Post by captobvious on Jun 25, 2006 10:53:25 GMT -5
ESPN analyst Joe Theisman sits down with UCLA star Gino DeBomb to record his thoughts prior to the upcoming FSL draft.
Joe: You're a guy who never played a down of football before you went to UCLA. Tell me how you got started in that.
Gino: Well, I was enrolled in the UCLA medical school on an academic scholarship, but an administrative mistake placed me in a dormitory primarily populated by athletes. My roommate was Mbototo Zumaga, who hoped to play receiver for the team, and he asked me if I could throw some balls to him on the quad so he could work on his ball skills. By pure coincidence, the quarterbacks coach approached the dorm to talk to one of his players, and saw something he liked. He asked me to come out to practice, and it just developed from there.
Joe: Had you ever played any other sports before?
Gino: Oh, certainly. I've always felt that athletic pursuits were necessary to the development of a well-rounded person. I believe the throwing skills were developed playing competitive baseball as a youth, where I played in the outfield. I used to practice throws to home for long hours. I also invested time in racketball, roller hockey, and lacrosse.
Joe: You gave up medical school to play football. What went into that decision?
Gino: Simply put, the scheduling demands of medical school and the demands of the football schedule were incompatible. Short of expanding the 24-hour day, one would necessarily suffer for the other. I enjoyed the camaraderie and competition of football, and I felt another, less complicated academic pursuit would reward me sufficiently in that area.
Joe: You left school after only three years. Some experts say you should have stayed for a fourth year to help you develop as a quarterback. Why did you leave early and declare for the draft?
Gino: That was a decision made based on academic reasons. I had already achieved my bachelor's degree in electronics engineering. Under NCAA rules I could no longer participate in the undergraduate athletics programs. My collegiate career for both pursuits was at an end.
Joe: You completed an engineering degree in three years while playing football?
Gino: As I said, it was a much simpler academic discipline.
Joe: Your coaches at UCLA tell me that you spent some time with them developing plays for the playbook. Tell me about that experience.
Gino: One of the things that fascinates me about football is its geometry. I couldn't help but think about it as we went through the playbook and took those plays out into the field. Naturally, I came up with some variations, and shared them with the coaching staff. For example, one of my plays was inspired by the architecture of the arch, which is the strongest structural shape and the reason Roman relics still stand. It yielded a 37-yard touchdown on its first execution against Washington State in my sophomore year.
Joe: Where do you think you'll go in the draft, and where would you like to go?
Gino: Well, at this point I'd have to say that the established teams are going to stay with their established quarterbacks, so any opportunity with such a team would necessarily come in a backup role which would hinder my development. An expansion team would be more suitable, and I don't really have a preference, since neither has any sort of history nor even a roster upon which to draw judgements. If an expansion team doesn't select me, I'll likely be designing disk arrays for IBM.
Joe: You're a guy who never played a down of football before you went to UCLA. Tell me how you got started in that.
Gino: Well, I was enrolled in the UCLA medical school on an academic scholarship, but an administrative mistake placed me in a dormitory primarily populated by athletes. My roommate was Mbototo Zumaga, who hoped to play receiver for the team, and he asked me if I could throw some balls to him on the quad so he could work on his ball skills. By pure coincidence, the quarterbacks coach approached the dorm to talk to one of his players, and saw something he liked. He asked me to come out to practice, and it just developed from there.
Joe: Had you ever played any other sports before?
Gino: Oh, certainly. I've always felt that athletic pursuits were necessary to the development of a well-rounded person. I believe the throwing skills were developed playing competitive baseball as a youth, where I played in the outfield. I used to practice throws to home for long hours. I also invested time in racketball, roller hockey, and lacrosse.
Joe: You gave up medical school to play football. What went into that decision?
Gino: Simply put, the scheduling demands of medical school and the demands of the football schedule were incompatible. Short of expanding the 24-hour day, one would necessarily suffer for the other. I enjoyed the camaraderie and competition of football, and I felt another, less complicated academic pursuit would reward me sufficiently in that area.
Joe: You left school after only three years. Some experts say you should have stayed for a fourth year to help you develop as a quarterback. Why did you leave early and declare for the draft?
Gino: That was a decision made based on academic reasons. I had already achieved my bachelor's degree in electronics engineering. Under NCAA rules I could no longer participate in the undergraduate athletics programs. My collegiate career for both pursuits was at an end.
Joe: You completed an engineering degree in three years while playing football?
Gino: As I said, it was a much simpler academic discipline.
Joe: Your coaches at UCLA tell me that you spent some time with them developing plays for the playbook. Tell me about that experience.
Gino: One of the things that fascinates me about football is its geometry. I couldn't help but think about it as we went through the playbook and took those plays out into the field. Naturally, I came up with some variations, and shared them with the coaching staff. For example, one of my plays was inspired by the architecture of the arch, which is the strongest structural shape and the reason Roman relics still stand. It yielded a 37-yard touchdown on its first execution against Washington State in my sophomore year.
Joe: Where do you think you'll go in the draft, and where would you like to go?
Gino: Well, at this point I'd have to say that the established teams are going to stay with their established quarterbacks, so any opportunity with such a team would necessarily come in a backup role which would hinder my development. An expansion team would be more suitable, and I don't really have a preference, since neither has any sort of history nor even a roster upon which to draw judgements. If an expansion team doesn't select me, I'll likely be designing disk arrays for IBM.
