Tomorrow is a big day in the Dungy household. February 3rd is National Signing Day for high school football players. It’s the first day they can sign for a scholarship to an NCAA school and our son Eric is going to sign with the University of Oregon. He’s excited and we’re excited for him. He’s put a lot of time and energy into not only practicing and playing the game of football, but also into working hard in the classroom so he would have the grades to qualify for admission. Sometimes people don’t realize the sacrifices that it takes to train, work out, practice and play, but still study and do your best in school.
Wednesday, though, it will all seem worthwhile to him as he is rewarded with a college scholarship. It was great for me to be around during his senior year–not only to watch him play, but to also see him handle the recruiting process. Oregon was actually his final visit last weekend. Their facilities are great and they had an exciting year last year. However, what really impressed me as a parent was the individual attention the coaches and staff at Oregon gave to Eric. They talked about his academic career, his social and spiritual development and growing as a man, as well as a football player. And they had a plan specifically for him and how he would accomplish that.
The only real hurdle we had to get over was the distance. Eugene, Oregon is a long way from Tampa and I think it’s actually going to be tougher on Lauren and I than it will be on Eric. We always felt that he’d be playing college football in Florida and we’d be driving to his games, tailgating and enjoying it just as we did his high school games. We had to face the realization that we won’t see him as often now and we’re going to miss some of that closeness. But in the end, it was his decision and we needed him to be happy. He is looking forward to being a Duck and we are happy for him.
So tomorrow Plant High School has a signing ceremony in their gymnasium. All of the seniors who received scholarships will be there and we’ll be there too–with our green and gold on! And we’ll be very proud of our son!
