A few years back basketball analyst Dick Vitale did a commercial for Pizza Hut in which he would say, "it’s time to wake up and smell the pizza baby!!!".....
I believe that time has come for former Ohio high school golden boy quarterback Justin Zwick....since donning the scarlet and gray at Ohio State, the high school prodigy was redshirted a season, then sat behind Craig Krenzel for another season.....
Now over the last two seasons, Zwick has watched as Troy Smith has taken control of the Buckeye offense.....instead of being the one to lead Ohio State to a national title, Zwick has been relegated to holding the clipboard....in the past two seasons, Zwick has started a handful of games and has thrown only seven touchdown to go along with seven interceptions....
How time changes things....when coming out of Massillon Washington, Zwick was one of the most highly recruited quarterbacks in high school....he was head coach Jim Tressel’s first big prize recruit when he committed prior to his senior season to Ohio State over Michigan....
With Zwick out of the picture, the Wolverines set their sights on California stud quarterback Matt Gutierrez....he never lost a game while running the offense for DeLasalle.....
It looked like Gutierrez and Zwick would be matching up at least three times as the starting quarterbacks for both Michigan and Ohio State...but it never happened....
Like Zwick, Gutierrez was redshirted his first year then served as a protege to John Navarre....then came an injury to his shoulder and in came a hot shot freshman named Chad Henne.....that’s all she wrote for Gutierrez in Ann Arbor....
After pulling a Justin Zwick in Ann Arbor for the last two seasons, Gutierrez finally woke up and decided this week to transfer to Division I-AA Idaho State for his senior season....it’s his last chance to show the NFL scouts his ability....
But while Gutierrez made his move, Zwick continues to sit and wait and steam....at this year’s Fiesta Bowl, Zwick told the Ohio media that he was frustrated that he lost his job to Troy Smith.....Zwick said he felt he did nothing wrong to actually lose his job....
Even though thoughts of transferring have danced in his head, Zwick, so far, has decided to be loyal to Ohio State and serve as the mop-up boy in blowout games....as each week goes by, Zwick is slowly watching his chance to play in the NFL slip away....
More than likely no NFL team will draft Zwick because of his limited experience....for a "can’t miss" kid when coming out of high school, Zwick has decided to trade away his dream of playing in the NFL for being loyal to Ohio State....
And if that is his choice, so be it, but hopefully 10 years from now he doesn’t regret following Gutierrez’s decision and transferring to a I-AA program to showcase his talent....if Zwick does wise up and leave, I think he can rest easy knowing that THE Ohio State will not have a problem finding another clipboard holder and mop-up boy.....
3 comments:
All the practice in the world wont mean anything unless he gets a chance to use that practice someday.
It doesn't matter where you play. What matters is that you play, period. If you're good enough to take it to the next level, the scouts will eventually find you, no matter where you play. Case in point: Luke Getsy (starting quarterback for U. of Akron) was stuck playing second fiddle to Tyler Palko at Pitt. Tired of sitting on the bench, he transferred to Akron, ran the scout team for a year (transfer rules) and this past season passed for well over 3,000 yards and 23 touchdowns, while leading Akron to the MAC Championship. Now where is he going to get noticed-as the starting quarterback of a bowl team or buried on the bench at Pitt? Buckeye fans need to wake up and realize that there are more ways to the NFL than just through OSU.
If you are going to slam someone's blog, have the guts to post your name with your "comments."
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