TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Some Make It Big, Others Do Very Little

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOEY JOHNSTON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 25, 2007

Updated: 12/24/2007 07:13 pm

It was one week before Christmas, 2002. Ernie Sims Jr., a heavily recruited linebacker from Tallahassee North Florida Christian, was on the telephone.

We were seeking information. Sims had just become the No. 1 choice on The Tampa Tribune's inaugural Best of the South team, by vote of college recruiting coordinators.

Sims had a question.

"Who won this last year?"

Well, um, no one.

You are the first, he was told.

"Well, I guess I better do good then."

He has.

Sims, whose father played running back for Jefferson in the 1970s, quickly matured into an All-ACC (and All-Kamikaze) linebacker at Florida State. He skipped his senior season for the NFL draft and was taken by the Detroit Lions as the ninth overall selection in 2006.

Sunday, Sims will complete his second professional season.

Elsewhere on these pages, you will find the 20 names that comprise this season's Best of the South team, now in its sixth year. If you read the statistics and the honors for these players, it's hard to imagine anything else but a rousing success.

Some will make it big.

Some will drop out of sight.

"Football recruiting, to put it mildly, is an inexact science," said Jamie Newberg, national recruiting analyst for Scout.com. "You hit some. You miss some. It's hard to predict the future of any group of people, really."

Here's a good indication of that. Whatever happened to the No. 1 vote-getters on the five previous Best of the South teams?

There's a guy who gave up football and now stands as a prime American hope for a track and field gold medal at the 2008 Olympics (former LSU receiver Xavier Carter).

There's a hometown hero who flopped - on and off the field - and is trying to rebuild his reputation and football future at a distant outpost (receiver Fred Rouse, the former FSU recruit now at Texas-El Paso).

There's a player still adjusting to the rigors of college life, still trying to get his feet under him, but still exciting everyone with his massive potential (current Florida freshman defensive lineman Torrey Davis).

And there's a Heisman Trophy winner (Florida's Tim Tebow).

Two years ago, Tebow had just beaten Armwood to win the Class 4A state championship.

Now he's a football immortal.

"A lot has happened," Tebow said. "It has happened quickly, almost too quickly. But you never forget those high school days. That's your foundation."

Tebow, perhaps more than anyone, understands how to deal with notoriety and expectations. After all, he was the subject of a one-hour ESPN documentary on national signing day. He was on the cover of national magazines before he ever started a game at Florida.

"It has been a while since being anonymous," Tebow said. "But the big thing is to set your own goals and expectations, set your own course, then follow that.

"Sometimes, in football, you're never sure where it's going to lead."

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at (813) 259-7353 or jjohnston@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Sports, to learn the whereabouts of the 100 players who comprised the five previous Best of the South teams.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT