By: Joe Posnanski (Sports Illustrated; Oct. 26, 2009 pg. 61)
"I'm not going to embarrass this university," he says, not angrily but with an edge in his voice, as if he could not imagine how anyone could miss the point: He still has something left to teach these kids. Times have not changed that much. "I think kids today, they are confused," Joe says. "They long for some kind of discipline. They want something bigger than themselves, something bigger to be a part of. We can still offer that here [at Penn State University]."
Coach Brown's Thoughts: Joe Peterno is a coaching icon! At 82 years old and about to turn 83 around x-mas time, his coaching legacy has long been secured & established.
Young scholar-athletes today want to show-out as soon as possible. I went to two (2) recreation football Super Bowls last weekend and these young men were in the sixth (6th) to eighth (8th) grades. I actually saw them doing the same celebratory things that I see in college & in the pros. Now, I am the 1st person to celebrate and get pumped up, but I don't remember jumping around and showing out during my recreation, junior high & high school playing days; and trust me, I made a lot of plays during my career. I started show-boat celebrating when I got to college. Joe Peterno's teams are usually classy, respectful and play a hard-nosed brand of football. His teams usually exemplify a very disciplined group of young men that win in the classroom as well as on the field! That's why he is the winningest coach in the history of Division I-A College Football with 389 wins and counting.
Coaches, let's strive to be men of integrity & instill discipline in our players and let's continue to make a positive difference in the lives of young people that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives and start a positive cycle that will continue for a very long time!!!
Happy Holidays!!!
Student-Athlete Character Development & Positive Focus Training at its best! This Amazon Best Seller helps student-athletes understand that the same passion & effort put into a particular sport, is the same passion & effort that must be put into academics, learning, behavior & everything done in life! *Important youth sports issues, solutions to those issues & outstanding youth stories that applaud & uplift our youth that are achieving in academics, sports & life!
The Seven (7) "Plays" of THE STUDENT-ATHLETE PLAYBOOK!
GOALS - FOCUS - EFFORT - FAMILY - ACADEMICS - CONSISTENCY - SACRIFICE - PERSEVERANCE - RESPECT - CHARACTER
Levi Michael - New UNC Baseball Star!!!
By Andy Gardiner, USA TODAY (Spring 2009)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Levi Michael dreamed of playing baseball for the University of North Carolina from the time he was a boy. When the opportunity arrived to turn that dream into a reality in unprecedented fashion, Michael grabbed it.
Michael has done something rare at college baseball's elite level. He graduated from high school in January, enrolled at UNC three days later and was the Tar Heels' starting second baseman by the time the season began the third week of February.
With a week left in the regular season Michael, 18, has become a mainstay on a North Carolina team that has made three consecutive trips to the College World Series and is No. 1 in the USA TODAY/ESPN coaches' poll. Without a transition period, the switch-hitting freshman flourished.
"I probably shouldn't be, but I'm shocked at how this has turned out," said UNC coach Mike Fox. "I'm amazed when I watch what this kid has done. "
Freshmen have become increasingly important to the nation's top programs. Because many premier players sign pro contracts after their junior seasons, there is a constant need for schools to restock quickly.
Second-ranked California-Irvine starts three freshmen. No. 4 Rice's top hitter is first-year player Anthony Rendon. Daniel Hultzen is 6-1 on the mound and batting .338 as a first baseman for 14th-ranked Virginia. But all had a semester to become acclimated to college life and become familiar with new teammates and coaches.
Michael went from taking five final exams in high school on a Friday to moving into his dorm on Saturday and sitting in freshman English on Monday. Formal practice began three weeks later. "I thought it was going to be very challenging, and it has turned out to be even more difficult than that," Michael said. "But Coach Fox offered me the opportunity of a lifetime."
Early love for the Tar Heels --- Michael grew up in Welcome, N.C., a town of 3,500 just south of Winston-Salem and 90 minutes west of Chapel Hill. The youngest of Tony and Rhonda Michael's three children, he attended North Davidson High in nearby Lexington. His sister, Keeli, starts at second base on the Campbell University softball team. Rhonda, a technology specialist at North Davidson, said the family has always been UNC fans, and Levi was determined to become a Tar Heel from the time he began attending Fox's summer camps as an 8-year-old.
"When Levi sets his mind to something, that's it," she said.
Fox followed Michael's career closely. "We had seen Levi play more than any player we've recruited, and he accepted a scholarship on the first day possible," Fox said.
