The End of an Era  

Well, Reggie Ball ended his career at Georgia Tech in ignamonius fashion. There's not a lot left to say about him or his tumultous (and that's being nice) run at quarterback. After flashing tremendous promise as a freshman with his athleticism and ability to make throws, he never got any better. He was always a better athlete than quarterback, and it's now clear that he wasn't much of a leader off the field, or on it, for that matter.

Ball had the chance to be more like Troy Smith, a gifted athlete who didn't always make the right decisions in life, but hunkered down and committed himself to improving his play at quarterback. While Smith learned to be an accurate passer and focused on staying in the pocket, Ball never understand that he needed to learn to operate from the pocket. His constant desire to improvise, or "just make plays" led to his downfall. He wanted to be like Michael Vick instead of like Smith or Vince Young, two players with incredible physical gifts who only excelled when they learned that being a quarterback was a lot more than being a great athlete. Ball never seemed to use his head on the field, and obviously he wasn't using it in the classroom either. He wasted an opportunity by not utilizing Calvin Johnson enough, let's hope that he doesn't waste another opportunity by failing to graduate from a fine school like Georgia Tech.