Jesse Scroggins can walk a mile on his hands

by Joel Hollingsworth on Jun 4, 2009 8:00 AM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Football

Today's must-read for Tennessee fans, especially in light of the report that QB prospect Jake Heaps is headed to BYU, is Bruce Feldman's excellent in-depth piece on Jesse Scroggins. Highlights include:

Feldman met the QB prospect when Scroggins was proving to be the brightest star among several at a Nike camp at USC awhile ago. Scroggins's national desirability factor has grown significantly since then.
His dad explained to Bruce some of the more unique, budget-friendly training methods he used to develop Jesse into a highly touted recruit, including doing mile-long wheelbarrow walks (because of an observation from watching National Geographic that humans' upper bodies get weak when we learn to walk) and putting up seven different-colored t-shirts on a fence and calling out a color to Jesse as he was dropping back.
After the Nike camp was over, Jesse split the uprights from the opposite 40-yard line.

"The kid also comes across as polite, well-spoken and affable. He didn't seem to have the arrogance one might expect from some anointed blue-chipper."

Scroggins is soon heading to Florida, to Tennessee, and to USC for camps.

The biggest factors in choosing a school? (1) depth chart (woo for us!); (2) the program's stability (umm, we keep coaches for 17 years at a time!); (3) he wants to go somewhere "the environment will push him." (from all accounts, we have that).

Scroggins plans to enroll early and get a jump on things at the collegiate level.

Go read the whole thing. With Heaps reportedly off the table, Scroggins may be the priority for UT's coaches.

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We offered him early

Before Florida or USC.

I hope he remembers that.

by rblakeh on Jun 4, 2009 9:10 AM EDT reply actions

But did we offer him a car like USC did?

Maybe he talked to Tim Floyd.

(My work is done here.)

by Chris Pendley on Jun 4, 2009 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Criteria #1 and #3 are somewhat at odds with each other.

I know what he means by judging the depth chart and looking to be pushed, but the friendlier the depth chart, the less push you have by virtue of competition.

(Not that he wouldn’t get pushed – just an observation.)

by David Hooper on Jun 4, 2009 9:53 PM EDT reply actions