<header class="article-header ng-scope" ng-include="" src="article_header_template" ng-controller="ArticleHeaderController" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.8em; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman"; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1059px; max-width: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Last Chance U. Renewed For A Second Season On Netflix - It's Must See TV
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Last Chance U., the latest and I think best sports reality show ever, has happily been renewed for a second season on Netflix. If you have not seen the six-episode first season, I highly recommend setting aside a few hours for binge watching to see a side of intercollegiate athletics very few people know. Last Chance U. is the story of East Mississippi Community College in tiny Scooba, Mississippi and its very successful Junior College (JUCO) football program. Junior college football is basically a landing place and rarely a first choice for several different types of athletes, such as the ones who are trying to get better athletically, the ones that need to get better academically, and the ones who have fallen off the rails and need get better personally and socially, or a combination of all of the above. In other words, most don’t aspire to play JUCO football and retire, most have other plans and that is typically moving on to a Division I school to play football, maybe graduate, then maybe getting a chance to play in the big leagues (NFL).
The title Last Chance U. is apt because for the athletes in the categories above, and the football players at EMCC certainly fit, it is likely their last chance to make it to big time college football. EMCC is the last best hope for them to potentially make it out of whatever situation they are in and find a way to get there. Scooba, Mississippi, close to Meridian and hard by the Alabama border is truly in the middle of nowhere. I have been to Scooba and EMCC and it is a world away from the nearby SEC football hotbeds these athletes aspire to, but the chance to get there drives many of these kids to EMCC for literally their last chance at playing at a high level and even potentially getting an education-which as we know should be the first priority.
Because NCAA rules allow what is called 2-2 transfers and the lesser known 4-2-4 transfers, the talent level at some of these community colleges in football and basketball rivals lower tier Division I FBS and FCS schools in my opinion. The talent level is very impressive because many players were once sought by and/or have already played at NCAA FBS and FCS institutions. A 2-2 transfer is a junior college player who transfers from the JUCO, after earning an Associates Degree, to a Division I school. These players are typically seasoned athletes and many have played against tough Division I caliber competition at the JUCO and are typically ready to play right away in Division I. For the most part this option is used for kids to get academically eligible for Division I athletics although many may go the JUCO route to improve as an athlete-or to do both. Many junior college stars have gone on to successful Division I careers and later NFL careers after playing two years at a JUCO and then becoming a 2-2 transfer such as LaGarrette Blount and Jeremy Shockey.
A 4-2-4 transfer is typically not done for academic reasons, but is used primarily for athletic reasons. This means an athlete who enrolled at a four year school and completed a year in residence can transfer down to a JUCO for one year and then transfer back to any four year institution and compete immediately if all academic eligibility issues are met. Some take this route because they are not afforded a starting opportunity at a four year school and they want to transfer to another four year institution without abstaining from competition for a year. A 4-2-4 transfer may also need more seasoning or they have had academic or social issues and need to right themselves by proving to be academically, athletically and socially acceptable to a four year school. Cam Newton is a great example of a successful 4-2-4 transfer who started at Florida and was kicked out after allegedly stealing a laptop. He then enrolled at Blinn Junior College in Texas, and then finished up at Auburn (albeit leaving early to go pro). Another example is Chad Kelly, the current quarterback at Ole Miss, who attended Clemson, then EMCC, and later transferred to Mississippi.
What We Don’t Know
I think most would agree that having these options for kids to be able to have one last shot at playing Division I sports and hopefully getting an educational benefit is a good thing. For the most part I agree that everyone deserves a second chance, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that there are moral and ethical challenges in a system designed like this that is so focused on eligibility versus educational primacy-arguably more so at the junior college level. What the public largely does not understand is what goes on behind the scenes and the mechanisms needed to assist many athletes in just getting on the playing field, whether at EMCC or even at the highest levels of Division I football. Last Chance U. does a great job of showing all of that and the day to day struggles of the EMCC football team in and out of the classroom to continue the success of the program under a demanding head coach, Buddy Stephens, while dealing with the reality of actually having to go to school and perform academically so they can eventually graduate and pursue that Division I dream.
On paper it sounds so easy. Go to class, practice, play and then get an offer to a D-1 school, but reality is so much different, so much more challenging. Many of these young men come from such disadvantaged backgrounds and substandard educational systems that even basic educational skills may be lacking. Combine that with a “what is more important” daily battle of school or football, and the extremely blurred lines that exist at virtually every school with a football program, the life at EMCC can be a challenging one indeed for the athlete.
