NFL's Top 5 Most Influential Players

The other day I was reading over a list of Most Influential Players they had Chad Ochocinco at the top of the list then Reggie Bush and so on. Well it got me to thinking and I have decided to put a list of my own together. Just to see how it matches up with the "experts".

1. Tim Tebow -  Who has done more for football this year? The packers are looking to go undefeated in the regular season and all anyone can talk about is "Tebow Time" or someone suspended for "Tebowing" the school hallway. Tebow is the type of player you love or you love to hate. He isn't your typical NFL QB, he will never throw for 4,000 yards a season. What he does bring to the table is a desire to make himself and the team around him better. He has crossed over from football star to culture icon. That is something that hasn't happened since Dion Sanders was playing.

2. Ndamukong Suh - Dirtiest player in the game...That is a complement most defensive players would love to have. As a defensive lineman you want the player across the line to fear you. There has not been a player in the NFL like this since "Mean" Joe Greene. He isn't a person I would wont my kid to look up to, but if I had a defensive tackle that wanted to know how to play the position Suh would be the first players I would show him.


3.Troy Polamalu - If for nothing else the hair. You didn't see players coming into the league with hair like that until we got Polamalu out of USC (He had to take a pay cut to enter the draft). Now we have the Matthews brothers, Bobby Carpenter, and AJ Hawk all running around trying to get the next Pantene ProV commercial. Polamalu also brought a fearlessness to the position he plays, when he got to the league John Lynch was going out there wasn't someone in the league at the safety position that came to work everyday looking to knockout the opponent. Polamalu put the fear back in recievers coming across the middle and the QBs are always wondering when is that safety blitz coming.

4.Ray Lewis - The king of trash talking. one og the most feared and loved MLBs of all time. This is one person a running back does not want to see filling the hole that has been opened for him or that receiver running that route over the middle. He will go down as one of the all-time greats that played in the NFL. look in HS across America and you will see young men trying to imitate his moves, his ability to sniff out a play, and even his war paint. imitation is the highest sign of respect and there is a lot out there for Ray Lewis.


5. Drew Brees - I know he isn't Aaron Rogers or Tom Brady but let us take a step back and look at the big picture. Lets look at stats: ATT 543 - COMP 385 - Passing yards 4368 - TDs 32. A QB that is only 6'0 tall putting up those type number who would have ever thought that could happen. That is the same reason coaches around the league shunned Doug Flutie back in the day because he wasn't that pro style QB they were looking for. Brees had overcame so many odds in his career that he had to be on this list. He will never have the athletic ability of Cam Newton or the hand signals of Peyton Manning but what he compensates with is the will to win.


Like I said before I'm no expert but in my opinion these are 5 players that have became icons of the sport. They will go down as some of the greatest players to play the game of football.

Show Me the Money (Quam)

"Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes."

Today when i was reading about South Carolina losing six scholarships for receiving improper discounts from a hotel ion the amount of $55,000. It got me to thinking what was the worst scandal in college football:

1. SMU : The Mustangs fell from greatness after the Eric Dickerson and Craig James "Pony Express" era to being the only major college football team to recieve the "Death Penalty" in NCAA history. The football team didn't play in either the 1987 or 1988 seasons after it received tens of thousands of dollars from boosters to pay the players (Craig James go stand in the woodshed)

2. Oklahoma's Barry Switzer era: He had a amazing record on the field, and he may have survived the numerous allegations against his team. But then again when your starting QB in 1989 gets arrested for selling that "Tony Montana" stuff its kinda hard to come back from that

3. The Jackie Sherrill era at Texas A&M: The coach wasn't found guilty (really doesn't mean your not guilty), but still resigned in 1988 after the program was found guilty of improper employment, extra benefits, unethical conduct and lack of institutional control. (Now I see how he won at Mississippi State)

 4.The U 1995 Pell Grant scandal: Why settle for weekly handouts from boosters when you can get thousands of dollars from the government by using fake grant applications? (they should have hired the tutors from USC to fill them out)

5. USC and Reggie Bush : Reggie Bush is the only player to give back a Heisman Trophy. USC's players have long been thought of as the best paid players in college sports, but this was one of the only times that it has been proven that a players accepted money. Also, in 2001 team tutors were caught writing term papers for players. (they was the best team money could buy until Cam went to Auburn)


This is just my top five. There are many more out there, but these five really jumped out at me. Its something about money that makes people go a little crazy. From a players standpoint, they see all the money the schools are making off of them and knowing they may never see that type of money being offered to them in there career (most don't make the NFL). I can see were that would be tempting. But for a coach are school to blatantly go out of their way to help players cheat the system that is where there needs to be a change. Don't just take wins away from the school, but also take away the money that came wth that win. Here is a idea that has been around for ever....Give the players and little bit and then you wouldn't have near the problem you have with agents and boosters. If the NCAA really wants to fix the problem they will let the money trickle down to the players that break bones and tear ligaments for the schools, it wouldn't have to be much just enough to say thank you. Because after all isn't that what we all want... for some one to Show Us the Money.

A Strong Support Group

When building a winning program you like to see coaches bring in coaches with winning backgrounds. This is exactly what Coach Freeze is doing.

