Collier11
5/12/2009, 12:39 PM
but his dad still sounds like a bitter old fool, I feel sorry for Rhett for having to deal with his dad sometimes
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/sports/football/12giants.html?_r=1&ref=sports
Giants’ Rhett Bomar Is Working His Way Back From a Mistake
Published: May 11, 2009
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — As a baby, Rhett Bomar’s first word was “ball.” In grade school, he worked as a water boy and ball boy for his father, a high school football coach in Texas. If ever a man was bred to be a professional quarterback, it was young Rhett.
Bomar is trying to make the Giants as a reserve quarterback.
“The N.F.L. has been my goal since I’ve been a little kid,” Bomar said last weekend at Giants Stadium during rookie camp.
Now 23, Bomar has his foot in football’s biggest door, although the path he took there was hardly straight and narrow. As a top high school recruit from suburban Dallas, Bomar chose Oklahoma and was impressive there as a redshirt freshman in 2005.
But he was kicked off the Sooners in 2006 for taking money for hours not worked at a car dealership. He was suspended a year, transferred and played two seasons at Sam Houston State.
Although the Giants already have a star quarterback, Eli Manning, they drafted Bomar last month in the fifth round because they were surprised that a player with Bomar’s skill and potential was still available.
Bomar said he was also surprised. “To be honest, I thought I’d go sooner,” said Bomar, who expected the third round or maybe the fourth. “The whole experience is stressful.”
Jim Ferguson, the offensive coordinator at Sam Houston State, said in a telephone interview that Bomar had the talent to succeed as a professional and that people should stop asking Bomar about the major transgression at Oklahoma that almost derailed his career.
Ferguson said he told Bomar to “get up and walk out” when reporters posed those questions. “How many times you got to tell that story?” Ferguson said he asked Bomar.
But Bomar seems to understand that his mistake continues to define him, at least at this stage of his life, and he has ready answers. Without Bomar, the Sooners played for last season’s Bowl Championship Series title behind quarterback Sam Bradford, who won the Heisman Trophy.
“You’ll probably drive yourself crazy thinking about what should have been and what could have been,” Bomar said. “And I know what would have been if I’d stayed there. If I watched it, I’d probably have, you know, thoughts about it, regrets, whatever.”
Bomar, 6 feet 2 inches and 220 pounds, certainly will not get the millions of dollars that go to first-round draft choices. He is not assured even of making the Giants. Jerry Reese, the general manager, said Bomar would compete with David Carr and Andre Woodson for a backup spot.
Bomar’s father, Jerry Bomar, said in a telephone interview that his son “was treated like a rock star” at Oklahoma and “lost consciousness of what was right and wrong.” Jerry added, “He had the world by the tail and had it yanked out.”
Rhett said: “I’ve grown up a lot since then. It kind of humbles you. I’m a different person from it.”
Ferguson and Jerry Bomar said Rhett could have revealed more to the N.C.A.A. for a lighter punishment. Ferguson said Rhett told him there were “multiple people involved in this.”
Jerry Bomar said, “The N.C.A.A. came in to interview him and tried every way in the world to get him to rat them out and he wouldn’t do it.”
Jerry Bomar said they were bitter at the time and he told Rhett, “You ought to. But he wouldn’t. We’re not low-rent people here.”
Only Bomar and a lineman, J. D. Quinn, were exposed and barred.
“It was a pretty high price to pay,” Jerry Bomar said. “He lost a lot. He had some heartaches.”
When Bomar returned to college football with the Bearkats, he was booed, heckled and cursed at games, his father said. People mocked him by throwing coins, but both Bomars indicated that Rhett’s troubles toughened him.
A review of mostly glowing newspaper stories from Bomar’s early career include just a few weeds in the garden. There are references to two incidents involving underage drinking at Oklahoma and suggestions that his self-confidence bordered on cockiness.
But earlier accounts befit a high school legend. In 2002, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote, “Bomar is a college recruiter’s ultimate fantasy.” In 2004, The Oklahoman wrote, “Something has got to be wrong with Rhett Bomar,” adding: “Bomar can’t be perfect. Can he?”
Once his perfection was disproved, Bomar wrote a contrite letter to the N.C.A.A. “I am embarrassed and truly sorry,” he wrote. “ I know the difference between right and wrong.”
Bomar, who had knee surgery in 2007, passed for 3,355 yards and 27 touchdowns last season. While practicing with the Giants’ rookies and tryouts last weekend, Bomar showed nimble footwork.
Coach Tom Coughlin praised Bomar’s quick release but noted what he saw as a flaw. “We are really going to have to work hard to get his momentum going into his throws, especially off to the left,” Coughlin said. “The deeper it has to travel, then it seems to lose a little.”
His father and his college coordinator said that Bomar was a quick learner and that he had shown the ability to reform himself.
