SIGNED: OT Jess Coffey

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huskerfan500

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Player: Jess Coffey

Hometown: Denton, TX (Guyer)

Position: Offensive Tackle

Height: 6'7"

Weight: 270 lbs.

40 time: 5.3 secs

Visit Date: 6-10-08

Scholarships offered: Nebraska, Tulsa, Mississippi, New Mexico St,

Schools of Interest: Nebraska, Kansas, Arizona, Tulsa, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, New Mexico State, UCF

Favorites:

Rankings/Stars:

Rivals:

Bid Red Report:

Assessing the talent:

Odds of becoming a Cornhusker: 50% NU first to offer

 
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http://www.goldhelmet.com/showthread.php?t...ighlight=Coffey

Height: 6 foot-7

Weight: 270 lbs.

Combine

Forty: 5.3

Bench Reps:

Bench Max: 250 lbs.

Squat Max:

Shuttle: 5.0 secs.

Vertical: 22 inches

GPA: 5.0 SAT: 1360 ACT: 28
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Not that test scores mean particularly much, but it's not much of a stretch to say if he gets into Harvard, it'll be because he's an athlete. I don't know a thing about Mr. Coffey, so this is just a generalization: most big-time DI football prospects, if they decide to go to a Harvard or a Stanford, it's for the name, and not because they *really* want to get an education. And they'd be making a mistake, in my opinion.

 
zoogies said:
http://www.goldhelmet.com/showthread.php?t...ighlight=Coffey

Not that test scores mean particularly much, but it's not much of a stretch to say if he gets into Harvard, it'll be because he's an athlete. I don't know a thing about Mr. Coffey, so this is just a generalization: most big-time DI football prospects, if they decide to go to a Harvard or a Stanford, it's for the name, and not because they *really* want to get an education. And they'd be making a mistake, in my opinion.
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No offense but I think that this statement is ridiculous. Making a mistake to go to Stanford or Harvard? These are two of the top academic institutions in the known universe.

The odds of making a career out of football are absurdly low. If a kid decides to leverage himself and go to an Ivy League instead of trying to make the league, not only does it enable him to have access to some of the highest paying jobs available after he graduates, but also gives him the chance to make the NFL, as guys in the league from these schools are not unheard of.

Don't get me wrong, I want Jess Coffey to come to Nebraska just as much as everyone else here, but if one of these guys chooses to go to Stanford or Harvard over us, I would be much less upset about it than if they went to an Oklahoma or Texas, simply because they didn't choose another football school over us thinking the athletic program was better, they chose one that was better academically.

 
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It's making a mistake if you go there for the wrong reasons. I think the way people look at it is, hey, wow, I can go here (free, in Stanford's case, I think), and get a nice shiny degree that says "Harvard" or "Stanford" on it. I don't think they're looking at the school, thinking, "Hey, Harvard has one of the top physics programs in the nation" or "Stanford's engineering is top-notch." And, because they are football players first and foremost, they're not getting the same hardcore Stanford education that the rest of the students go there to get. It's a huge disparity. (I think a lot less so at Harvard, because they don't hand out scholarships).

It's not like they have to go to Harvard or Stanford. Cal-Berkeley and Michigan are another two of the premier universities in the world. And an ivy league degree - while shiny and prestigious - is not a free ticket to riches.

You're right, though, in a sense: some circles definitely recognize the Ivy nameplate. But "ooh, shiny name" is, IMO, an awful reason to go somewhere, regardless of who you are. If education is really that important to them, they'd be looking at the UC's, UVA, Michigan, Texas, as well. Otherwise, they're fooling themselves - and maybe some others as well. I mean, look at the athletes you see playing football for Michigan, Cal, UCLA, USC, and so on. Are most of them there to take advantage of the world-class engineering program at Michigan and Cal (not that they'd have the time?), or are they getting through easy classes with the help of tutors and with the weight of the football program behind them.

Anyways, this is kind of tangential (and I'm not making an indictment of Mr. Coffey; forgive me for going so off-topic), but that's why I tend to be pessimistic when I hear recruits talk up how much they value "academics" in a school and how much advantage that should lend to schools like Stanford.

 
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It's also on the low end for Harvard applicants. A 28 ACT is very, very ordinary. Granted, test scores don't mean a thing, so I'm not going to judge his intelligence based on a test score, only note that Harvard would, except that he's a football player.

Although, if his priority is that vested in academics, I wonder why Texas Tech, Arizona, UCF (heck, even Nebraska :( ) are appealing to him. I mean, Texas *Tech*!

 
When you're talking about the applicant pool to Harvard or Stanford, a 28 is *very* underwhelming. This is a pool where nearly everyone is well within the top 5%, and the average scores of the admitted students are top 1%.

But of course, athletes get special treatment. There are thousands of very academically driven students with plenty of academic achievements who are going to get rejected from Stanford this fall, the same school that's offering full rides to guys like Alex Bullard, who has a 3.3 GPA, 960 SAT, and a 22 on the ACT. And re: recruit Justin Renfro:

The article by Allen Wallace reports that the Stanford coaches told Justin that he needed to score in the "high 500s" on each section of the SAT to be admitted to Stanford.

-source
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Because he can play football. And there are thousands of kids for whom "high 700s", to go with a litany of awards and accomplishments, are not going to be good enough.

Also makes you wonder what kind of HS classes they're taking to get their GPAs:

(same source link)

The lowest reported SAT in the Craven/Lemon class was 1080; both players reporting that also reported 4.0 gpas.
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But anyways! There's my vent for the day :) I don't mean to direct this at all at Coffey in particular, and I'm awfully sorry for getting so off track/worked up over it.

 
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Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
A 28 is not ordinary. The national average is a 20, less than 10% of students get a 28 or better.
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And less than 10% who apply get into Harvard. Stats on ACT for Harvard are not available but their average on the SAT is close to 1500. Remember what they say, the hardest thing about Harvard is getting in.

Anyway, Harvard may be one of the best educations that money can buy, but he should not expect a similar level of quality to necessarily apply to the football field. If he wants competent instruction, he needs to come to Nebraska.

 
If you know much about academic requirements for top schools, you would know that a 28 ACT is comendable but not Harvard material. You do not even qualify for in-state Regents scholarships at UNL with an ACT this low. Generally most people who get into Ivy League institutions have a 30 or higher on their ACTs, and this is especially true for the top tier of these institutions. Usually you can get by with a 2-5 point decrease if you are a talented student-athlete who can contribute on the field as well. I would not expect to be accepted applying out-of-state with a 5.0 and 28 ACT if I were applying to Harvard. My brother did not even get into Rice with scores comparable to those (although that was 10 years ago)

What most people don't realize, however, is that graduate school (MBA programs especially) are where the name of the institution really matters. Bachelor degrees from Ivy League schools do not go all that far in the workplace, and you can save money by attending a cheaper institution and get into Graduate School at one of the prestigious universities. In many ways top public schools can often be better for finding employment because students tend to be considered more well-rounded than top end academic institutions. If he were smart, he would go where he feels most comfortable rather than which school ranks highest either in academics or athletics.

 
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