Running off on the typewriter …
Shaquem Griffin didn’t make it within the NFL, however he made it TO the NFL.
And that’s why he’ll go down as one of the vital revered, revered gamers in faculty soccer historical past.
When he introduced his retirement from soccer on Wednesday, I actually didn’t take into consideration all of the performs he made as a linebacker at UCF; I believed way more about all of the lives he impacted.
He might have just one hand, however, my God, Shaquem has extra coronary heart than any athlete I’ve ever lined. He not solely made historical past when he grew to become the primary participant with one hand to ever be drafted into the modern-day NFL, he grew to become a global position mannequin to tens of millions of amputees throughout the planet.
Even although Shaquem was the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a junior and was the Peach Bowl Defensive MVP within the monumental victory over Auburn throughout his senior season, he initially didn’t get invited to the NFL’s annual scouting mix in 2018. The league solely acquiesced due to immense public stress and since Shaquem begged the league to let him come. He responded by placing on a prosthetic left hand and bench-pressing 225 kilos 20 instances. Then he ran a 4.38 40-yard sprint — the quickest time any linebacker had run in 15 years.
By the time UCF’s Pro Day rolled round in 2018, the nationwide media was all around the story. The NFL Network had a digicam crew at UCF and ESPN had two digicam crews.
Quite actually, I can’t recall lots of the performs Shaquem made throughout his good faculty profession or his short-lived NFL stint, however I’ll all the time keep in mind the smile on 13-year-old Annika Emmert’s face that afternoon 4 years in the past as she watched her hero carry out at UCF’s Pro Day.
Annika was born with the identical congenital beginning defect as Shaquem and wore a prosthetic on her proper arm. She had pushed down together with her household from St. Augustine in hopes of assembly Shaquem. As you’ll anticipate, Shaquem not solely met together with her, he embraced her and spent a number of minutes speaking to her.
“Meeting him in person was so much fun and so special,” Annika mentioned that day. “His motto is ‘Against all odds.’ I follow him on social media and every time he posts something, he always ends it with the hashtag #AgainstAllOdds. Everything he does is an inspiration to someone like me. What he’s done and what he can do is amazing. … If he can do it, I can do it.”
No doubt about it — Shaquem Griffin will likely be remembered partly for the quarterbacks he sacked and the tackles he made, however he’ll largely be remembered for the tens of millions he impressed. …
Short stuff: The new Florida Gators workforce photograph brought on fairly a stir amongst social media critics who have been blasting the Gators for having extra employees members within the photograph (140) than gamers (116). I’m not saying that new coach Billy Napier’s employees is bloated with pointless personnel, however do the grad assistants actually need grad assistants? My operatives throughout the program inform me that Napier not solely has a espresso coordinator, he has separate cream and sugar coordinators as effectively! But, ahem, the colleges can’t afford to pay the gamers and as an alternative are begging the boosters to foot the invoice for NIL compensation. … Tom Brady is again at Tampa Bay Bucs coaching camp, however he’s nonetheless ducking the media. He hasn’t answered questions since he was implicated within the tampering scandal involving Miami Dolphins proprietor Stephen Ross. When it involves coping with controversy, it appears, the G.O.A.T. is as quiet as a lamb. …
Did you need to puke as a lot as I did a couple of days in the past when Cleveland Browns proprietor Jimmy Haslam tried to justify quarterback Deshaun Watson’s 11-game suspension by saying, “I think in this country, and hopefully in the world, people deserve second chances.” It’s one factor to get a second probability; it’s fairly one other factor that Haslam rewarded Watson with an unprecedented assured contract value $232 million. The Cleveland Clowns strike once more. … By the best way, I additionally noticed the place Watson has to endure counseling remedies in gentle of the sexual-misconduct allegations made by the handfuls of feminine therapeutic massage therapists. May I like to recommend that he see a physician of creepology. …
From David Whitley of the Gainesville Sun: “Defrocked Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt finished an impressive 23rd out of 415 entries in his first World Series of Poker event. Expect NCAA investigators to charge him with illegally recruiting the blackjack dealer.” … Fox Sports quietly introduced they’re re-hiring Urban Meyer by using a picture-perfect Friday afternoon information dump designed in order that Fox’s resolution to deliver again Meyer as a school soccer analyst would get misplaced within the weekend shuffle. My query for Fox executives: If you’re so embarrassed about hiring Meyer that you simply actually don’t need anyone to learn about it, then why are you hiring him within the first place? …
Poor Scott Frost simply can’t catch a break. The former golden-boy UCF coach who’s now on the recent seat at Nebraska received barbecued once more final week when he jokingly mentioned Nebraska’s new offensive line coach Donovan Raiola is working his boys so arduous that the linemen have been vomiting “15 or 20 times” per apply. Vomiting throughout apply used to represent arduous work, however now it symbolizes participant abuse. And despite the fact that Frost was clearly joking, he needed to stroll again the feedback after a firestorm on social media. Reason No. 945 why Frosty ought to have stayed at UCF. … Speaking of UCF, I’ve a prediction: New Knights beginning quarterback John Rhys Plumlee will account for extra complete yardage this season than former Knights quarterback Dillon Gabriel accounts for at Oklahoma. …
Fear not, NBA Hall-of-Famer Dennis Rodman says he’s going to Russia with the intention to negotiate the discharge of Brittney Griner? If the Worm may in some way pull it off, they need to additionally put him within the WNBA Hall of Fame, to not point out awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize for Diplomacy. … From Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “The Trail Blazers will not send their TV or radio broadcasters on road trips, instead having them announce games from home. There you have it — the NBA season’s first non-traveling call.” … Can we get a standing ovation for Brooklyn Nets administration for really having the audacity to stare down a bratty NBA famous person (Kevin Durant) and pressure him to come back crawling again. It nearly makes me need to root for the Nets this season, however not fairly. …
Last phrase: “He was always under control. I said to him once, ‘Leonard, make sure that you never let them see you sweat.’ And he said, ‘Coach, quarterbacks don’t sweat. Quarterbacks perspire.’” — Late nice Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram on iconic Chiefs quarterback Len “Lenny The Cool” Dawson, who handed away Wednesday at 87.
Email me at [email protected]. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and hearken to my Open Mike radio present each weekday from 6 to 9:30 a.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and HD 101.1-2
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Source: www.bostonherald.com