Success leaves footprints so I always encourage athletes to listen to the greats. Any athlete wanting to play their sport in college should never underestimate the importance of motivation, and reading books and articles that have observations from the greats.

Another thing I suggest is to never miss an episode of “Homecoming with Rick Reilly” on ESPN. It is a 60 minute show that focuses on the steps great athletes took to success. It always has tremendous insights on the choices they made, their recruiting experiences, and what they did to become successful. Previous episodes on athletes such as Dwayne Wade, Joe Mauer, Chris Paul, Kurt Warner, Michael Phelps and Alonzo Mourning were packed with tools of success. Sure enough, Thursday night I was right there to watch the episode focusing on Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all time leading rusher.

Emmitt spent his first years living in the trailer projects with his family in Pensacola. When asked when was the first time he thought he would be able to make it in the world, he revealed that it was when a High School teammate, a fullback named Sam, got a college football recruiting letter. Emmitt’s observation was, “They are going to pay you to go to college?!” Okay. That will be the first step.” The fact that Emmitt Smith was in High School and didn’t even know much about recruiting shows that everyone needs to get educated on the incredible possibilities that come from being a student-athlete capable of playing their sport at the next level.

Emmitt was just 5 foot 9 inches, and never was the fastest or quickest, but he was flat-out great at running the football. As he rushed for almost 9000 yards in High School, the colleges were all over him. He said every major college offered him. Most went by the rules, but back in mid 1980’s recruiting was somewhat like the Wild West in that there were some bigtime cheaters in recruiting. Emmitt’s High School football offensive coordinator, Jimmy Nichols, shared the story of one college coach handing him a check for $25,000 to give to Emmitt so he could buy a Nissan Maxima. The intention was for the coach to make sure Emmitt signed with that college. The coach refused it, saying, “I can’t do that!”

Emmitt’s High School coach, Dwight Thomas, also shared that Emmitt was the toughest kid he ever coached. There were some faster and quicker, but none tougher. He also encouraged Emmitt to write down his goals, which he did, and played a major role in his success. He said he always wrote Team goals first.

By Emmitt’s junior year at the University of Florida, he had set 58 school records. He went pro and was coached by Jimmie Johnson with the Cowboys. Emmitt revealed one reason Johnson made the Cowboys so successful was that he had them compete in everything, not just games. The weight room and practices were built around competition.

Emmitt said one of the reasons he never got all wound up in the end zone was that his Dad had raised him with the belief that “the great ones act like they have been there before” when they score.

One of the most touching moments was near the end of the hour long show when the host, Rick Reilly, observed that Emmitt had done a lot of study of his family roots and had discovered there was a white man way back in his family tree, most likely a slave owner. When asked if that upset him, he said it did not. He then looked out at his former High School teammates from Escambia High in Pensacola, who were in the audience. They were all in their mid 40’s, and it looked like every one of them was there.

“This is my family,” he said as tears streamed down his face. “They taught me to understand the differences in people, and that if you have a common goal it doesn’t matter what race you are.”

Struggling to keep his composure, Emmitt deeply thanked them for the role they played in his success. Emmitt then turned to the current High School football players.

“Take full advantage of every opportunity you have,” he told them. “There are doors of opportunity.”

Recruiting Observations

Living in the South Bend-Mishawaka area, I read the local paper each day (South Bend Tribune) and usually find recruiting analogies in it. In a story on Mike Mayock, the new color commentator for NBC broadcasts of Notre Dame football, he was asked his thoughts on new Notre Dame head football coach Brian Kelly. Mayock talked about the current talent difference between schools like Southern Cal and Texas and Notre Dame, and then said, “What I’d like to stress is that it’s not Brian Kelly’s job to get players into the NFL. His job is to win college football games. And if he does that, I think the rest will follow.”

As the school year begins, always remember it is not the job of the High School, Club or AAU coach to get your kids college athletic scholarships. As I always say, there are coaches that do a heckuva lot, but their main responsibility is to build athletic programs that are successful and filled with values.

