One of the most consistently popular genres of article we produce here on this website are #ScholarshipAlerts. We love them and so do you.
There you have the American dream rolled into a 3-minute video: a player who was so committed to his dream of playing college football -- the ultimate American endeavor -- that he paid his way for one, two, three or four years, only to learn that his hard work had paid off. The walk-on did not toil in darkness. His coaches watched and noticed, as did his teammates. And so now he's being rewarded by his coaches and in front of his brothers, living proof that hard work pays off -- literally -- now that his tuition bills are taken care of.
It's a dynamic that only works on the college level, until Melissa High School spun it in a different direction.
As the clip shows below, the Cardinals, located in the high school football Mecca that is Collin County, Texas, stopped down their conditioning period to announce to the whole team that defensive end Nigel Smith, Jr., had just been offered a scholarship.
The immediate economic angle isn't here, but everything else we love about the college version applies. It's a celebration of that player's efforts and a lesson to his teammates (current and future, since it's on the program's official account) that hard work pays off. By the way, Smith is a 2024 recruit, meaning he'll be just a sophomore this fall. So if Notre Dame is already offering, Melissa's coaching staff had better plan on stopping down many more practices with #ScholarshipAlerts.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.