Last month, I wrote a column about speaking to the Yale football team when it visited Philadelphia to play Penn. I was invited by Yale's defensive line coach, Doug Semones, who was a high school teammate. In that column, I wrote, "I don't think there's a single NFL prospect on the team, but it's probably a room full of future CEOs, CFOs and COOs."
It turned out the Bulldogs do have an NFL prospect in the midst of all those future CEOs and he was one of two players I was introduced to by coaches. Because they knew I am a Latter-day Saint, the Yale staff made sure I met defensive end Austin Pulsipher, who served his mission in Taiwan and has a brother on the BYU team.
The only other player I was introduced to was their quarterback, Patrick Witt, the lone NFL prospect on the team. I remember exactly what Semones said about him as I shook Witt's hand, "Vai, this kid is special. He transferred from Nebraska."
Turns out Witt is special. But not because he transferred from football-factory Nebraska, where he walked away from a scholarship with all the attendant perks to pay his own way at Yale, as the Ivies don't issue full-rides.
What my boy Doug Semones didn't tell me is that Patrick Witt is Rhodes Scholar-special. I had to read about it in the paper.
Perhaps you read about him too. Witt had the good fortune, or misfortune if you wish, of deciding whether to play in THE GAME, Yale-Harvard's 128th meeting Saturday, or make his Rhodes interview in Atlanta earlier the same morning. Witt had hoped he might be able to do both, as Florida State safety Myron Rolle did in 2008. A wealthy FSU alum flew Rolle in a private plane from his interview in Birmingham, Ala., to Maryland, where he arrived in the second quarter and was quickly inserted into the game.
Much of what I hear about the advantage of an Ivy League education is about the connections one makes. So, forgive me for asking, but where were those connections when this kid, Patrick Witt, needed a plane to fly him from Atlanta to New Haven, Conn., for THE GAME? Am I to believe that Florida State has them but Yale doesn't? Come on. It's a shame that he has to decide between one or the other. Perhaps that's part of the test of being Rhodes worthy.
I was bummed to learn Witt had decided this week to bypass the Rhodes Scholarship opportunity to play in THE GAME.
Truth is, Patrick Witt is going to succeed in life with or without Rhodes Scholar on his resume. And he'll succeed with or without the NFL.
But in 20 or 30 years, which will be more meaningful? More impressive? More likely to help him bless others?
Look, I never played in THE GAME, but I played in some big games. I have wonderful memories of those games and the teammates I played with are life-long friends. But since there are only 32 Rhodes scholars chosen each year, that would be infinitely more meaningful than playing against Harvard, even if it's your final college game.
By choosing to play, Witt may have also made the decision easier for NFL scouts. There are still NFL teams who won't quibble on signing a player with a checkered past, but woe be unto him who forsakes his team in pursuit of academic pursuit. Myron Rolle, the Florida State safety, found that out after graduating in 2½ years and opting to forego his senior year in order to begin his Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford.
After graduating in medical anthropology from Oxford in one year, he returned to the States to pursue his NFL dreams. He quickly realized how tough that task would be when he was asked by Tampa Bay head coach Raheem Morris at the Senior Bowl why he "deserted" his teammates his senior year. Rolle was drafted in the sixth round by the Titans in 2010, who released him earlier this year. He is currently a free agent but I hope he doesn't linger as so many do, perpetually working out for team after team in search of a home. Myron Rolle may actually cure cancer someday, he's that smart.
Patrick Witt aspires to be a politician one day. Hopefully, his judgment of choosing football over the Rhodes Scholarship doesn't come back to bite him in the butt in a tight election down the road.