then a three-year starter, a captain, and all you hear is how great you are, that you’re the best. I don’t care if you have a good head on your shoulders, you start to think that this is the way people should be treating you all the time.

In the NFL, you’re still on a pedestal, people tell you you’re right when you’re wrong, so it carries over. You think this is how life is supposed to be. You’re supposed to be told how great you are all the time. When the day came when I couldn’t play football anymore, my life just went down the toilet. I thought I’d play forever and then everything was over.

I'm not trying to say that all the recruiting coverage leads someone down the same path as Jason Peter, not even close. His book does stand as a message to these guys that they'd better have something else going on besides football, however, otherwise the "life down a toilet" phrase might apply.

We haven't done much recruiting coverage here, but I think I'll try to change that this week. I'm not 100% sure what form it will take yet, but we'll have something going on with regards to signing day, and try to get a little bit more going early in the week.

We've (all of us, the country, the citizens of earth) have built the world we live in.

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Comments

I'm Tired of It

Wall to wall coverage about 18 year olds that have proven nothing on a college football field is just one example of how things have gotten out of whack, and I’m tired of it. I love college football and have loved it since I was a little kid watching the Notre Dame highlights on Sunday mornings with Lindsey Nelson. I love the games and I love the game day atmosphere, and at times I feel like a hypocrite because I hate everything else that surrounds it! Over $500,000 budgeted by the University of Nebraska for transportation costs for recruiting. I am sure other universities budget more. All the glossy mailings that come to high schools twice a week from universities, even those without a D-1 prospect. The country club lounges that every school seems to think they need. This arms race is ridiculous! Not to mention the salaries coaches are paid. Come on, does it really make sense that the highest paid public employees in nearly every state is a college football or basketball coach? Universities expanding athletic budgets in economic times that see entire colleges, departments and professors cut! It is indicative of our societies obsession with sports, but I still believe that we can still have the excitement without the excess. Why do all of final four regionals have to be played on the same basketball court? What kind of waste is that to take out a perfectly good basketball floor to put in one that matches the other three! Come on. Okay, I could go on all day, but I best stop. I used to enjoy opening up the paper after signing day to see who was signed. Today its like picking out your own Christmas present.

by jon's only friend on Jan 31, 2010 12:55 PM CST reply actions

Let's not forget Marlon Lucky's emergency room visit

Later on, Marlon said that he’d felt pressure to live up to all the expectations laid on him. I think the expectations thing got the best of Harrison Beck. All this focus on recruiting has far more negatives than positives; it’s bad for the sport.

by Husker Mike on Feb 2, 2010 7:18 PM CST reply actions