I referenced this story earlier today, albeit in a more jocular manner. It’s the one about the 13-year old 7th grade quarterback committing to USC a full five football seasons before he graduates from high school.
In June 1995′s NBA Draft, Kevin Garnett was the first high school basketball player to go directly to the professional ranks in a very long time. He had some success in his rookie campaign with the Minnesocold Timberpuppies, and that led to a lot more high school seniors coming out for the NBA the next draft, in 1996. That was the draft class where Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O’Neal made the direct jump, and on top of that, an inordinate number of college freshmen and sophomores came out, including #1 pick Allen Iverson. (My roommate the following two semesters was a huge Georgetown fan, and I couldn’t get through one day w/o him telling me about Iverson being the first Georgetown player under John Thompson Jr. to come out early.) It was also the first draft where white players from Europe started showing up on the boards.
The rationales given by team GMs and talent scouts for drafting men that young were utterly ridiculous. Most of it revolved around drafting for potential rather than reputation and proven ability. At about the time of the ’96 draft, Chiquita Bananas ran a commercial showing a teenage boy, no older than 13 it seemed, constantly shooting hoops in his driveway. The jist of the ad was that Chiquita’s bananas would give you the energy and nutrition to develop into a better athlete. I called Kevin Slaten, who at the time was on KSD (now KTRS), and told him that the NBA should draft the Chiquita banana boy for his far future potential rather than his proven ability. Slaten doesn’t LOL very often, but he did at that.
So now I find out that a 13-year old is already verbally committing to USC. While USC isn’t professional football (in theory, ahem Reggie Bush), it’s as professional as Los Angeles has these days.
Perhaps I ought to stop making jestful predictions.
