Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

[JamesJacks]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

The most popular player on the football team seems to be the backup quarterback. It will be interesting to see if this hold true now that TOB is no longer playing.

[rabbits64]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

There has been a lot of talk on here, and even some Tweets from the players about booing, criticizing the players, etc. Is it right to be this critical of college athletes? In TOB's case, the criticism might have been one of the contributing factors in him leaving.
Personally I have struggled with this as well. On one hand, these are young men, still in school and being called out by fans, boos, calls for change, etc. This would be tough for most people to handle. On the other hand, this is big time football with a lot of money of money involved, coaches jobs, and the push for more and more donations from alumni. In other words you assumed the risk when you accepted the scholarship to play here. Not to mention, life is tough and you are going to be knocked down in life and football teaches you how to fight through it and get back up. There are no participation trophys in the real world.

At the end of the day, I do believe it is OK to be critical of a player as long as it doesn't become personal, which at times is a very fine line.

[KUlawJack]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

There has been a lot of talk on here, and even some Tweets from the players about booing, criticizing the players, etc. Is it right to be this critical of college athletes? In TOB's case, the criticism might have been one of the contributing factors in him leaving.
Personally I have struggled with this as well. On one hand, these are young men, still in school and being called out by fans, boos, calls for change, etc. This would be tough for most people to handle. On the other hand, this is big time football with a lot of money of money involved, coaches jobs, and the push for more and more donations from alumni. In other words you assumed the risk when you accepted the scholarship to play here. Not to mention, life is tough and you are going to be knocked down in life and football teaches you how to fight through it and get back up. There are no participation trophys in the real world.

At the end of the day, I do believe it is OK to be critical of a player as long as it doesn't become personal, which at times is a very fine line.

Critical analysis is not a bad thing especially when our team has been playing as poorly as it has. That's what fans do. Namecalling and booing, not so much. Save the namecalling and booing for the refs.

One must also keep in mind that this forum makes up about 1% of those people who actually attend Jackrabbit football games. With that in mind, many many thousands of other fans have opinions on this subject too. Just an observation.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Wow, talk about shocking. Anyways, after reading all of these threads I would like to say a couple things here. First off, thank you to TOB for putting it out there for the past three years, and good luck on the rest of your life.

Now, to respond to a couple themes I have noticed:

#1-The fans on the message boards were too mean to Tommy.

Were we nice about his performances? No. Did his performances deserve praise? I think not. What the hell is a starting QB doing trolling his teams message boards to read about himself during the season and off season, if this is the reason he quit? Was his confidence so low he had to read the message boards to get the backing of the fans to make him feel he was good enough to start? Shouldn't he be too busy for that anyways with the responsabilty of being the starting QB watching film, practicing, lifting, and school, as well as trying to squeeze in time for a life. Do you think that Tim Tebow, Christian Ponder, Aaron Rodgers, or any other college QB reads/read this crap we write? Seriously people, you have way too high of an opinion of your posting if you think that is the case.

#2- The defense and everybody else is our main problem, you big meanies took it out on the wrong guy.

Well first off, most of the people posting this were/are staunch TOB supporters to the death. Most people with a rational brain wanted to see a change. Secondly, you are underestimating the impact that a QB can have. How much and how fast does it suck momentum when a QB throws a pick? Its HUGE! It sucks the wind out of the whole team. Now, make it inside the redzone. For a TD the other way. Did anyone notice what happend to the D after the slide and this pick six? When we were starting to mount what would have been the beginnings of a comeback, the D actually played pretty well for a couple series. Then boom, the infamous slide, and then the pick six the other way, and the D becomes a seive. Anybody think that might be because the D is thinking, well, here we go again? Nevermind the momentum shift those two things caused. The performances we were getting from the QB spot was affecting the whole teams mentality. I wouldn't doubt that the teams comes out with a second wind in this next game, at least for a while. Then it depends on Sumners performance. Couple picks, probrably puts the teams head in the ****ty. But a few good series, whole new mentality for the guys. Now, do I find it to be an acceptable mindset for the rest of the team? HELL NO! That just shows me that NOBODY ELSE IS STEPPING UP TO THE CHALLENGE TO BE A LEADER. Which means the whole team turns to look at the QB spot for leadership. Which is what you are supposed to be at QB. Hell, everybody and their brother knows that.

#3- He just decided to quit and good on him for following his heart.

