One-handed LB Shaquem Griffin on verge of making NFL history
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...haquem-griffin-on-verge-of-making-nfl-history
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...haquem-griffin-on-verge-of-making-nfl-history
One-handed LB Shaquem Griffin on verge of making NFL history
- Thread starter Central Floridave
- Start date
Excellent article. Really paints O’Leary in a negative light and Frost as a savior.
He gets too much praise...I heard the rumors of both of them on the brink of quitting Football till Frost showed up. Now both will be on NFL rosters.
some damning quotes and explains how 0-12 happened
Shaquem redshirted and Shaquill did not, which is what eventually staggered their entry to the NFL a year apart. Shaquem doesn't question being redshirted, acknowledging it was what he needed at the time. But it was a year later, while trying to soak in the sights of Dublin with his teammates, that he realized he'd been put aside in the coaches' plans. He was demoted from second to third team without an explanation, then relegated to scout team.
He questioned his coaches if it was something he had done, if he was in some sort of trouble.
"But I never got a straight answer," he said. "The next year, we're getting transfers right before the season started and these guys who didn't even know the plays were put in front of me. At that point, it's like, 'What can I do to get out of here?' "
It got worse. During their second year at UCF, the twins cut the dreadlocks they had been growing together, at the same length, since middle school. As the story is commonly told, O'Leary ordered them to, and they weren't particularly happy about it. The rest of the story? Only Shaquem, a backup who wanted playing time badly enough to cut his hair, was asked to do so by O'Leary. Shaquill, a starter, was not, according to Tangie. But as an act of solidarity, Shaquill cut his dreadlocks at the same time.
The twins' purpose in signing with the same school, as they saw it, was being torn apart by the very staff that made it happen. It strained their relationship with O'Leary to a breaking point.
Tangie would say a quick prayer when they called home before she picked up the phone, because she knew one or both wouldn't be happy. Shaquem not only considered transferring to another school to play football, but he also contemplated running track at nearby USF and be done with football forever. He just knew he didn't want to play another day for O'Leary.
Meanwhile, O'Leary's tenure was engulfed in flames. He resigned his position as interim athletic director midseason in 2015, followed two weeks later by a midseason resignation as football coach, with the team two-thirds through an 0-12 nightmare.
And he hadn't just lost the Griffins; he'd lost the team. Many players reacted to the news of his departure with a party.
"Some people might think that's bad, but it wasn't just me -- a whole lot of guys were happy about it," Shaquem said.
Count Shaquill among them.
He was just as bothered by Shaquem's relegation to the bench as his brother was, and when a transfer became a real possibility, Shaquill considered his options outside the UCF program as well.
Instead, family members implored Shaquem to stay the course at UCF. Holmes, his youth coach, had heard well in advance that O'Leary would be out at season's end -- it was a poorly kept secret -- but didn't feel it was his place to tell Shaquem, even while his former player was agonizing about his circumstances.
"I told him to stick with it," Holmes sad. "I told him there would be something on the other side of the adversity waiting for him."
That something was Scott Frost.
The new UCF coach, whose staff had heard from other players that Shaquem was considering a transfer, made all the difference. He cleaned the slate, judged Shaquem strictly on performance, and positioned him to deliver the most convincing proof of all that O'Leary never gave him a real chance. In one season, he went from a special teams afterthought to the AAC Defensive Player of the Year, amassing 20 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks and seven pass breakups. Frost even moved him from safety to linebacker, where Shaquem had been more comfortable since his childhood.
"The day Scott Frost gave me a shot was the day I never looked back," Shaquem said.
He flourished throughout a two-year starting role, capped by Peach Bowl MVP honors in the Knights' toppling of Auburn on New Years Day. Griffin made 12 tackles, 3.5 for loss with 1.5 sacks, as UCF called for national championship recognition as the only undefeated team in the FBS (13-0).
It was one helluva well-timed exit for Shaquem, whose pre-draft hype is on the rise.
A year ago, Shaquill was largely an unknown. He had to build up his draft status from relative scratch, impressing NFL scouts without the benefit of a Senior Bowl invitation, and catching their attention with a sub 4.4-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Shaquem's draft profile, by contrast, is already in bloom. As the best defensive player on the nation's only undefeated college team, there is no overlooking him, and his presence at the Senior Bowl will add to that. One scout said there is "no possible way" any NFL GM is unaware of him at this point.
There will be a movie about his life at some point, GOL will be painted as the villain. Whether you love him or hate him, that's what is going to happen.