Last weekend’s constructive criticism was only about football technique. He can handle that, and more. “It’s something easy we can get corrected,” Bomar said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/sports/football/12giants.html?_r=1&ref=sports
Giants’ Rhett Bomar Is Working His Way Back From a Mistake
Published: May 11, 2009
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — As a baby, Rhett Bomar’s first word was “ball.” In grade school, he worked as a water boy and ball boy for his father, a high school football coach in Texas. If ever a man was bred to be a professional quarterback, it was young Rhett.
Bomar is trying to make the Giants as a reserve quarterback.
“The N.F.L. has been my goal since I’ve been a little kid,” Bomar said last weekend at Giants Stadium during rookie camp.
Now 23, Bomar has his foot in football’s biggest door, although the path he took there was hardly straight and narrow. As a top high school recruit from suburban Dallas, Bomar chose Oklahoma and was impressive there as a redshirt freshman in 2005.
But he was kicked off the Sooners in 2006 for taking money for hours not worked at a car dealership. He was suspended a year, transferred and played two seasons at Sam Houston State.
Although the Giants already have a star quarterback, Eli Manning, they drafted Bomar last month in the fifth round because they were surprised that a player with Bomar’s skill and potential was still available.
Bomar said he was also surprised. “To be honest, I thought I’d go sooner,” said Bomar, who expected the third round or maybe the fourth. “The whole experience is stressful.”
Jim Ferguson, the offensive coordinator at Sam Houston State, said in a telephone interview that Bomar had the talent to succeed as a professional and that people should stop asking Bomar about the major transgression at Oklahoma that almost derailed his career.
Ferguson said he told Bomar to “get up and walk out” when reporters posed those questions. “How many times you got to tell that story?” Ferguson said he asked Bomar.
But Bomar seems to understand that his mistake continues to define him, at least at this stage of his life, and he has ready answers. Without Bomar, the Sooners played for last season’s Bowl Championship Series title behind quarterback Sam Bradford, who won the Heisman Trophy.
“You’ll probably drive yourself crazy thinking about what should have been and what could have been,” Bomar said. “And I know what would have been if I’d stayed there. If I watched it, I’d probably have, you know, thoughts about it, regrets, whatever.”
Bomar, 6 feet 2 inches and 220 pounds, certainly will not get the millions of dollars that go to first-round draft choices. He is not assured even of making the Giants. Jerry Reese, the general manager, said Bomar would compete with David Carr and Andre Woodson for a backup spot.
Bomar’s father, Jerry Bomar, said in a telephone interview that his son “was treated like a rock star” at Oklahoma and “lost consciousness of what was right and wrong.” Jerry added, “He had the world by the tail and had it yanked out.”
Rhett said: “I’ve grown up a lot since then. It kind of humbles you. I’m a different person from it.”
Ferguson and Jerry Bomar said Rhett could have revealed more to the N.C.A.A. for a lighter punishment. Ferguson said Rhett told him there were “multiple people involved in this.”
Jerry Bomar said, “The N.C.A.A. came in to interview him and tried every way in the world to get him to rat them out and he wouldn’t do it.”
Jerry Bomar said they were bitter at the time and he told Rhett, “You ought to. But he wouldn’t. We’re not low-rent people here.”
Only Bomar and a lineman, J. D. Quinn, were exposed and barred.
“It was a pretty high price to pay,” Jerry Bomar said. “He lost a lot. He had some heartaches.”
When Bomar returned to college football with the Bearkats, he was booed, heckled and cursed at games, his father said. People mocked him by throwing coins, but both Bomars indicated that Rhett’s troubles toughened him.
A review of mostly glowing newspaper stories from Bomar’s early career include just a few weeds in the garden. There are references to two incidents involving underage drinking at Oklahoma and suggestions that his self-confidence bordered on cockiness.
But earlier accounts befit a high school legend. In 2002, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram wrote, “Bomar is a college recruiter’s ultimate fantasy.” In 2004, The Oklahoman wrote, “Something has got to be wrong with Rhett Bomar,” adding: “Bomar can’t be perfect. Can he?”
Once his perfection was disproved, Bomar wrote a contrite letter to the N.C.A.A. “I am embarrassed and truly sorry,” he wrote. “ I know the difference between right and wrong.”
Bomar, who had knee surgery in 2007, passed for 3,355 yards and 27 touchdowns last season. While practicing with the Giants’ rookies and tryouts last weekend, Bomar showed nimble footwork.
Coach Tom Coughlin praised Bomar’s quick release but noted what he saw as a flaw. “We are really going to have to work hard to get his momentum going into his throws, especially off to the left,” Coughlin said. “The deeper it has to travel, then it seems to lose a little.”
His father and his college coordinator said that Bomar was a quick learner and that he had shown the ability to reform himself.
Last weekend’s constructive criticism was only about football technique. He can handle that, and more. “It’s something easy we can get corrected,” Bomar said.