On a day when Congress voted down a bailout plan and Wall Street tumbled the fact that a high school senior had made a college choice would not appear to be big news. However in the world we live in it was big enough that some in the media could not wait even when we were asked to do so for all the right reasons.
Glenn Carson is a very talented football player at Southern Regional High School and many of the nation’s top colleges were bidding for his services.
A 6’3, 225 pound linebacker who also doubles as a running back, Carson was sought after by Penn State, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Boston College, Stanford, Virginia and a host of others. It’s no coincidence that all those schools have strong academic reputations because Carson understands there is no guarantee that a pro football career awaits and academics are a large part of the college experience.
Along with his parents, Glenn Sr. and Barbara, Glenn had made quite a few visits to colleges across the country and all along said he was hoping to make a decision early in his senior year. That decision was cemented Saturday night when he stood on the sidelines at Beaver Stadium and looked at the 108,000 white-clad Penn State fans in attendance during their nationally-televised game against Illinois. What teen-ager wouldn’t picture themselves being part of such an atmosphere? By the end of the weekend word started drifting out on various web sites that Carson wanted to be part of Penn State’s storied tradition….after all players like Jack Ham, Greg Buttle, Shane Conlan, LaVar Arrington, Paul Posluszny and Dan Connor
are why the Nittany Lions have been dubbed “Linebacker U.”
Yesterday I got the word that Glenn had indeed made an oral commitment to Penn State but he was asking that the announcement be held until today so he personally could notify all the schools that had offered him scholarships. In the “me-first world” we live in that shows you the make-up of the young man who had said all along the most difficult thing would be saying “no” to schools and programs he liked very much. However in the battle to get the story first some just could not wait and honor his request and by the end of the day Carson has no choice but confirm he was headed to Happy Valley.
He also learned a valuable lesson….to some in the media “off the record” is a waste of words.
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