I spoke at Sullivan High School Athletics Parent Night recently and had a conversation with their Athletic Director Otto Clements. He said the major challenge parents have in recruiting is they are not sure if the college coaches are to come to them, or if they are supposed to go to the college coaches.

Young people need to be proactive. It is vital they start as early as possible in the process developing relationships with college coaches, and not waiting. Too often families wait for the colleges to discover their kid, or for their coach to take the lead in the process. Remember what Emmitt Smith said? Take advantage of your opportunities. Well, opportunities don’t always announce themselves. In recruiting, you HAVE to get educated first before you have a clue about the opportunities out there.

Otto’s other main observation was that parents usually don’t understand how elite the Division One athlete truly is. He said he had been at the school for over twenty years and that they had not had a Division One football player.

There were over 250 people at my Talk, and I saw many of the athletes. My eyeball test was that there were many that could play at some level of college. A major difference would be understanding the recruiting process.

Do you need help connecting with scholarships to play sports in College? If so, contact me here at [email protected]

More than ever, companies are looking to hire college athletes because of the fire they bring to the culture of the company or organization. Zac Fagan is a young man who utilized the National Collegiate Scouting Association to connect with $18,000 a year in academic scholarship money to play football in college. It wasn’t easy though. Back in September of 2009, Zac could have given up on his dream to be a college football player, but his persistence and the inspiration of his younger sister gave him the strength to overcome the unexpected adversity of his 12th grade season. Zac told me this story:

“Mr. Adams, I had been playing quarterback for five years. I trained year round and was totally dedicated to my game. My senior year finally came. This would be my year and all the hard work would pay off. I was elected Team Captain and our team at T. C. Roberson High in Asheville, North Carolina had really pulled together on and off the field.

We had a scrimmage game right before the season and we lost. The next practice my Coach let me know that he was changing our complete offense and putting in our star running back as quarterback. I was crushed. Now my confidence was shook to the core, I would not have the opportunity to compete for my position. I was still Captain, so I did everything to help the team. I tried any other position the coach would give me (I think I did everything but kick the ball). It looked like my dream of being a college football player was over.

I went eight games without playing quarterback. In November, I won my position back before the final game of the regular season. We had to win the game to make the playoffs. In the game I was able to throw for two touchdowns and run for another. One of the touchdown passes was in overtime to set up the winning two point conversion. It was the best game I ever played in my life!!

However, earlier that day my sister Meryl was admitted into the Hospital. She had battled a life long illness known as Rett Syndrome. It is a neurodevelopmental disease where in her case she had seizures and could not talk. She was in the PEP program at School, which is Progressive Education Program. Each day I was able to spend 90 minutes as a PEP mentor. (photo below of my sister and me).

She was hospitalized for pneumonia just before my game that day and was in critical condition. My family chose not to tell me then. That night, right after the great game, they told me about her being in the Hospital. I went from being really excited to being completely devastated in one second. I literally fell down on my knees on the field.

Saturday she seemed okay, but got worse. My sister died on Monday. She was just 18. The Doctors had diagnosed her with Rett Syndrome when she was 13 and told us to make funeral plans then, but she lived five more years.

When I was going through that hard time where I had lost my starting quarterback job, I would come home from practice where it was a crappy day and I would see her in her wheelchair. She couldn’t talk. She couldn’t move much. You could tell what she was trying to say by her eyes. I would come home worn down from how my senior year was going and that it didn’t look like there was any way I would be seen by College football coaches, and see her and say to myself, ‘I can handle my challenge. I can do this.’ When Meryl died, I made a promise that I would go on for my dreams and live life with passion!

I would not give up on the dream of playing college football. I was able to get game film of that game I played in and got the help of NCSA, the National Collegiate Scouting Association. We rushed it to NCSA and they edited it for me. They posted it and I had also introduced it to other coaches in emails.

To my surprise, Coaches started contacting me. I was getting calls and emails from colleges. I hadn’t played until the last game, and yet it was enough for them to see I had talent. They were schools with my major and football.

