Having been drafted by the Kansas City Royals and recruited by the Nebraska Cornhuskers, teenage sports phenom Bubba Starling has some grownup decisions to make. We will undoubtedly see him on T.V., but will he be in pads or on the diamond?
Multi-talented young athlete Derek "Bubba" Starling is in a unique position. He's been drafted by the home town Kansas City Royals as the 5th pick in the MLB amateur draft and he also has an appointment on July 10th in being a quarterback for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Starling excels at both baseball and football and has a difficult decision to make. This is a tough decision especially for an 18 year old kid that's never had more than $600 in the bank. Starling can either play college football and baseball with Nebraska and wait on his future or he can sign with the Royals with the backing of the best agent in sports, Scott Boras, and pickup anywhere from 6 to 10 million dollars in a signing bonus. He must make this decision by the deadline on August 15th. If he chooses to bypass the signing bonus, he can play at Nebraska, let things play out, and in 3 years be drafted again in an unknown spot.
Football
This is a kid that has a vertical jump of 34 1/2 inches, has been electronically timed in the 40 yard dash at 4.36 seconds, can throw a football 55 yards with both knees on the ground and can throw a football 80 yards on his feet. This is an athlete.
Starling played at Gardner Edgerton High School in the Kansas City area. He quarterbacked his high school team to a 33-4 record. Starling accounted for 8100 yards of total offense and 97 touchdowns in 3 seasons. In his senior campaign in 2010, he led Gardner Edgerton to a 11-1 record and his team made it to the class 5A State Semifinals, where they eventually loss. He carried the ball 180 times for 2,377 yards (13.2 yard per carry) and threw for 790 yards and 8 touchdowns.
These rushing numbers are mind boggling for a quarterback, and should have every recruit at his front door. However, in my opinion, this isn't an offense that's concentrated on the passing game. It is a bit little alarming to me that he's thrown for less than 800 yards in a season with only 8 TD's. In the NFL, he would need to be a prolific passer. Sure, there's quarterbacks like Michael Vick, but Vick has proven that he can throw the ball. To throw the ball far and throw the ball accurately are two separate things.
Bodog has listed the Nebraska Cornhuskers an 18-1 shot in the betting odds to win the BCS Championship.
Baseball
This is a 6 foot 5, 195 pound young man that's been known to hit the baseball more than 500 feet. Starling is an outfielder that's hit over .500 with 17 Home runs and 43 runs batted in for the last 2 seasons. He played for the USA Under 18 team last summer and hit .339 with 3 home runs while throwing 3 scoreless innings and 7 strikeouts.
He was named the Kansas City Metro Baseball Coaches Association small class Player of the Year. He had offers from dozens of colleges but chose Nebraska. Being drafted and guaranteed all of that money by your favorite team and your home town is difficult to pass up. Hypothetically, if Starling plays at Nebraska and get's drafted by a baseball team in 3 years, it most likely won't be the Kansas City Royals. This is a major dilemma for someone with such talent.
People look up to him in Kansas City. This is a young man with a lot of integrity. A young girl was sick in the hospital who was a fan, and sure enough Starling went and visited her. That tells me that he might not be all about the money.
"The Decision"
I don't want to put the curse on Bubba because we all know what happened the last time that a highly publicized athlete in the public eye made a big decision (LeBron James). Knowing that the money will be there even if he doesn't take it now, I think that he'll play football and baseball at Nebraska. If he only had a chance to take the money now with no future prospects then I think that he would accept the Royals offer, but that's not the case.
He's going to be risking injury (football has a high injury rate, especially at the QB position) and he could possibly play poorly at a higher level. This would mean that his stock would go down and he'd have less offers and less money waiting for him. This is a decision in where the athlete has to be totally confident in their abilities because taking or not taking 6 to 10 million dollars of guaranteed money is a life altering decision. There have been many athletes that didn't live up to expectations and wish that they had a second chance to take the cash.
My Prediction
Expect Bubba Starling to show up in Nebraska on July 10th and by August 15th, the public will know whether he's a member of the Nebraska Cornhuskers or the Kansas City Royals.