"We're Buckeyes, man," Cris Carter, whose wife graduated from OSU and has a daughter committed to play soccer there, said. "He will get re-recruited, but right now Duron's family's plan is for him to re-enroll at Ohio State next June."
Cris Carter hopes this temporary setback will serve as a lesson for his son.
"I and Duron's mother want nothing more than any other parents want for their 18- or 19-year-old kid," the former receiver said. "Grow up. Be responsible. Make a contribution. Be a giver in life, not a taker."
I am going to offer two different points of view.
First point -
Duron's parents are SAYING all the right things about him returning to Ohio State. But my guess is that this is the first time in his life that Duron has had to knuckle down academically and be responsible for getting to class. His parents should have been teaching him these lessons at a much earlier stage in his life. By the time he was in high school, his study habits were cast in stone. He was probably like a lot of star high school athletes, doing the absolute bare minimum by whatever means necessary just to stay eligible. I question whether anyone trying to change those habits will work at all for Duron at age 18 or 19. Surely, Duron HAD to know what he needed to do to stay eligible at Ohio State, and he failed to meet those requirements - even with all the academic aides that were available to him in Columbus. This is a major character red flag - and I question whether he will ever make it back to Columbus.
Second point -
Not all kids are ready to accept the responsibility of "growing up" past high school until later in their lives - especially a kid at a HUGE university who has the weight on his shoulders of his dad being a star Buckeye, and living up to that. In this case, enrolling at a community college will allow Duron to take a breath, and evaluate his life. As AutoModGod implied, maybe Ohio State isn't the place for Duron. But at least at the community college, he is out of the spotlight - and free to make a choice for what HE wants to do with his life. If it's playing Buckeye football, then this is the place that will allow him to begin to put the pieces back together that will allow that choice to become a reality once again.
We, as parents and grandparents, have gained the wisdom to see that kids at 18 or 19 are far from finished products. Kids that age change their mind 5 times before breakfast each day. I hope that Duron and his family are at peace with whatever decision he makes regarding his future.