But that was based on a traditional timetable of Michael entering North Carolina in the fall of 2009 and beginning his baseball career in the spring of 2010. He still had his senior season at North Davidson. That schedule began to shift in late summer when six UNC recruits signed pro contracts.
"Going into the fall, we saw we only had one infielder at each position, Fox said."
A Tar Heels assistant coach wondered whether Michael was ready to play now. "It was said jokingly, but then we began to think about it seriously," Fox said.
Fox felt hypocritical for even broaching the idea.
"We talk a lot here about living in the moment and enjoying the journey," he said. "I had a ball my senior year and I don't think any kid should miss that.
"I visited Levi and his parents. I spent most of my time listing all the reasons why he shouldn't come early. Levi looked right at me and said, 'Tell me what I have to do to make this happen.' "Fox told Rhonda Michael he spent hours rehearsing his recruiting speech. It didn't take Levi 10 minutes to say yes," she said. "I was a little apprehensive, but Levi never was."
Move blessed by UNC players Fox polled his players on how they felt about a freshman joining the team at mid-year. "All we asked was whether he could help our team," said junior first baseman Dustin Ackley, a career .400 hitter expected to be among the first 10 players taken in the June draft. "Once practice started we saw right away that he could. But I can't imagine doing what he's done."
Michael struggled during the early weeks of practice, in part because he was shifted from shortstop to second base.
"I was so nervous I couldn't stand still. I was shaking the whole time out there," he said. That disappeared in the first intrasquad scrimmage. Michael homered, beat out an infield hit and played with poise. "It was clear to the coaching staff after a week of practice that Levi needed to be in the lineup somewhere right out of the gate," Fox said. "After that first scrimmage the rest of the team saw that he belonged."
Michael has started 51 of UNC's 52 games (he sat out against East Carolina after oversleeping and arriving late for the team bus) and is hitting .297 with 12 home runs, 45 RBI and a .574 slugging percentage. "He's hit some clutch home runs from both sides of the plate and done everything we've asked at second base," Fox said.
Michael is still a little startled at the turn his life has taken. "Last year at this time I was just playing high school ball," he said. "I never imagined being in this spot." Michael missed his senior prom, missed formal graduation. He came to UNC behind the rest of the team with no guarantees. "I did think, what happens if I come in and don't perform and have to sit my freshman year?" he said. "That wasn't too big of a deal for me because I felt that whatever happened, I would be part of the team. "I would learn more about the game being here than playing my senior season. Ultimately I would develop and become a better baseball player. But I'm blessed and grateful for how things have gone."
Coaches say they don't expect a wave of Levi Michaels. "Typically the jump and transition for a freshman is not an easy one, and it would be more natural that they not be a big success their first year," said Cal-Irvine coach Mike Gillespie. "You magnify those hurdles if you're talking about a mid-year freshman.
"I think Levi Michael is a case of a good player playing well. There is no reason to say this can't happen more frequently, but I don't see it as a trend."
Even with how well things have gone, Fox is still conflicted. "It has to be a perfect storm of conditions for this to work," he said. "You have to have the blessing of the parents and the high school coach. You have to have the right mix of maturity and leadership on your team. The kid has to have the maturity to make the jump. "I don't expect to see this happen again in my coaching lifetime."
Michael avoids thinking about all this too much. "It is a unique situation, but now I think of myself as just another college baseball player, no different from anybody else," he said. "It's definitely a lot to undergo, but once you make the decision, you can't second-guess yourself. Deal with what you have and stick with the process."
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Levi Michael dreamed of playing baseball for the University of North Carolina from the time he was a boy. When the opportunity arrived to turn that dream into a reality in unprecedented fashion, Michael grabbed it.
Michael has done something rare at college baseball's elite level. He graduated from high school in January, enrolled at UNC three days later and was the Tar Heels' starting second baseman by the time the season began the third week of February.
With a week left in the regular season Michael, 18, has become a mainstay on a North Carolina team that has made three consecutive trips to the College World Series and is No. 1 in the USA TODAY/ESPN coaches' poll. Without a transition period, the switch-hitting freshman flourished.
"I probably shouldn't be, but I'm shocked at how this has turned out," said UNC coach Mike Fox. "I'm amazed when I watch what this kid has done. "
Freshmen have become increasingly important to the nation's top programs. Because many premier players sign pro contracts after their junior seasons, there is a constant need for schools to restock quickly.
Second-ranked California-Irvine starts three freshmen. No. 4 Rice's top hitter is first-year player Anthony Rendon. Daniel Hultzen is 6-1 on the mound and batting .338 as a first baseman for 14th-ranked Virginia. But all had a semester to become acclimated to college life and become familiar with new teammates and coaches.
