A visit with George O'Leary

In an ironic twist, the video posted below of the SportsCenter studio during Y2K looked pretty similar to the Times/Review office this week. I think Ryan Creighton came through with a baseball bat and smashed a few computers. An upgrade in software and hardware at our main office, which is designed to make our workflow more efficient, specifically in updating our Website for readers, nearly went horribly wrong.
Let's just say we're very lucky to have a paper this week. The problem, though, seems to be solved, so not to worry.

Anyway, I got to spend some time Tuesday with George O'Leary, the Central Florida football coach. Shoreham's Brendan Kelly committed to play football there in August and will officially sign Feb. 6. O'Leary's a fascinating coach and a guy who's been in some strange situations. He's probably best known around the nation, though, for accepting the Notre Dame job in 2001, a post he held for all of five days. Apparently his resume had been exaggerated from earlier in his career and the inaccuracies stuck with him as he moved up the ladder. When it became public after taking the Notre Dame job, which is probably the most highly visible coaching position in college football, the school asked for his resignation.

It's a shame it turned out that way, but O'Leary deserves credit for bouncing back and building himself back up. He's got Central Florida on the up and coming and the school is becoming more of a threat to Florida and Miami for the state's top recruits.

It'll definitely be interesting to see how Kelly can perform on the next level. He's got the work ethic and desire, but you never quite know how a star high school player will adapt to college. We can at least be assured he won't turn out like Jason Gwaltney.
I asked O'Leary about the adjustments a player needs to make in going to the next level and he talked about the speed of the game. Everything is faster. Linebackers are quicker to the ball. Linemen are quicker.
A lot of times the best high school athletes will tell you how the game seems to slow down for them. That doesn't happen right away in college.
There's also a huge mental aspect to adjust to. College life can be hard enough at first, without worrying about football. That's why so many players red-shirt their first year. O'Leary has played true freshmen in the past and he said he's willing to do so if the player is ready. Of course, he doesn't want to waste a player's year of eligibility, so the player needs to be able to perform.

O'Leary couldn't comment specifically on Kelly or any recruits until Feb. 6, but I'll try to ask him then about Kelly's future and what kind of role he sees him in. He probably won't be willing to commit too strong one way or the other on if Kelly will red-shirt, but it's worth asking.

Keep an eye out for the Feb. 8 issue of the Sun for a story on Kelly signing.