Saturday, January 10, 2009

Waiting is the hardest part

Well it looks the like whole Shady situation is on hold until Monday. If you live under a rock and didn't hear, Shady and his family met with Wanny today in a meeting that lasted about 90 minutes. According to KDKA, it was a very emotional meeting.

I can't even imagine what must be going through Shady's mind. On one hand he has the opportunity to come back and have a chance to lead Pitt to another good season while improving his draft status, and getting a shot to win the Heisman. On the other hand he will surely be selected in the draft and it certainly would be nice to get a big paycheck like his big brother.

The hardest part for Shady is that he is a very emotional guy who wants to do what is best for him while not disappointing those around him. This is where the problems come in. He is very close with Wanny and feels that he owes it to Pitt and Wanny to come back and try to improve the team. He has also been given support by his father to stay in school for another year. On the other side is his mother, brother, Larry Fitzgerald, and Darrelle Revis who have all told him it is time to move on.

Either way, he will feel like he is disappointing someone with his choice.

The main factor just might be all of these juniors who are declaring. Not only is this probably the most loaded running back class of the last 20 years, but there are also a ton of other juniors who are declaring. I feel that this year will be one of the best drafts in NFL history. What that means is that teams will have more options early on. Another problem is that many teams feel that they can find great backs in the later rounds so that they don't have to spend 1st round money on a back when they can find someone later on who will be just as productive.

My feeling is that if he truly believes and receives the advice that he will be a first round pick no matter what this year, he will go. If he will be a mid-second or later, then it is probably good news for Pitt.

I hope that Shady makes the choice that he wants to do in his heart. I hope that the only advice he considers are the pieces that are important to him and no one else. This is his choice in his life and he should be the one with the final call, not his parents, not his coach, and not his fans.

I will say this though, if he is at the basketball game on Sunday, I will work my hardest to push my Pitt agenda to get him to stay. I know I am breaking my wishes for him, but my wish is that he stays so that we will be decent again next year. I also hope that I can show to him that we wanted him 2 years ago when I made my "checklist" sign, and I will show it again because there is nothing I would love to see more than #25 back for another year with a shot to win the Heisman and potentially be the first running back taken in 2010.

5 comments:

johnny said...

Time to blow the roof off of the Pete and land some recruits.

HTP!

johnny said...

As per Scout and Rivals, we got your Texas Quarterback, Dave.

David said...

Nice job today getting the recruits pumped up to be at Pitt. How can we make the upper student section at the Pete an addition to the Zoo instead of just sitting down the whole game?

rkohberger said...

My gut says he give DW a call today telling him 'thanks, but I'm taking the next step".

Good luck to him either way....

rkohberger said...

^^^^ Well, I was wrong about that - or maybe just off by a day or two in my prediction, but McCoy did call and tell DW he was still trying to make up his mind.

Too bad in a sense - great for PITT as it means we still have an outside chance at McCoy returning - but I can't help but think that no matter which way he decides he'll always have a strong sense of regret. When faced with BIG life decision it always seems easiest if that decision can be made early and forcefully. That sense of commitment to the decision goes a long way in your comfort level twenty years down the road.

Well, 'walk a mile in his shoes' I guess. It's a tough one and I just hope he realizes how lucky is is to be faced with two positive outcomes of his choice, a luxury most men don't have when at one of life's crossroads.