First, I would like to state that I have no problem with TOB quitting, if he doesn't have the drive to play anymore I personally don't want him on the team having that mentality to drag people down with, and I hope that he has a good life after SDSU. Sounds harsh, but reality is harsh. Whats overlooked by this is the amount of guys who have busted their asses for this team but are still gutting it out after not ever starting. Guys like Dom Claire. When you say oh well thats honkey dorey TOB, I would have done the same thing if I didn't want it, you are somewhat detracting from the effort that Dom and Co. put in, saying that the mentality of well I'm not starting and things aren't going my way is OK. I think that's bull. With the amount of time and effort one puts in for college fb, the teams becomes your family of sorts that you work and sweat and bleed for. That's what bugs me about his quitting midseason. He quit on the guys who put a lot of work into this season, he could have at least stuck it out to the end of the year out of respect for those guys. Now, if it was because the team turned on him and made him into an outcast, well then I think its fine for him to do this. Let me clarify what I am saying here. I am OK with Tommy quitting, but I think his reasoning (from what we hear, which will never be the truth methinks) is very very poor.

Now, onto the Sumner era. Will it be an era filled with victorys and the MVFC bowing at our feet? ****, I hope that it just involves the qb making sound decisions. He doesn't have to be a gamebreaker, just a game manager this year. Keep it so the team has a chance to win. If the defense is givin up 35-40 pts a game, thats not on him. The people who will rag on him the most will be those staunch TOB supporters. Also, to the person who said the Crawford situation was different, you are correct. He was actually playing pretty decent ball, and people were screaming for TOB BEFORE he got hurt. I remember it vividly, because I NEVER posted for him being pulled, I argued against it. Go ahead and check.

Anyways, I hope that this big distraction serves to pull the team together into a juggernaut that tears through the conference instead of this causing them to REALLY fall apart at the seams.

Whew. I think thats the longest post I have ever made.

#1-Are you comparing TOB to Tim Tebow, Christian Ponder, and Aaron Rodgers?

#2-You suggest TOB supporters have their heads in the sand regarding his play. Perhaps you are over-estimating the impact a quarterback has on the defense? After all, Poly didn't seem to have much trouble scoring on their very first possession of the game when the defense should have been well rested and not yet deflated.

#3-I am very thankful I didn't have a message board full of "experts" judging me and all my actions when I was 21.

You display a degree of disrespect by continuing to refer to him as Tommy. Why do you do that?

Will you be a "to the death" supporter of Sumner now? Is it now ok to question the defense's role in our bad football team?

[bigticket1]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

#1-Are you comparing TOB to Tim Tebow, Christian Ponder, and Aaron Rodgers?

#2-You suggest TOB supporters have their heads in the sand regarding his play. Perhaps you are over-estimating the impact a quarterback has on the defense? After all, Poly didn't seem to have much trouble scoring on their very first possession of the game when the defense should have been well rested and not yet deflated.

#3-I am very thankful I didn't have a message board full of "experts" judging me and all my actions when I was 21.

You display a degree of disrespect by continuing to refer to him as Tommy. Why do you do that?

Will you be a "to the death" supporter of Sumner now? Is it now ok to question the defense's role in our bad football team?

Great post ! Apparently the writer of the post you were commenting on thought it was so good that he drug it over to Bisonville ane re-posted it word for word. And speaking of the Bison,didn't they do pretty well with less than stellar QB play last season ?

[Southeast]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Good luck TOB. As many have said, 10 years from now this tough time will all be a very distant memory.


Sumner will have his hands full. He's still only a redshirt freshman with zero college ball experience. He also has to live up to the legend that so many have managed to build up around him. That probably comes with the territory when you are a local high school star. It won't be easy. The rest of the team is going to have to step up in a big way to help this kid out (I'm talking about you, defense!).

[Chains]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

It does my heart good to see a lot of reflecting on things said and soul searching going on by posters of this forum,it means to me, anyway, that not only do posters care about the football program, but care also about the people who participate in it.Best of luck to Thomas Obrien in future endeavers.It must be tough for his fellow team mates to see someone with whom they sweated ,and toiled with both in practice and during games to leave in such a manner.Dale Moss is right,outsiders cannot begin to understand how this feels.My only hope is that somehow the team can come together thru all this......somehow.I think they can.

Jack,

An appropriate post. I think when (we) post on tools such as these boards we need to be sensitive to the fact that these are young men and women we are talking about. Maybe a thought we need to keep in mind is would I make such a post if it were my son or daughter? From all hear about TOB is that he is a very nice person that he simply did not want to play football anymore.

