Column: Senior Day: what it really means
Published Nov. 16, 2010
After Memorial Stadium all but cleared out Saturday, the 15 seniors on the Missouri football team exited Faurot Field for the final time in style. Perched atop the shoulders of their teammates, each player proudly displayed a rock from the north hill that will stay with them throughout their lives.
It won’t be the only experience they will cherish from 2010 Senior Day.
Tradition shrouded Faurot Field, starting before the game with coach Gary Pinkel losing multiple fights to hold back tears as he embraced each senior before they entered the field.
“Those guys have been so committed," Pinkel said. "No one understands. I really don’t think anyone really ever understands the amount of time they put in their commitment in coming to school here in their three, four, five years.”
The players, all of who are expected to graduate by May, couldn’t help Pinkel battle through the display of emotion.
There was Kevin Rutland, who as the last senior to be introduced also shared the longest hug with Pinkel. Before him, Carl Gettis shed enough tears to irrigate Francis Quadrangle. And earlier there was Kirk Lakebrink, a 2008 transfer from Drake University who played in only three games as a Tiger but was visibly caught up in the moment and hugging as many people as anyone else.
Senior Day is the true essence of college football and to a greater extent, college athletics. It is the culmination of values instilled in young student-athletes that hold true no matter what profession they eventually become a part of. For Lakebrink and the majority of his teammates, Missouri might be the last time they play organized football.
But Senior Day is something former recruit Sheldon Richardson will never experience. Not only will Richardson not partake in any of MU’s future Senior Day festivities, he might not be participating in the University of Southern California’s.
Last week five-star recruit Richardson, a defensive tackle, reneged on his commitment to Missouri. After failing to qualify academically to enroll as a freshman, he took his talents to junior college in California to work on his eligibility to come to Columbia next year for his junior season.
Just three weeks ago, he attended Homecoming and claimed after the game that MU “feels like home" -- but apparently this week it's California that feels more like home.
Richardson wound up choosing USC, because he felt it provided him the best opportunity to make the National Football League after a single season. Never mind that USC will still be serving a bowl suspension stemming from its Reggie Bush-related affairs.
Richardson doesn’t understand the spirit of college football.
Or, do we misinterpret what college football really is? Is it all business, just a bridge between high school and the NFL?
I think Saturday provided the answer.
“They come here to graduate from college and be a Missouri Tiger football player -- and the commitment to do both good, people have no clue how important that is,” Pinkel said. “You pass the baton, great leaders, great kids and very, very appreciative of what they have done for Mizzou. That’s why it was also huge to win this game.”
When I asked junior quarterback Blaine Gabbert what he still learns from the seniors, he paused before saying, “Have fun.”
Isn’t that what college is all about: earning a diploma, with some fun along the way?