I do more Google searches for Vernon Gholston than the average Buckeye Fan (don’t judge!) and recently came across this article that made me sad.
Coach Rex Ryan doesn’t even bother to try to talk him up anymore and the media doesn’t even bother to ask. It’s getting harder and harder not to stamp linebacker Vernon Gholston a bust and move on.
Ouch.
Then just the other day I saw our buddies at Eleven Warriors had linked to this article from our own Ken Gordon at the Dispatch reiterating the same things.
“That’s still a work in progress, but I will say this: When we’re going back and looking at our cutups and things like that, I think this young man deserves a better chance,” Ryan said. “We need to give him more playing time.
That’s not quite as dire as a couple months ago, but it’s still disappointing.
I often wonder where motivation and drive come from for someone blessed with physical gifts beyond mere mortals (see: LeBron, Tiger, MJ, Vernon). It came so easy to Vernon at OSU (exhibit A, exhibit B). I wonder what has happened this far with Vernon. There’s no bigger fan of his than me and it pains me to see the current trajectory of his professional career. He doesn’t seem to have the drive he once had.
It’s obvious that at his point, at the highest level of competition, the blessed one has not produced. Not even a little bit. There’s no way to interpret his current production as anything other than major letdown. I’ve watched him play as a Jet when I could and never saw the fire or domination he had as a Buckeye. Maybe it was the system (going from a basic 4-3 in college to Rex Ryan’s confusing 3-4 blitz mania). Maybe it’s something else. At this point, we can just hope Ryan is able to light a fire under his rear end and he silences the critics in 2010.
What’s your take?
The Buckeyes aren’t in the tournament? That makes MM muy sad.
