75 Play It Smart Participants Sign National Letters of Intent

National Football Foundation mentoring program provides critical academic link.

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) highlighted today that seventy-five student-athletes from its highly successful mentoring program, Play It Smart, signed national letters of intent last week with colleges that participate in The Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A).

"If it wasn't for the Play It Smart program I would not be able to sign a Division I football scholarship," said Dennis Rogan, who signed with the University of Tennessee and participates in the program at Fulton High School in Knoxville, Tenn. "I would not have known about the clearinghouse process or what classes to take in order to meet eligibility requirements. [My academic] Coach Lambdin's help and guidance over the last four years was critical to my success. Coach Lambdin encouraged me, stayed on me, and helped me keep my focus."

Launched in 1998 in four schools and currently in 136 schools (listed at www.playitsmart.org) in 35 states with more than 12,000 participants, Play It Smart supports "academic" coaches as they work with high school football teams in underserved areas, taking the transferable life skills learned on the field and applying them in the classroom and the community.

"Ever since Play It Smart has been here, it has been a real plus for our program," said Long Beach Poly head coach Raul Lara. "The help from the academic coach is tremendous. You can talk to the parents, and they can tell what a plus the program is. They will tell you how much it has helped in their kids' development. We try to keep the kids accountable as much as possible and the Play It Smart helps us do that. The benefit for us has been keeping guys eligible to play and having more guys qualifying to play in college. If you're going to play football at Long Beach Poly, you better do it in the classroom too."

This year's total of 75 letters of intent eclipses last year's tally, when the program boasted 59 offers. That class of freshman swelled the ranks of Play It Smart alumni on Football Bowl Subdivision rosters to 157 student-athletes, and this year's signing day class will push that number well above 200 for the 2007 season.

"The realization of a dream, National Letter of Intent Day, is a special day for every college football player. It dictates not only the next four years of his life but the next forty," said NFF President Steven J. Hatchell. "We are extremely proud of the passion and countless hours that our academic coaches devote throughout the year to prepare all of their players for life after high school."

At the Football Bowl Subdivision level, 33 Play It Smart schools had participants sign letters of intent, making up the 2007 class of 75 individuals. Glades Central Central HS (Belle Glade, Fla.) topped the list with eight student-athletes signing letters. Glenville HS (Cleveland, Ohio) and Gordon S. Hubbard HS (Chicago, Ill.) each had six commitments while Long Beach Poly HS (Long Beach, Calif.) and Warren G. Harding HS (Warren, Ohio) each had five. Several schools had three individuals sign letters, including Ballou Senior HS (Washington, D.C.); Maple Heights (Maple Heights, Ohio); O. Perry Walker HS (New Orleans, La.); T.R. Robinson HS (Tampa, Fla.); and Withrow University (Cincinnati, Ohio). Seven schools each had two individuals sign letters of intent.

The class also includes two Parade All-Americans: Arrelious Benn, who signed with University of Illinois and participates at Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., and Marvin Austin, Jr., who signed with the University of North Carolina and participates at Ballou High School in Washington, D.C.

"By making it to the next level, this group symbolizes the hard work of their head coaches, academic coaches, teachers, teammates and many more," said Executive Director of Play It Smart and NFF Vice President Len Stachitas. "We hold them out as an example of Play It Smart's power to use a player's interest in football to enhance his personal and academic development."

With major financial support from the NFL and the NFL Players Association, and a broad-coalition of corporations, communities, individuals and organizations, the program has quickly become one of the most comprehensive and effective youth mentoring programs, achieving dramatic results that include:

• 98% of participants graduating high school, compared to a national rate of 86%;
• 80% of seniors enrolling in college compared to 64% of their peers;
• Participants taking the SAT or ACT at twice the rate of their peers;
• Participants completing more than 84,000 hours of community service annually; and
• Rosters increasing by 35% for teams with fewer than 40 players.

Building on the positive peer pressure of the team, Play It Smart academic coaches are trained at the NFF Center for Youth Development through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.) in a set of guiding principles and to use a variety of tactics to make academic achievement the norm for a team. Tactics might include one-on-one goal setting meetings, life skills sessions, study halls, SAT/ACT prep classes, leadership conferences, and community service projects. Academic coaches work with the direct support of a team's head coach during the entire school year to build key relationships with the players and others in the community to help the team and each player reach their goals.

Prominent alumni include USC's Dwayne Jarrett, Ohio State's Ted Ginn, Jr., Rutgers' Ray Rice, and Miami's Leon Williams, who played for the NFL's Cleveland Browns during the 2006 season.

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.