I ended up visiting a college that I had never heard of before in the neighboring state of Virginia, only five hours from home - Bridgewater College in Virginia. This was a match on the site, I had an instant connection with the coach that had contacted me, and it seemed to have everything I was looking for. It was the perfect match, I felt right at home with their people and philosophies. I loved that it was a small campus with a very personal environment. Everyone knew each other, which is what I like. Thanks to NCSA, I had learned how to meet with Financial Aid and set up for merit based scholarships. My hard work in the classroom helped. I had a 4.3 GPA with 10 honors classes. The Coaches were able to nominate me for merit based scholarships. The fact that I had taken hard classes really helped as I was offered a $18,250 yearly scholarship. That doesn’t cover everything, but it makes it manageable for us as a family.

Mr. Adams, I am thrilled to say that my college choice was made clear. I will be a Bridgewater College Eagle. A lot of kids get caught up in wanting to play Division One, major college sports. Those guys are huge and fast. I could walk-on but that probably wouldn’t work out. I love the game of football. I want to play it. It’s not about the level. It’s about the game and the fans. I will be competing for the quarterback position, dedicated to their program, studying Athletic Training - pre Physical Therapy and enjoying all that this special college has to offer.”
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Zac isn’t done. He works part time at Marco’s Pizzeria and has organized a big fund raising day on Valentines where Marco’s is donating a significant amount of all revenues that day to go to the
Progressive Education Program in their county, which serves students with moderate to significant intellectual difficulties.

Zac and the QB from Asheville High (T C Roberson’s biggest rival) have become friends as they both have relatives that have battled or are battling serious illness. They are now planning a basketball tournament where the funds will be split between cancer research and International Rett Syndrome Association. They both wore #9.

We hear so much negative news these days. It is so refreshing to know there are great young people out there like Zac!

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If you would like me to set up an evaluation for your son or daughter regarding College Athletics possibilities, email me a paragraph summary of their athletics and academics accomplishments to this point, and what you feel is their commitment to wanting to play the sport they love at the College level.

[email protected]

When I think of Excellence, I love to share the story of a young lady who exemplifies the word.

I have interviewed thousands of college athletes at all levels. Vanessa Pruzinsky would rank at the top of the list.

Vanessa carried a perfect 4.0 grade point average her entire time at Notre Dame in CHEMICAL ENGINEERING! How hard is that? She was only the third person in the University’s history to do that, and the first female ever. At the same time she was also a starter on the powerhouse soccer team. Vanessa was the Rookie of the Year in the Big East Conference in 1999. She was a key player on a team that was consistently ranked in the top five in the nation, and that has won 2 national championships in the past decade.

She achieved excellence as a student and as an athlete. Vanessa was committed and determined. She had one brutally tough class that led her to tears. The librarian would often have to wake her up at 2 in the morning so that she could go back to her room for some sleep. As an athlete she had to have ankle surgery one season, but came back to lead a defense that allowed just 5 goals in one 19 game stretch.

She was excellence. Not excellent, excellence. It was her state of being. She was as close to perfection as any high achiever I ever covered in my broadcasting career.

My passion for educating families on how valuable it can be to become a true college student-athlete partially comes from having reported on people like Vanessa. This world needs more people with “fire within” like her. I passionately believe an answer for companies is to look to hire more college athletes upon their graduation - especially ones with high GPA’s from top academic institutions.

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” Vince Lombardi

Whether you are striving for peak performance as an organization or individual, or whether you are working hard to earn a college athletics scholarship, it is important to take time to reflect on priorities.

A priority is something very important to your life. It gives focus to your life. It is something with value that shapes your life, for better or worse, the rest of your life. It claims your time, energy and resources. A priority is chosen by you or set by outside circumstances. The world will ask who you are. If you don’t know, it will tell you. You have to stand for something.

When it comes to priorities, here are three questions:

* What do you think about?
* Where do you spend your money?
* Where do you spend your time?

