Mickey Plyler's Blog for May 1

by Mickey Plyler - Radio Host - Mon May 01 23:38:09 GMT-04:00 2006

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Tigers Back On Top

The panic that set in after losses to Georgia Tech, Winthrop and Furman was replaced with another ACC sweep and jubilation of being in first place alone once again. Yes, the Tigers are back. But were they really ever gone?

I have maintained that the losses were a result in some poor play but mostly a difficult schedule game after game. I also made the claim that, “that is just college baseball.”

We witnessed that kind of parity this past weekend when Boston College beat Georgia Tech two of three games and Savannah State routed FSU in Tallahassee.

Thanks to the hot hitting of Marquez Smith, the Tigers have overcome some recent injuries. Travis Storrer, Brad Chalk and Stan Widmann have missed some time recently with various injuries but the depth was showcased this past weekend.

C.J.

Many of you saw the Gainesville Sun article about C.J. Spiller winning the state title in the 100M and 200M over the weekend.

His winning time of 10.42 seconds in the 100-meter dash, the nation's fifth-best time this year for a high school athlete and second in Florida to the 10.33 posted by Fort Lauderdale Dillard's Harry Adams. According to the article, Spiller also won the 200 easily in 21.50, coasting the final 10 meters to the chant of "C.J.!, C.J.!" from fans in the stands.

What some of you did not see was that Clemson freshman sensation Travis Padgett won the 100M at the prestigious Penn Relays this weekend. Padgett won the ACC title in the 100M last weekend and now has won his second consecutive event. Padgett’s winning time at the Penn Relays? The exact same 10.42 that Spiller ran in Florida.

Congrats to Hill, Whitehurst and Bennett

The NFL draft took place this past weekend and three Tigers were picked. I think Tye Hill, Charlie Whitehurst and Charles Bennett are good citizens and will be remembered fondly in Clemson history. This class is seven shy of the school record however. On April 26, 1983 ten Clemson players were selected in the NFL draft. Terry Kinard was the 10th overall pick in the draft.

The truth about the NFL, NBA and MLB

Many times we hear a high school prospect talk about his future NFL career.

Some choose a school because, “They send a lot of players to the league.”

After the NFL draft I did some research and found out some interesting numbers. According to the NCAA website:

Men's Basketball

• Less than one in 35, or approximately 2.9 percent, of high school senior boys playing interscholastic basketball will go on to play men's basketball at a NCAA member institution.

• Less than one in 75, or approximately 1.3 percent, of NCAA male senior basketball players will get drafted by a National Basketball Association (NBA) team.

• Approximately three in 10,000, or approximately 0.03 percent of high school senior boys playing interscholastic basketball will eventually be drafted by an NBA team.

Football

• About 5.8 percent, or approximately one in 17, of all high school senior boys playing interscholastic football will go on to play football at a NCAA member institution.

• About 2.0 percent, or approximately one in 50, of NCAA senior football players will get drafted by a National Football League (NFL) team.

• Approximately nine in 10,000, or approximately 0.09 percent of high school senior boys playing interscholastic football will eventually be drafted by an NFL team.

Baseball

• Less than three in 50, or about 5.6 percent, of high school senior boys interscholastic baseball players will go on to play men's baseball at a NCAA member institution.

• Less than eleven in 100, or about 10.5 percent, of NCAA senior male baseball players will get drafted by a Major League Baseball (MLB) team.

• Approximately one in 200, or approximately 0.5 percent of high school senior boys playing interscholastic baseball will eventually be drafted by an MLB team.

Student-Ath BballM BballW Fball Bsebl HckM SoccerM

High School Student-Athletes 549,500 456,900 983,600 455,300 29,900 321,400

High School Senior Student-Athletes 157,000 130,500 281,000 130,100 8,500 91,800

NCAA Student-Athletes 15,700 14,400 56,500 25,700 3,700 18,200

NCAA Freshman Roster Positions 4,500 4,100 16,200 7,300 1,100 5,200

NCAA Senior Student-Athletes 3,500 3,200 12,600 5,700 800 4,100

NCAA Student-Athletes Drafted 44 32 250 600 33 76

Percent High School to NCAA 2.9 3.1 5.8 5.6 12.9 5.7

Percent NCAA to Professional 1.3 1.0 2.0 10.5 4.1 1.9

Percent High School to Professional 0.03 0.02 0.09 0.5 0.4 0.08

New Sponsor

I wanted to say thanks to all of our sponsors and welcome a new sponsor to the blog. My good friend Brad Hughes of The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency is our newest sponsor. Please click on his ad to get more info about Brad and All-State.

Also, please visit our sponsors, Mr. Knickerbockers, George Coleman Ford and Brad Hughes All-State Agency. It is their patronage that keeps the blog free. We are adding more sponsors for this month as well. If you are interested in great advertising opportunities on the blog contact me @ mickey.plyler@tigernet.com