Does anyone else remember when he committed to play football and baseball at State? He isn’t showing up on the baseball roster at all. Is he sticking to football only?
Sawyer Robertson
- Thread starter HailStateTate
- Start date
How many 2-sport athletes have we ever had at MSU? Very few. Really, only Brad Cumbest had much success in 2 sports. Right now, I’d be very glad to see Robertson develop into a player in either sport.
Maybe Glen Young? Although his baseball success may be considered somewhat limited.
De'Runnya WIlson was on the basketball team for about 3 weeks.
Michael Gholar?
I don’t know if I’d call it successful but there just aren’t many that do it.
the best Jackie Parker--MVP SEC in Football--leading scorer and Hit 400 for Baseball Dogs. Manuel Washington another 2 way player
Gholar maybe could have been a NFL safety if he had focused on football instead of basketball
I think his baseball contribution was just pinch running occasionally. Tim Parenton played a little for the baseball team & was backup qb to John bond, but he didn’t start in either sport.
He was never playing baseball. They simply said he could try it for recruiting purposes. He's not even a great baseball player. Not the level to start here.
Just can't make it happen anymore. There's too much sport specific training that you get at that age, and folks get behind.
I'm a big proponent of kids playing all sports, but in this day and age, that ends at 6th grade. Beyond that, at most you can pick 2 where the seasons don't overlap, at least in Anywhere Suburbia, USA. If you're in a rural school where they need all the athletes they can get, you can make it happen I suppose.
But in college? It's hard enough to play one sport, keep from getting injured, and actually get a meaningful degree. They steer you towards crap degrees, too, which is another thing that led to pay-for-play. It's hard as hell to get an engineering degree while playing a sport.
I mean we've created an entire economy of youth coaches and 'strength and conditioning' because all these athletes got kinesiology degrees and can't do anything with them EXCEPT exploit weak parents of youth athletes.
To bring it back to Sawyer Robertson, as far as future development, he may have even made a mistake by playing his senior baseball season rather than enrolling early. I mean people have picked up on the idea that high school really doesn't matter.
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Did Cumbest have success? I think I maybe remember a catch or two and then he was moved to defense?
"After joining the varsity squad at Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas partway through his freshman campaign, Robertson hit roughly .490 in his first inaugural campaign before an injury to his non-throwing arm sidelined him as a sophomore.
Recognizing his talent, Texas Tech head baseball coach Tim Tadlock — the father of Coronado High School teammate Ben Tadlock — offered Robertson a spot with the Red Raiders back in 2019. Recruiting interest from TCU, Texas, Florida State and USC, among others, followed"
Lot of good baseball schools apparently thought otherwise. His dad was a 1st Round pick for Expos in 1990 too
Maybe he picked the wrong sport?
Funny, I remember so many people declaring that this was "Sawyer Robertson's team" from the minute he walked in the door. I guess it was because he was a 4 star, from Texas, and was Leach's first QB recruit in his first full class.
Sort of like how everybody spooged about Elijah Staley because he was a 4 star QB from Georgia. Then zero-star Nicky Fitz beat him out within 5 seconds of being on campus.
Yeah. He’s by far the most successful 2-sport athlete we’ve had. But even there it’s a real stretch. Bottom line is, it’s just real hard to play 1 sport at this level. And almost out of the question to play 2.
Best thing about Cumbest was that we didn't have to use baseball money on him for the first few years.
Didn't JRP and Ealy play baseball at Ole Miss? Looks like both of them may have chosen the wrong sport too. Can't see JRP making it to the NFL and Ealy just got waived by the Chiefs the other day. But considering they started I guess you can't say they haven't had success.
Scott Gumina was a starting safety I think and was on baseball team at least 1 season. Played some reserve OF I think. Early- mid 90s.
He did not come in early in that class because he was finishing his senior baseball season. If you recall he missed spring ball and that is why he was a little behind. All he has had is fall ball, spring ball and this past fall. This spring will be his second spring. He was not an early enrollee
The new signee from Starkville could punt for us at the bowl if he wanted, but he's more of a baseball commit. Had to sign as a football commit because of NCAA guidelines. My understanding is he will be a 2 sport guy.
I agree with you about the difficulty of playing two sports in college. However there are tons of stats to back up the fact that almost every single pro athlete were multiple sport stars in high school, and that the kids that specialize early usually flame out.
I don’t know, but I once witnessed a pickup game in the Tin Gym amongst multiple FB players, including Sleepy Robinson and it was quite the show.
Did you actually read what I said?
First of all, I said I am for playing multiple sports.
Second, times have changed. This new wave of Uber competitive sports is only about 20 years old so we don’t hVe any data on how successful it is. All we truly know is that baseball pitchers are blowing out their elbows more than ever before, and that soccer players are having knee problems.
I tried to thread that needle but I guess you didn’t see it that way. I even said that most of the better athletes are still playing 2 sports, but it’s difficult to do more than that unless you’re in a rural area.
I guess that was too deep? Or too much information?
I did and you said, "I'm a big proponent of kids playing all sports, but in this day and age, that ends at 6th grade" and "There's too much sport specific training that you get at that age, and folks get behind." That says that kids need to not play two sports after the 6th grade or they get behind and won't be able to make it to the pros even though this year's draft will show you otherwise. We don't need 20 years of data to see that 30 of the NFL first round picks this year would have played multiple sports in high school as is the case virtually every year. You just picked two sports that actually back up my points. It's the kids that are specializing early that are typically blowing out their arm or their knee, not the kids that played multiple sports and developed a broader set of skills at protecting their body and put less wear and tear on it.
Since he's only a punter for football, wouldn't that give him a decent shot playing baseball too? Or maybe I'm wrong on that. I was impressed with his high school accomplishments when I read about him and I'm excited to see what he can do here at STATE.
My understanding is that he's a great baseball prospect. He just happens to be able to punt the hell out of a ball. Because of NCAA regs, if you play multiple sports and one of them is football, you have to count towards the football scholarship limit.
Again, I wonder if you actually read my first post. Because I did not say they all specialize in 1 sport after 6th grade.
And I’m guessing you just aren’t understanding that the specialization trend has just started, so a lot of the kids who have done it aren’t old enough to be pros yet. Thus no data.
Please don’t make me explain this again.
"This new wave of Uber competitive sports is only about 20 years old"
So this is a 20-year trend, but 22-year old kids aren't old enough to fit into the last 20-years of data? How many generations need to pass through before we have acceptable data for you?
If he punted for us then he’d go on scholarship for this season and lose a year of eligibility, assuming he then played baseball this spring as well. So the idea of playing him is insane.
And he will not be on football scholarship this fall. He will be on baseball scholarship until he plays on a Saturday. The moment he sets foot on a field he goes on football scholarship but he can remain on baseball up to that point.
Nope. If he’s on the football roster, he’s got to be on football scholarship or no scholarship.
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