Players with outstanding talent hold in their hands the opportunity to leave their respective schools early for the green pastures of the next level — whatever that may be.
LaBrandon Toefield has done it this year, and Josh Reed did it last year. These are college athletes leaving school early for the professional ranks of course. But what if high school athletes began to leave school early for college athletics? What kind of a world would that be?
It would be this world.
Two-time All-State quarterback John David Booty will forego his senior year at Evangel Christian Academy and will enroll at the University of Southern California this fall.
He will finish school this summer by taking his final English course before leaving high school early for college football.
When I was a junior in high school, I thought about foregoing my senior year of high school and moving to the Cayman Islands for the rest of my life. I could have been a great high school drop out, but I think Booty has me beat.
Last week, Booty’s father, Johnny Booty, was fired from his post at ECA as quarterback’s coach, minister and head of school.
It is widely speculated that the chancellor/offensive coordinator Denny Duron and Johnny Booty had a disagreement about a new Bible study and financial matters at the church/school. The official term for the firing was “ministry matters.”
John David Booty said it was that action that caused him to leave school early for the West coast and Pete Carrol’s club at USC.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound signal caller led Evangel to back-to-back state championships, throwing for 8,286 yards and 87 touchdowns in his two years as starter.
In case anyone is confused or dumbfounded by this let me put it in lay person’s terms for you. The kid is finishing up his schooling and is headed to USC a year early.
For those of you who are worried he may be too young, don’t. Remember he went to Evangel, where athletes get held back to gain a year’s advantage on the rest of the competition.
He will join the 2003 recruiting class of USC, which catapults the Trojan’s class to the best in the country, overtaking LSU.
He leaves behind a high school football team that returns 10 of 11 starters and possibly the toughest schedule in the history of schedules.
If things go as planned, Evangel will play three-time defending national champions De La Salle of Concord, Calif., at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill (near San Francisco) on Oct. 24, which will surely air on ESPN or ESPN2.
The Eagles also will travel to Hoover, Ala., to take on defending state champions Hoover High School and will welcome defending state champions Rockhurst High School of Kansas City, Mo., to Shreveport.
I don’t know how Evangel will fare, and frankly I don’t care. But Evangel has set a new precedent in high school sports. Not only was ECA the pioneer in the transformation from run-oriented high school offenses to pass-happy, quarterback-loving, record-shattering offenses, now it is the pioneer for sending athletes to the next level early.
Moses Malone set a precedent about 30 years ago when he made the jump from high school to professional basketball. His followers — Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and now LeBron James — have made it a popular decision.
Who will follow Booty’s lead in leaving high school early? What if LeBron James had left last season to join the NBA? What if my child skips high school entirely to make the big bucks in the pros? That would be nice. Then I could buy that house in the Cayman’s.
It really doesn’t matter how well John David Booty performs at USC. He may become an All-American, or he may ride the pine for four or five years. Regardless, he will forever be linked to this decision.
He is carrying his talents to the college football world without even playing his senior year of high school.