To be successful in priorities, you have to bring together all three of your capacities:

* Imagination - imagine possibilities that will come from your priorities.
* Intelligence - Use your ability to think and plan.
* Will - You must resolve to seek your desired goals. This comes back to stoking the fire within (rah rah!!)

As you reflect on 2010 priorities, tell yourself, “I have the power to establish priorities that will direct my life!”

In the future, reflect on your priorities and determine two things:

* What you will improve?
* What you will eliminate?

Charlie Adams

As I reflect on the various motivational programs I was able to deliver in 2009, one of the lasting memories was the impact NCSA education and guidance had on a terrific young lady named Ashlin Sanders. As a speaker, I have a passion for two things: helping to ignite events with the Stoke the Fire Within keynotes and breakouts, and educating and inspiring young people on how to connect with college athletics scholarships. Companies are looking to hire them, because of the fire they have within.

A year ago this month, I delivered College Recruiting Simplifed on a cold, winter night in downtown South Bend, IN. Kirby Whitacre, Dir. of Athletics for South Bend schools, had organized the event. Kirby has always made sure Recruiting Education is available to families.

Ashlin’s parents, Perry and Cherrie Sanders, were in attendance. Ashlin was at basketball practice. The 5′8″ guard was in her senior season at Riley High. Even though she was All Conference and played on AAU teams such as The Family, the official NIKE travel program for girls basketball in Indiana, and in Showcases, she wasn’t being recruited that much. The family felt her High School coach wasn’t doing enough in recruiting, but the bottom line is that it is not the job of the High School coach to lead the way in recruiting. It is the responsibility of the family.

A few letters were making their way, but nothing was really happening for this very talented basketball player. As I have said many times, AAU and Club are important because you have to develop the ability to play at the College level, but so many families think it assures them College scholarships. The premier players - the top 20% or so - but many fall between the recruiting cracks. Ashlin was headed that way.

Mr. and Mrs. Sanders heard my 50 minute presentation on The 5 Things You Must Know and The 5 Things You Must Do to connect with College Coaches, and they followed the steps. They knew they had to be more proactive with the recruiting game.

They decided to go into one of the NCSA programs. She built her Profile with NCSA’s guidance, and NCSA sent it out during the season. A lot can happen senior season, but you can’t horse around. Families have to take action.

“Everything came alive then,” said Mrs. Sanders of the response. “We heard from schools all over. Schools we had heard of. Schools we hadn’t. Division 1, 2, 3, NAIA, Junior College. Schools came out of the woodwork. Evansville was very aggressive after her. The Lady Vols viewed her profile. Eastern Michigan was really interested. Middle Tennessee State. Schools in North Carolina, New York, Florida…”

Ashlin was a very good player. Colleges simply didn’t know she existed. The sad thing about recruiting every year is that so many kids don’t get recruited because College coaches don’t know who they are. Good kids who work hard. College coaches today find good, quality kids through verified sites like NCSA. They can’t be everywhere personally finding kids. In today’s recruiting world, they are taking advantage of the internet and the ability to watch a young person’s hilites, full game tapes, and verified transcript all in one place. When they saw Ashlin’s ability to run the floor and play the game, their eyebrows raised!

Ashlin wanted to stay in the Midwest area within four hours of home. NCSA was able to open her up to all those schools’s in that radius.

Academically, she carried a 2.6 GPA as a senior at Riley High and struggled with the SAT, so that limited some of her options. As I always say - and this has resonated with young people because they will listen to an outside expert - “the better your grades, the more options you will have in college sports!” Ashlin’s grades/test scores weren’t the greatest, so she didn’t have as many options. However, she still had some, and took advantage of them! Among her offers was one from Lincoln College, a private, two-year, liberal arts college in Lincoln, Illinois.

Lincoln is covering her $21,000 tuition. Her family is covering room and board.