As far as the Jacks coaching staff......I cannot think of any more appropriate people that I would want coaching and teaching my son how to play football or life lessons.

Careful what we ask for. I wish TOB the best as I am sure this was a very, very difficult choice he had to make.

GBGBGJ

[jackmd]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Critical analysis is not a bad thing especially when our team has been playing as poorly as it has. That's what fans do. Namecalling and booing, not so much. Save the namecalling and booing for the refs.

One must also keep in mind that this forum makes up about 1% of those people who actually attend Jackrabbit football games. With that in mind, many many thousands of other fans have opinions on this subject too. Just an observation.

Those other fans don't know what they are talking about and Coach Stig and Nagy don't reference their posts or call them to discuss game plans and personnel decisions like they do with us.

I think those who believe Mr. O'Brien deserves sympathy for his decision because of opinions expressed on a fan forum are giving the members of the forum too much credit and the decision maker too little. Maybe I'm naive but I very clearly expect that nothing posted here ever influences a decision made by one of our athletes, coaches or administrators. I get the impression some people think there is an influence, that seems asinine to me.

I look at it this way, Mr. O'Brien decided that playing football was not as rewarding as not playing football. He felt he owed it to no one more than himself to make a decision not to persevere through the adversity and therefore chose an alternative. Ultimately, he will determine if that was the right decision as it should be.

[jacksfan29]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

The most popular player on the football team seems to be the backup quarterback. It will be interesting to see if this hold true now that TOB is no longer playing.

Funny but I don't recall Crawford being more popular then Berry.

I wish Thomas luck, I think he's a very good young man who has had a tough 3 or 4 years on the FB field and in his personal life. I think there is far more to this decision then any of us know and then any of us deserve to know.

It is time to move on, though I along with others have and will continue to question the logic of our coaching staff (including Stig) in hanging TOB out to dry so often when it was painfully obvious that what he needed was a chance to collect himself and take a deep breath. The excuse last year was no backup. Well how hard would it have been to hand the ball off to Kyle or drop a quick flip to Kool? This year with Sumner as #2 we should have been able to spell TOB for a series or two. I truly believe that the day will come, if it hasn't already; when Stig looks back on how this went down and ask himself if he and his staff couldn't have handled this young man differently.

[Nidaros]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

I keep wondering what role did Coach Eidness play in this unhappy relationship? I know Eric personally, but not well enough to pick up the telephone during this busy season. I doubt he would discuss TOB today with anyone who is not part of the staff. Coach Eidness who I greatly respect has experience as a head coach at SWMU, and he seemed be on top of pass offense strategy. We don't hear peep from him, which only makes my mind run wild with speculation. I doubt we ever will find anything out, but certainly there could be differences that could have explain the poor execution of TOB. QB not listening to the coach and visa versa, or does all communication go through Coach Meadows who often miscommunicated. Boy if I keep posting eventually I will find enough blame to go around to everyone including those who post on this board.

[shot_5533]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Please watch GoJacks.com the video highlights. Please listen to what Tyler says when Thomas laid down on the 1 yard line. It says it all.

Posting Thomas good luck and best wishes on this forum is foolish unless you truly believe he reads this forum. I believed Santa read my letters too for a time. If Thomas did read this forum, it is a good thing he quit. I would think it would be better to send your best wishes to Thomas directly if it makes you feel better.

I am getting confused when reading some of these posts. Is this a soccer forum or a NCAA D-1 football forum?

The players left on the team risk permanent disfigurement and/or disabilities at practice let alone games. How many of them have lost use of their tendons? Yet they fight on for SDSU. Football is a violent game, it comes with the territory. I feel bad for the team left behind. Maybe I should write them a note here telling them that. Include feeling bad for Coach Meadows and Coach Stig. Maybe write a letter to the fans...hey wait a minute, they fans are reading this forum.

One other thing I'm confused about - I didn't hear the fans in Brookings booing TOB during games. Am I missing something here?

I can't wait for Saturday and this will all be over. I highly doubt that people will jump all over Austin. Some may, there always are some crazy people out there. I would think for the most part, people will be supportive.

All players are someone's son, brother, and grandson. The differance is when you go D-I, the sideshow comes with it when you sign your name on the scholarship tender. It is not D-II where many players walk away nor D-III where there is no scholarship money invested. This happens with big time football, get used to it.

The other main gripe as TV mentions is the timing. Don'tquit in the middle of the season. When Woody quit to play for Iowa, we all wished him well. He quit after the season to benefit himself in his opinion as is his right. It doesn't appear to have worked out for Woody football wise, but perhaps he benefitted. Good for him, this is America.