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Last Chance U., the latest and I think best sports reality show ever, has happily been renewed for a second season on Netflix. If you have not seen the six-episode first season, I highly recommend setting aside a few hours for binge watching to see a side of intercollegiate athletics very few people know. Last Chance U. is the story of East Mississippi Community College in tiny Scooba, Mississippi and its very successful Junior College (JUCO) football program. Junior college football is basically a landing place and rarely a first choice for several different types of athletes, such as the ones who are trying to get better athletically, the ones that need to get better academically, and the ones who have fallen off the rails and need get better personally and socially, or a combination of all of the above. In other words, most don’t aspire to play JUCO football and retire, most have other plans and that is typically moving on to a Division I school to play football, maybe graduate, then maybe getting a chance to play in the big leagues (NFL).
The title Last Chance U. is apt because for the athletes in the categories above, and the football players at EMCC certainly fit, it is likely their last chance to make it to big time college football. EMCC is the last best hope for them to potentially make it out of whatever situation they are in and find a way to get there. Scooba, Mississippi, close to Meridian and hard by the Alabama border is truly in the middle of nowhere. I have been to Scooba and EMCC and it is a world away from the nearby SEC football hotbeds these athletes aspire to, but the chance to get there drives many of these kids to EMCC for literally their last chance at playing at a high level and even potentially getting an education-which as we know should be the first priority.
Because NCAA rules allow what is called 2-2 transfers and the lesser known 4-2-4 transfers, the talent level at some of these community colleges in football and basketball rivals lower tier Division I FBS and FCS schools in my opinion. The talent level is very impressive because many players were once sought by and/or have already played at NCAA FBS and FCS institutions. A 2-2 transfer is a junior college player who transfers from the JUCO, after earning an Associates Degree, to a Division I school. These players are typically seasoned athletes and many have played against tough Division I caliber competition at the JUCO and are typically ready to play right away in Division I. For the most part this option is used for kids to get academically eligible for Division I athletics although many may go the JUCO route to improve as an athlete-or to do both. Many junior college stars have gone on to successful Division I careers and later NFL careers after playing two years at a JUCO and then becoming a 2-2 transfer such as LaGarrette Blount and Jeremy Shockey.
A 4-2-4 transfer is typically not done for academic reasons, but is used primarily for athletic reasons. This means an athlete who enrolled at a four year school and completed a year in residence can transfer down to a JUCO for one year and then transfer back to any four year institution and compete immediately if all academic eligibility issues are met. Some take this route because they are not afforded a starting opportunity at a four year school and they want to transfer to another four year institution without abstaining from competition for a year. A 4-2-4 transfer may also need more seasoning or they have had academic or social issues and need to right themselves by proving to be academically, athletically and socially acceptable to a four year school. Cam Newton is a great example of a successful 4-2-4 transfer who started at Florida and was kicked out after allegedly stealing a laptop. He then enrolled at Blinn Junior College in Texas, and then finished up at Auburn (albeit leaving early to go pro). Another example is Chad Kelly, the current quarterback at Ole Miss, who attended Clemson, then EMCC, and later transferred to Mississippi.
What We Don’t Know
I think most would agree that having these options for kids to be able to have one last shot at playing Division I sports and hopefully getting an educational benefit is a good thing. For the most part I agree that everyone deserves a second chance, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that there are moral and ethical challenges in a system designed like this that is so focused on eligibility versus educational primacy-arguably more so at the junior college level. What the public largely does not understand is what goes on behind the scenes and the mechanisms needed to assist many athletes in just getting on the playing field, whether at EMCC or even at the highest levels of Division I football. Last Chance U. does a great job of showing all of that and the day to day struggles of the EMCC football team in and out of the classroom to continue the success of the program under a demanding head coach, Buddy Stephens, while dealing with the reality of actually having to go to school and perform academically so they can eventually graduate and pursue that Division I dream.
On paper it sounds so easy. Go to class, practice, play and then get an offer to a D-1 school, but reality is so much different, so much more challenging. Many of these young men come from such disadvantaged backgrounds and substandard educational systems that even basic educational skills may be lacking. Combine that with a “what is more important” daily battle of school or football, and the extremely blurred lines that exist at virtually every school with a football program, the life at EMCC can be a challenging one indeed for the athlete.