“That’s what I wanted!” said, Cherrie, excited. There is no greater relief than knowing the vast majority of college costs are being covered. The average college grad leaves with $23,000 in loans. Athletes like Ashlin Sanders have an advantage, which is why families need to be doing everything they can to connect with coaches.

Cherrie wrote a note to me later, saying NCSA had been a godsend to their family. What I love is that NCSA can simply help good kids get a lot more looks. These kids deserve to be playing somewhere. I love how we are able to connect coaches with top quality kids!

Ashlin is home on Break. She is loving her experience at Lincoln College. She has scored 17, 13 and 11 points in recent games, so she is getting to play a lot. Academically, she is now carrying a 3.5 GPA because of the tremendous academic support programs in place for athletes. Her mother calls their academic support “excellent.”

Division 1 schools like Eastern Michigan continue to watch her. No doubt, she will have the chance to transfer to a major college program in two years. Upon graduation, she wants to be a Physical Ed teacher and a coach. Like many athletes, she wants to spend her career in Sports.

“Everyone we talked to at NCSA was friendly and helpful,” said Cherrie. “If you choose to do one of the programs, it’s worth it”

As I head out to speak across the country, I always tell my wife that delivering College Recruiting Simplified will be a life changing experience for some of the people in every audience. The Sanders made the decision to drive out on a snowy night in the dead of winter a year ago to hear the Talk. Their girl was under the radar in recruiting. They chose to follow the steps and take action. Ashlin’s life has been changed. It’s early, but she is on track to earn a college degree. In today’s world, getting a college degree is no longer an option. It’s a necessity. Ashlin is doing it!

Charlie Adams
To see about getting your athlete evaluated for college athletic scholarship possibilities, contact me at [email protected]

Thanksgiving weekend, among many other things, provides an opportunity to waddle out from the table and watch a movie. I don’t go to the Movie Theater often. When I do, it is usually to watch something inspirational. Earlier this week I saw “The Blind Side” with my two oldest children.

I give it a “Thumbs Up” as Siskel and Ebert used to do. I highly suggest you try to see it. You will come out of it reinvigorated and feeling like you spent time watching a quality film with a good message. The opening weekend box office was better than expected for this film, which means people are talking about its’ impact.

The movie stars Sandra Bullock. Like many of you, I have seen a lot of her movies. In my opinion, this is her best acting performance (my gosh, I am starting to sound like a movie critic writer…). Her performance is deserving of Academy Award consideration. This is a far cry from “Speed” or “Miss Congeniality.” She plays Leigh Anne Tuohy. Talk about having a fire within! Leigh Anne Tuohy has it, and Bullock was dead-on portraying it! To top it off, she played a southern woman and didn’t try to force a southern accent, which is usually disaster for Hollywood actors. Being from the South, I have often literally cringed as actors tried to manufacture a southern accent.

The Blind Side tells the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless African-American youngster from a broken home in Memphis. His mother suffered an addiction to crack cocaine, which impacted his education. He repeated both first grade and second grade, and attended eleven different schools during his first nine years as a student. He had no real home and wandered around night to night. At 6′3″ and 350 pounds, he was quite the sight wandering around. One night Sean and Leigh Anne Touhy and their two children saw him walking alongside the road in short sleeves and cold weather, and took him in for the night and beyond. The Tuohy’s are a well-to-do white family that help him reach his incredible potential. At the same time, Oher leads them to learn more about themselves. When you see where Oher started and where he is today, you will be stoked. The pictures at the end of the movie have a powerful impact.

Okay, that paragraph REALLY sounded like a movie review.

Tim McGraw does a really nice job playing Sean Tuohy, Leigh Anne’s husband. Ironically, when I was in High School in the late 1970’s in Oxford, Mississippi, I watched Sean Tuohy play basketball for Ole Miss. He was a very good player out of Newman HS in New Orleans (the alma mater of Peyton and Eli Manning). He married Leigh Anne, a cheerleader for Ole Miss, and went on to own about 80 Taco Bell/KFC franchises. That led to the “well-to-do” status.

