Eric Zeier is Patient Zero.
He spread the infection, if that's what you want to call it.
The former Georgia quarterback had a nice college career and played six years in the NFL. But 16 years after stepping on the Athens campus, he is known more in some circles for that act itself: Stepping on the Athens campus in January 1991.
| The Series | |
| June 18: | Recruiting loophole? |
| June 21: | Enrolling early at USC |
| June 26: | Florida's Pouncey twins |
| Today: | Tim Tebow's views |
Zeier wasn't the first but he was the most notable major-college player at that point to enroll in college before his high school class had graduated.
Today, the practice hardly gets our attention. It should. It is changing the game. A record 69 early entries enrolled in January at BCS-conference schools, according to a USA Today survey. Just three years ago there were half that many (35) enrolling early.
CBS SportsLine.com will spend the next days analyzing the trend that has been a major part of college football this decade.
The preseason No. 1 team will be quarterbacked by a player who skipped his entire senior year of high school. Florida arguably would not have won last season's national championship without a backup quarterback who acclimated himself as an early entry.
Academic game plans are now drawn up in high school so that players can be fed real game plans earlier in college. High schoolers enrolling early must have attained the GPA requirements of 14 core credits and a qualifying ACT or SAT score. Then the NCAA Clearinghouse must certify those students, soon to become athlete-students.
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| Eric Zeier didn't have much NFL success, playing with three teams in six seasons. (Getty Images) |
"Now I absolutely think it's going to be beneficial to the athlete. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I can't see the downside."
The critics, though, have multiplied along with the number of early entries. The argument has shifted away from freshman eligibility. At least for a time, early-entering freshmen were allowed to practice with their teams on campus in December before the squads departed for bowl games.
For those schools on the quarter system, early freshmen can be on campus for nine months, go through spring practice and play a couple of games before attending class.
At USC, a freshman catcher enrolled a full year early last September despite not having graduated from high school.
It's hard to believe, or even remember, that the most infamous player of this decade was an early entry: Maurice Clarett.
"The coaches found a loophole for something that doesn't start their eligibility," said Dave Ridpath, an assistant professor for sport administration at Ohio University. "They're bringing them in early for spring football."
The early-entry failures are either few or hidden. Highly touted quarterbacks Brock Berlin and Josh Portis both transferred from Florida. Berlin wasn't a "failure" but never lived up to his promise after a transfer to Miami. Portis transferred to Maryland after a season in Gainesville.
Currently, college football is casting an eye toward South Carolina to see how the Stephen Garcia saga plays out. Within two weeks earlier this year the quarterback was twice arrested on misdemeanor charges. Barely two months after stepping on campus, Garcia was suspended. He was later reinstated.
"You've got to be careful, they're 17 years old," said Southern Illinois' Jerry Kill, whose only early entry left the program. "The most fun time of my life was high school. To take a kid's senior year away to go through spring ball ... What happens is the kid got away from home and he wasn't mature enough to be away from home."
And no matter how many coaches decry the situation, every one of them would take early entries if their school allowed it.
Even academic stalwart Notre Dame has jumped into the early entry pool. There has been speculation that the school changed philosophies because football was falling behind in recruiting.
In January 2006, ND took its first three early entries. In April 2006, Jimmy Clausen blew the college football world away with an ostentatious commitment to ND at the College Football Hall of Fame.
"I have no idea," Clausen said when asked what he would major in.
Amidst much fanfare, Clausen enrolled early in January. He will be battling two other teammates in August to become the Irish's starting quarterback.
"A lot of those guys may have nothing left but a couple of classes and they're bored," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "They know the next phase in life is going off to college and trying to earn a spot on the team."
Richt has had eight early entries the past two seasons. Florida's Urban Meyer welcomed eight players alone in January. That is believed to be a record.
"It definitely takes someone who is ready," said Tim Tebow, that Florida backup quarterback in '06 who will make his first start this fall. "Someone who is not going to worry about going back for their senior prom, worry about hanging with their friends on Friday and Saturday."
Tebow's early entry had a direct effect on last season's national championship. He has long said had he not enrolled early, he wouldn't have been as effective.
John David Booty could have a direct effect on this season's championship. The 22-year-old Booty came to USC as an 18-year-old in 2003, after his junior year at Evangel Christian in Shreveport, La. At the time he was the first major-college football player to skip his entire last year of high school.
Booty's decision was finalized after his father Johnny was fired as Evangel's quarterback coach in April 2003.
"That wasn't what he wanted to do," former Evangel head coach Dennis Dunn said. "He gave up so much. I don't think John David would recommend it to anybody. It was a personal situation with he and his father."
After two seasons as a backup and one as a redshirt, Booty didn't blossom until last season. Even then, he was hindered by back surgery that limited his mobility. Stuck behind Matt Leinart, Booty redshirted in 2004 and didn't become the starter until 2006. Finally, as a fifth-year senior he is a Heisman frontrunner for the nation's preseason No. 1.
Like Zeier, Georgia director of academic services Ted White doesn't see a downside. Because of the act alone, athletes enrolling early are most likely intelligent and highly motivated. Four of the six early enrollees in 2006 at Georgia posted at least a 3.0 GPA in their first semester, White said.
That includes quarterback Matthew Stafford who, like Zeier, became the starter as a freshman.
"Everyone is fighting over that type of student-athlete ...," White said. "On paper you wouldn't necessarily think it was a good idea, young kids coming out of high school early. But the reality has been ... that they've done pretty well."
It worked for Zeier. Being a big-time player at a big-time school might have helped the trend get started. Neither college nor football overwhelmed him. Although at the time it seemed like both would.
"I committed on a Sunday night," Zeier said. "I found out I could do it (enroll early) on a Sunday night. The recruiting coordinator called me 15 minutes later. I said, 'Give me a second.'"
It didn't take much more than that. Zeier spoke to his family and decided to become a lab rat. Already determined to get a business degree, the only obstacle was football, which smacked him in the face his second morning on campus.
Then strength coach Joe Tereshinski Jr. stomped through the athletic dorm blowing a bullhorn. Time to work out, rookie.
"It was freezing cold in Athens," Zeier said. "I went through a workout I had never gone through. Every muscle was trembling. That morning I stepped back and asked myself, 'What did I just do?'"
After the workout, things worked out. Zeier won the starting job in his freshman season and never gave it up. Ten years later, Patient Zero is married with a family, has a career and a point to make.
"We would think nothing of it as a society if someone 14 or 15 was academically ready to go to college," he said. "Why would you think any different just because you can play ball?"