Michael went from taking five final exams in high school on a Friday to moving into his dorm on Saturday and sitting in freshman English on Monday. Formal practice began three weeks later. "I thought it was going to be very challenging, and it has turned out to be even more difficult than that," Michael said. "But Coach Fox offered me the opportunity of a lifetime."
Early love for the Tar Heels --- Michael grew up in Welcome, N.C., a town of 3,500 just south of Winston-Salem and 90 minutes west of Chapel Hill. The youngest of Tony and Rhonda Michael's three children, he attended North Davidson High in nearby Lexington. His sister, Keeli, starts at second base on the Campbell University softball team. Rhonda, a technology specialist at North Davidson, said the family has always been UNC fans, and Levi was determined to become a Tar Heel from the time he began attending Fox's summer camps as an 8-year-old.
"When Levi sets his mind to something, that's it," she said.
Fox followed Michael's career closely. "We had seen Levi play more than any player we've recruited, and he accepted a scholarship on the first day possible," Fox said.
But that was based on a traditional timetable of Michael entering North Carolina in the fall of 2009 and beginning his baseball career in the spring of 2010. He still had his senior season at North Davidson. That schedule began to shift in late summer when six UNC recruits signed pro contracts.
"Going into the fall, we saw we only had one infielder at each position, Fox said."
A Tar Heels assistant coach wondered whether Michael was ready to play now. "It was said jokingly, but then we began to think about it seriously," Fox said.
Fox felt hypocritical for even broaching the idea.
"We talk a lot here about living in the moment and enjoying the journey," he said. "I had a ball my senior year and I don't think any kid should miss that.
"I visited Levi and his parents. I spent most of my time listing all the reasons why he shouldn't come early. Levi looked right at me and said, 'Tell me what I have to do to make this happen.' "Fox told Rhonda Michael he spent hours rehearsing his recruiting speech. It didn't take Levi 10 minutes to say yes," she said. "I was a little apprehensive, but Levi never was."
Move blessed by UNC players Fox polled his players on how they felt about a freshman joining the team at mid-year. "All we asked was whether he could help our team," said junior first baseman Dustin Ackley, a career .400 hitter expected to be among the first 10 players taken in the June draft. "Once practice started we saw right away that he could. But I can't imagine doing what he's done."
Michael struggled during the early weeks of practice, in part because he was shifted from shortstop to second base.
"I was so nervous I couldn't stand still. I was shaking the whole time out there," he said. That disappeared in the first intrasquad scrimmage. Michael homered, beat out an infield hit and played with poise. "It was clear to the coaching staff after a week of practice that Levi needed to be in the lineup somewhere right out of the gate," Fox said. "After that first scrimmage the rest of the team saw that he belonged."
Michael has started 51 of UNC's 52 games (he sat out against East Carolina after oversleeping and arriving late for the team bus) and is hitting .297 with 12 home runs, 45 RBI and a .574 slugging percentage. "He's hit some clutch home runs from both sides of the plate and done everything we've asked at second base," Fox said.
Michael is still a little startled at the turn his life has taken. "Last year at this time I was just playing high school ball," he said. "I never imagined being in this spot." Michael missed his senior prom, missed formal graduation. He came to UNC behind the rest of the team with no guarantees. "I did think, what happens if I come in and don't perform and have to sit my freshman year?" he said. "That wasn't too big of a deal for me because I felt that whatever happened, I would be part of the team. "I would learn more about the game being here than playing my senior season. Ultimately I would develop and become a better baseball player. But I'm blessed and grateful for how things have gone."
Coaches say they don't expect a wave of Levi Michaels. "Typically the jump and transition for a freshman is not an easy one, and it would be more natural that they not be a big success their first year," said Cal-Irvine coach Mike Gillespie. "You magnify those hurdles if you're talking about a mid-year freshman.
"I think Levi Michael is a case of a good player playing well. There is no reason to say this can't happen more frequently, but I don't see it as a trend."
Even with how well things have gone, Fox is still conflicted. "It has to be a perfect storm of conditions for this to work," he said. "You have to have the blessing of the parents and the high school coach. You have to have the right mix of maturity and leadership on your team. The kid has to have the maturity to make the jump. "I don't expect to see this happen again in my coaching lifetime."
Michael avoids thinking about all this too much. "It is a unique situation, but now I think of myself as just another college baseball player, no different from anybody else," he said. "It's definitely a lot to undergo, but once you make the decision, you can't second-guess yourself. Deal with what you have and stick with the process."
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