Over the last few years, I had heard about Michael Oher and the Tuohy’s. A best-selling book was written about the story, and then the movie came out. We made a point to be there as soon as it was released, and came away inspired. The Theater was packed, which is a sign a good buzz had come out that this was indeed a quality film worth shelling out $8.

This isn’t a rah rah sports movie, but a compelling true life story of the fire within a woman, and what it did to help a young man reach his potential in life.

Staying on fire takes a daily effort. One way to do it is watching this new film sometime over the next few days. I promise you that you will come away stoked! If you see it, let me know how it stoked the fire within you.

Just don’t go after eating a heavy Thanksgiving meal. Full stomach plus dark theater leads to ZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Charlie Adams

Over the weekend, Stanford University crushed mighty Southern Cal 55-21. 55 points are the most ever given up by Southern Cal.

The leader of Stanford is head coach Jim Harbaugh, a man with fire.

Read what he said when he was introduced as Stanford Head Football Coach in 2006:

“I vow I will attack this endeavor with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”

The headline of the article read: “Harbaugh On Fire with Enthusiasm.”

He took over a program with the toughest academic requirements in major college football, and he has them ranked in the Top 15 in America.
He made no excuses. Instead, he brought a fire. In my observations from having interviewed over 4000 peak performers, I have found time and time again that the biggest factor in success is having the fire within. As Jim Harbaugh has shown at Stanford, amazing things can happen when it is stoked.

What are you as an individual and as an organization doing today to kindle the fire within you?

I challenge you to take the approach Jim Harbaugh did when he accepted the challenge of leading Stanford Football:

“I vow I will attack this endeavor with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”

Mike Edwards had a dream to be a college basketball player. He didn’t let the fact that he was missing part of a leg keep him from reaching his dream. As you pursue your dream of playing at the next level, I hope you draw inspiration from his amazing story.

Mike had been born missing a bone in his left leg. The leg didn’t grow correctly, leaving amputation as the only option. A dedicated basketball player, Mike held off on the amputation. He would come home from practice and soak his leg in a bucket of ice to handle the brutal pain. While other kids were thinking about what game to play after school, young Mike was thinking about whether he would have to have his leg removed. Finally, it got to be too much. At 13, he had the amputation and continued to play with an artificial leg.

Mike and his family moved to South Bend. He didn’t tell anyone about his leg and earned a spot on the varsity team at John Adams High School based on his basketball skills. He wore sweats all the time to hide his artificial leg. Eventually, he had to take off the sweats. You can imagine how surprised his teammates were! They really didn’t know how to act around him. There was a period of awkwardness.

Mike sensed it. Even though he was one of the most intense athletes to ever play at Adams High, he also knew when to loosen things up. As the team rode a bus across town to a scrimmage, Mike took off his artificial leg and held it out the window and waved it at passing cars. His teammates got the biggest charge out of that. Everyone laughed! Then, when they arrived at the opponent’s school, Mike put the leg on backwards. With the other school’s administrators waiting outside the bus to greet the visitors, Mike walked off with one foot heading forward and the other foot heading backwards. The administrators about hopped out of their pants!

Although Mike is one of the most intense, dedicated people I have ever met, he also knows when to have fun!

His story attracted the interest of John MacLeod, who was then the Notre Dame head basketball coach. He invited Mike to be a walk-on for the Fightin’ Irish basketball team, where he would serve as a fierce practice player. I remember interviewing him before practice one time. His eyes were squinted just a bit as he told me he would do anything to help the team in practice. “I will sweat blood,” he said. “Anything I can do to make these guys better!”

At the same time, he found humor. He often joked that he was a 20/20 player for Notre Dame. He would only get in a game if the team was up by 20 points or down by 20!

Mike went on and became the first disabled player in the history of division one College Basketball to play in a game, when he got in a game in 1998.

Stoke the Fire Within! What are you doing today to get closer to playing college sports?

Charlie Adams

In Connecticut recently to speak, I talked with a local CEO about the growing trend of companies going after College Athletes. Remember: playing College Sports is a 40 year decision, not 4.

