Rutgers Football - QB Gavin Wimsatt (Owensboro High School)

[Purple88]

Greg Schiano discusses Sean Gleeson firing: Will it make a difference moving forward? - On the Banks

 

QB Gavin Wimsatt was a Senior Star Quarterback at Owensboro High School during the 2021 football season and 2021-2022 school year.

He signed to play at Rutgers.  Owensboro was one of the top teams in 5A in 2021.

After the 3rd game of the season on September 3rd against Daviess County, Wimsatt announced he was foregoing his senior season and senior year at Owensboro High School to enroll early at Rutgers and join the program.

The above link to the article reports a shakeup within the Rutgers Football program where OC Sean Gleeson was let go, roughly a year after Wimsatt enrolled.

The article goes on to state "Gavin Wimsatt brings athleticism to the (quarterback) position and could have made an impact. He struggled throwing the ball, which made his game one dimensional".

The purpose of putting this here is that I feel as though even though Wimsatt clearly had a right to try this route, he was likely talked into leaving early and sold that it would help him learn the system and integrate into the program better.

However, the underlying problem to his game was and IMO is continuing to develop as a passer.  IMO if he were to have stayed at Owensboro until the end of the season (call it early December) and then gone to Rutgers, he would have had potentially 11 - 12 more games under his belt and would have developed more than basically a JR in High School going to a college team and being expected to contribute almost immediately to an average team (at best) in a Big Time League.  

I think Wimsatt actually got in a college game last year.  Good for him.  I'm sure that was exciting.  But was that in his best interest now?

I just think this was a really poor precedent to establish.  All that glitters is not gold!

@PurplesFan

@Brown@Devils Fan

[Brown]

I think time will tell.  This year he has been injured for a couple games now.  When I thought the coaches encouraged the early departure, I didn't like it.  It then seemed that Wimsatt and family made the decision and request, and I'm OK with that.  Wimsatt throws the best long ball I've ever personally seen at the high school level, NFL quality.  He did this as a sophomore in high school.  He throws a tight spiral and has a cannon on intermediate throws as well.  I can understand being off a little with timing.  I'll refrain from judgement on whether it hurt of helped leaving early.  Rutgers offense has sucked for 2 years that I've paid attention, so I'm not sure that was the best choice either.

 

I hope nothing but the best for him going forward.

[Devils Fan]

I can’t speak to what’s in Gavin’s best interest because I’m not him. In being honest I was never really a fan of Gavin leaving early, nor was I a fan of him picking Rutgers..  Last year if Gavin stayed I still believe they had a chance to go to state and POSSIBLY win.. @Purple88 Like you pointed out those extra reps would have developed his game that much more heading into college and who knows maybe better options than Rutgers could have landed on the table. You would’ve thought he was going to be an outright starter for leaving mid-season but instead he’s now a sophomore sharing reps with 2 other QB’s with no sign of starting this yr. That’s not helping his development. I’m curious to if he will stay with Rutgers his entire college career.

[PurplesFan]

It’s unfortunate on everyone’s part, mainly the NCAA for allowing this to happen. 
 

Not even getting into the NIL discussions (which I also oppose), but who could possibly support the notion to allow a college institution to pluck a kid OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL DURING THE FOOTBALL SEASON?? You can certainly disagree with me but I’ll never understand it. 
 

High School passes by soon enough as it is. Take a kid that has been the Alpha since pee wee football, watching him be the leader on the field with his peers all the way up to his senior year and during the beginning of the season IMMEDIATELY remove him from the team is wrong on every level to me. 
 

These same coaches in these college institutions if given the chance to speak to pee wee kids would all say the same thing: be a good kid, be a good teammate, enjoy being a kid and prepare yourself to be a great contributor on your high school team. 
 

Just as you can’t blame Gavin - because these institutions has been given the green light to do this, you really can’t blame them either. To me, it’s simply a fail on NCAA of allowing this. It’s all about the $$!
 

Imagine the teammates left behind when the Alpha disappears, imagine the coaching staff that has their very best player disappear in week 4. To me, it’s a shame. When a stud athlete leaves a high school team during his senior season, it probably isn't going to end well for that team in that season. Ridiculous