You know what they say - when the going gets tough, the tough get going along with every other sports cliche.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It promotes thoughtt. I learned a lot reading this post. It is a great study.

Go Jacks!!! Can't wait for Saturday to open conferance.

[NebraskaJack]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

Some pretty harsh words directed at TOB...but I would expect nothing less. Here's the reality, none of us are TOB and none of us knows what's going on in his world. Do we all feel he let down his teammates, coaches, fans, etc...sure. It's a natural reaction. But, did somebody let TOB down that lead to this decision?

Fact of the matter is unless you've gone through what a college athlete goes through to prepare and try to live up to expectations don't spout off about someone being a quitter or doing his teammates an injustice. Do you know what the hardest thing for a college athlete to do is....walk off the field of play for the final time. TOB just chose to do it at what is considered an inopportune time. Reality check...if his heart wasn't in it would you want him out there leading the team? I think not and he just made that decision for himself.

The truth will never come out because a bunch of loudmouths hiding behind a chat board moniker will make up rumors as to why this happened.

Closed Captioned to TOB...life will go on and in 5, 10, 15 years you'll be known for the man you are at that time not the college athlete you are today. Stick by your heart. Get an EDUCATION and be a productive member of society. Have a family if that's what you choose and be a good human being. THAT'S WHAT MATTERS.

As Nidaros posted before...."it's just a game".

And all of this comes from someone who lived in the trenches, laid it all on the line for SDSU, and lives with very few people now knowing about that past life. Football ends...life is forever.

Signed,
Jake Hines
Jackrabbit Alum '91-94

Great post Jake!!

Ultimate props to someone who has a strong opinion and is willing to post his name to it.

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

[QUOTE=SF_Rabbit_Fan;184232#2-You suggest TOB supporters have their heads in the sand regarding his play. Perhaps you are over-estimating the impact a quarterback has on the defense? After all, Poly didn't seem to have much trouble scoring on their very first possession of the game when the defense should have been well rested and not yet deflated.[/QUOTE]

Not for nothing, but it is extremely deflating to a Defense when the offense turns the ball over. Even more so, when that leads to a pick six. Remember, 14 of the points from Saturday's game were completely on TOB. I promise you the play when he slid at the 1 was noticed by EVERYONE on the football team, especially the Defense. I also promise the feeling amongst everyone on the team was the same. That play really cannot be excused. The 2 picks and slide accounted for negative 21 points for the Jacks. That's not me casting judgment, but a factual statement.

For what it's worth. Being judged by the media or fans is so miniscule in relation to the judging you get from the coaches and your fellow teamates. Going over every play of every game you ever play with a coach giving you a grade for each nuance of the play, while sitting next to your teamates as you have ice or heat strapped to various parts of your body just so you can make it through a no-pads practice on a Sunday is tougher judgment than a message board or "the media" (WTF that means) can place on someone. As some of the other former players have stated on this board, the team is really your family while you are in college and beyond. You spend 80% of your college life with your teamates. Ultimately, their judgment on your play and committment to the team is all the really matters to a player. I know nothing of the real reason for TOB's quitting, and I'm probably not going to make any calls to find out. But, at some point I have to believe the team lost its belief in him or he wouldn't have quit. The slide was just the exclamation point.

I want to make one last point. Anyone remember when Jimmy Rogers dropped that interception eventually leading to a shootout loss 3-4 years ago to McNeese (I believe)? Anyone remember how he reacted to that failure? That is what teamates expect from someone when something bad happens. They want their teamates to be crushed when failure happens. They want an equal investment by everyone. They want a teamate to say "NEVER AGAIN WILL THIS HAPPEN." Did TOB ever do that? Only the lockerroom knows. Judging by his sideline demeanor, I would guess the answer is No.

All I know, is I really want the Jacks to turn this ship around. 1-0 this week.

[YanktonJack7]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

O'Brien just tweeted ... @ThomasOBrien4

"Big thanks to everyone supporting me! Life is much bigger than football and when playing isn't fun, it's time to move on."

[JimmyJack]

Re: Thomas O'Brien Quit the Team

TOB just tweeted this:

ThomasOBrien4
Big thanks to everyone supporting me! Life is much bigger than football and when playing isn't fun, it's time to move on.

And this:

ThomasOBrien4
Being true to yourself will set you free. Trying to be someone that others want you to be will destroy you.