He said he was a company exec and when a resume comes across his desk where the person was a College Athlete, it goes to the top of the list.

He said something very interesting. He said he likes hiring College Athletes because they don’t just expect raises unless they earn them. He said many people without College Athletic backgrounds simply expect a 3% raise because they should get it. He said athletes realize they need to deserve such a raise, and then do the work to merit it.

Charlie - What the exec said about college student athletes is so true. I spent 20 years working in the wholesale banking industry. Two of those years, I interviewed prospects from the Wharton School, Northwestern, U. of Michigan, U. of Chicago among others. These are the top finance education schools in the country. The most impressive prospects were those who played intercollegiate sports in college. They were always better prepared, asked great questions, demonstrated time-management skills, and had that competitiveness I was looking for. Also, I could never hire them. Why? They always had several other job offers that paid more than my bank was willing to pay! Keith Babb, Senior Scout, National Collegiate Scouting Association

I heard 1995 Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George of Ohio State speak this week at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown South Bend as part of the Key Bank Gridiron Legends Luncheon Series.

When asked about a memorable recruiting experience, George chuckled as he thought back to when Ohio State was recruiting him. He had attended Fork Union Military Academy for the 10th to 12th grades. He stayed an extra year (13th grade, so to speak) which helped his recruitment.

When Ohio State brought him in for an Official Visit that winter, they had some of their most serious Buckeyes host him for his 48 hour visit. Their logic was that they thought he was a very serious guy since he went to a Military Academy. In reality, Eddie was an outgoing guy who was hoping to get out and at least meet some girls while on his visit to Columbus. He joked that at Military Academy he hadn’t seen girls in months.

The serious Buckeye players, however, took him back to their apartment. On a Friday night he said they watched old movies like “Yentl.” Eddie eventually asked them if they were going out since it WAS Friday night. They said they usually stayed in.

The next day while being shown around campus, Eddie ran into other recruits. They said that they had been up all night having fun with their hosts.

Despite his lack of fun on his Official Visit, Eddie signed with Ohio State. His story is one of overcoming adversity. As a freshman, he got off to a good start as he scored 3 TD’s over Syracuse. However, against Illinois early in the season he lost two fumbles.

He was relegated to the deepest part of the bench for practically two seasons.

“That was devastating,” he said. “I would be in the cafeteria and people would say, ‘Don’t drop your food.’ Some people voted me as the worst running back ever to come to Ohio State. I thought about quitting or transferring, but really that’s when I won the Heisman. I didn’t quit. I worked harder. I stayed in the weight room longer. I did extra film study. I stretched more. I even took ballet class. By the time I was a junior they had recruited other good running backs. People said that at 6’3” I was too tall and wouldn’t be able to get through the tackles and that I wasn’t tough enough.”

George’s resolve paid off. He had a strong junior season and then exploded as a senior, rushing for a school record 1927 yards and 24 TD’s. Against Illinois, the same team he had lost 2 fumbles to as a freshman, he rushed for 314 yards in 3 quarters. He went on to win the Heisman Trophy. “I had gone from two fumbles that sent me into a spiral of self doubt,” he said, “to becoming the best player in College Football. That’s how I knew God was with me the whole time.”

George had compelling insights about teamwork. In 1994 Ohio State was loaded with future NFL talent. Still, Penn State beat them 63-14. Can you imagine!?

“We could have spiraled downward or propelled higher,” George said. “That’s when we realized we had to play as a TEAM. We had guys who were thinking about pro football and about getting agents. Forget that crap. We made a decision to be a team.”

The next year, with their emphasis on team, Ohio State was almost unbeatable.

George said something young people can draw inspiration from as far as setting goals. In 1988 he watched an ESPN show on Barry Sanders, who won the Heisman that year. He said he taped it and watched it over and over. That week he made up his mind he would win the Heisman one day, and started practicing his speech as a kid. He visualized his future success.

Charlie Adams