Morris Claiborne is widely known as the number one defensive
back in this year's NFL Draft and will most likely be the first defensive
player to hear his name on Draft Day. The 2011 Thorpe Award Winner and 1st Team
All-American at LSU has found a new way to make a name for himself, and not in
a good way. Claiborne has set a new low, as he scored a massive four (4) on his
Wonderlic test...... out of fifty (50)! To save you the time on doing the math
here, that is an 8%.
I almost have no option but to feel bad for the guy; an 8%!
If I scored that low on any of my college exams, I would definitely re-think
what I am doing with my life, and how dumb could I possibly be. This goes to
show exactly what is wrong with many aspects of the college game and how some
"student"-athletes are truly only there because they have to be. How
in the world did LSU get Claiborne through his classes for three years? It
leaves one to think how he possibly could have passed even a basic collegiate
course. As someone who hopes to work with athletes in the future, I feel that
there has got to be someone pushing these athletes to excel in more than one
aspect of life.
Let's put this score into perspective. The Wonderlic Test is
a basic aptitude test that is administered annually to every prospect at the
NFL Combine. The test consists of 50 basic multiple choice questions to test
knowledge and problem-solving ability and must be completed in 12 minutes. A
typical question from the test would be:
- When a rope is selling for 20 cents per 2 feet, how many feet can you purchase for $30?
Really Morris? You couldn't figure that out? It truly is embarrassing to
think that a 21 year old man could not do the simple math required above.
As much as I am ripping on Claiborne, it seems that the Wonderlic test
is one of the smallest pieces considered in evaluating talent, and why should
it be? Every year it seems that some outrageously low score is released and the
player's stock really takes no hit. Just look at the 2011 NFL Draft and
prospects A.J. Green of Georgia and Claiborne's former teammate Patrick
Peterson. Green scored an amazing six points higher than Claiborne with a 10
and Peterson fell just short of double digits with a 9. Where were they drafted
you ask? Green went #3 overall to Cincinnati and went on to have one of the
greatest seasons ever by a rookie wide receiver and Peterson went #5 overall to
the Arizona Cardinals and tied the single season NFL record with 4 punt returns
for touchdowns.
So what exactly does all this mean? It means that as much as collegiate
institutions should be teaching these athletes the importance of an education,
they see examples as to why it is not. Collegiate athletes see millions in
professional sports and many put education to the side (and that would be lucky
in Claiborne's scenario). It is sad to think that an intelligence level that
low will bring around $20 million guaranteed on April 26th. This is the nature
of the beast, but I will say one thing; No matter how much money these guys
make, how much praise they receive, or if they end up on your Wheaties box,
just remember, they scored an 8%.
While I agree that his performance is at best, poor, there are other players who've gone on to be quite successful...in football, with low scores (Dan Marino, Terry Bradshaw). We're not asking them to solve world peace or invent cold fusion reactors, they're entertainers. Their educational shortcomings will catch up with them eventually. In the interim, compare them to other "entertainers", not those of us who will have to work all our lives for a fraction of the money and a fraction of the physical risk. After all that, ask yourself, would you want him in your defensive backfield with that score? I know I would!
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