• Dave Wommack, who has over 30 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level, has coached teams to 18 bowl games and been a part of 28 winning seasons.
• Chris Kiffin, the younger brother of USC head coach Lane Kiffin and son of USC assistant head coach Monte Kiffin, helped coach a defense that led the Sun Belt Conference in total defense (325.67 ypg), scoring defense (19.33 ppg) and ranked in the top 20 in the NCAA in both categories. Arkansas State also led the league and ranked 12^th in the nation in tackles for loss (7.33 pg) and finished 17^th in the NCAA in QB sacks (2.67 pg).
• Tom Allen, over the last 18 years of his coaching career, the teams Allen has coached posted a combined 184-43 record for an .811 winning percentage. That record covers stops at six different schools in Florida, Tennessee, Indiana and Iowa, and four of those schools had a losing record the season prior to Allen's arrival.
• Gunter Brewer, the son of former Rebel standout and eventual head coach Billy Brewer, Gunter joins the Ole Miss staff for the second time in his career, having served in graduate assistant positions 1988-90. Brewer returns to Oxford after a successful six-year run at Oklahoma State where he served in various capacities during his tenure, including as co-offensive coordinator, passing game coordinator, receivers coach and quarterbacks coach. His term in Stillwater included five bowl appearances and the program's first Big 12 South Championship in 2010.
• Matt Luke, A former Rebel player and assistant coach, Luke spent the previous four seasons as Duke's offensive coordinator/running game while coaching the offensive line. His line ranked among the ACC's top-five in fewest sacks allowed throughout his tenure, including finishing third in 2009 and 2010.
• Former Rebel Bryan Brown enters his first season as defensive graduate assistant coach for the Ole Miss football staff in 2011. He spent the 2010 season as an administrative intern for the Rebels.
• Alan Hensell returns to the Ole Miss football staff in 2011 for his second stint as the graduate assistant coach for offense. Hensell was also a member of the Rebel staff from 2007 through 2009, including as offensive GA in 2008. He worked as a video graduate assistant during the 2007 campaign and as an intern in 2009.
• Maurice Harris was named Ole Miss' tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator head coach Hugh Freeze announced on Dec. 8, 2011. This marks Harris' second stop at Ole Miss as he served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Internal Football Operations for the Rebels in 2006.
  Last year, Harris was part of an Arkansas State offense that led the Sun Belt conference in total offense (453.2 ypg) and scoring (33.50 ppg). His tight ends unit also helped an A-State rushing attack that ranked second in the conference in yards (181.58 ypg).
  
  Read More: http://www.olemisssports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/m-footbl-coaches.html
  
  Not only are these Coaches excellent at what they do on the field, but they are also leaders off the field. These are the types of men that young men can look up to not only as coaches or men in authority, but as role models for life and someone that they can count on in the future after their playing days are behind them. The recruits we get at Ole Miss need not only be great on the football field, but they need to be great in life.That takes a strong support group of parents, coaches, teachers, and friends.
  
  
  Here is a random fact:
  The odds of becoming a professional football player are low. According to the NFL Players Association, approximately 100,000 high school students play football. Of those, 215 will go on to play for an NFL team. About 9,000 play at the college level, and if they make it that far, 310 of them will actually make it to the NFL draft.
  
  
  Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/394690-the-average-football-career/#ixzz1gU5kIOiQ
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

Introducing Mr.Freeze

So now we have our coach. At first I was oppose to this hire, but the more I read about him and hearing him speak has pretty much won me over. Coach Freeze has a 30-7 record as a head coach. A Sun Belt Championship, two HS Championship, four Regional Championships, and two HS Girls Basketball Championships, five HS Coach of the year awards. To me this is a guy that knows how to win. I know he doesn't have twenty years as a assistant at the college level like a lot of the guys that coach in our beloved SEC. Sometimes you have to take a gamble on a unknown to win big. The majority of the fans (me included) wanted a big name coach to come in and sweep away the memories from the last two seasons, that's what happened four years ago. Ole Miss needs someone like this, a person that knows the traditions of our great institution. A Coach that knows what the Egg Bowl means to us. Coach Freeze said in his press conference yesterday, "the Egg Bowl isn't big, its paramount." Coach Freeze also went onto talk about how in his system everyone will be accountable to the next person, if one person fails everyone fails. He also introduced the theme in his locker room, FAMILY, and proceeded to tell us what it was going to mean in that locker room. F-faith, A-attitude, M-mental toughness, L-love, I-integrity,Y-you. in my opinion, for what it is worth, this is what a team should be.

During the press conference Coach Freeze also took some shots at that MSU stating that "one university likes to claim that their the flagship University, but there is only one flagship University in Mississippi and Ole Miss is that University." i have to admit in the last four years no one from our University, employees of Ole Miss, had even tried to take a stand and have let Mullet and MSU have their way in this rivalry. To all my MSU friends:

Allow me to break the ice, my name is Freeze. Learn it well. Its chilling sound will be your doom.

Where oh Where art thou Coach....

It has almost been a full month since Ole Miss dismissed Houston Nutt as HC of our beloved football team. The last two years have been hard on the majority of us that have seen every tradition striped away for our team, Winning being the major player here. Only thing that could have made this less painful is if we had Col.Reb paroling the sidelines instead of this shameful cardboard wearing black bear. Now back to the purpose of this post who will be the next HC of Ole Miss football. In my opinion, whatever it means, there is only one clear choice now that my man Mike Leach has been hired. We need a offensive minded coach that knows the importance of defense, someone who can look at his past coaching experience and see that his teams did not become dominant until he had a stout defense. A coach who will bring take it to Mullins every time, a coach that seeks to return pride (and Col.Reb) to Ole Miss. We need some one who will run the score up on any team once we get the down, by the way this isn't a gentlemen game for those of you who think LESS Miles did us a favor by kneeling it with five minutes left in the game. We need a dirty defense that makes opposing teams worry when they come into our house. we need a coach that the players love and will give their all to play for. there is only one coach that can do that, but if we don't act quickly we will lose him to another school. that Coach is Larry Fedora.

I don't have any inside sources or no one to confirm or deny anything that has been said. i only have one thing to say to the administration of Ole Miss stop trying to be so PC and be Ole Miss.