College freshmen all across America have a reputation of trying to be the “cool guy” when it’s their first time in a new place, or campus in this case. Most of these “cool” moments involve them being at parties that usually end with these first-year students puking into toilets of frat houses, with friends filming the ordeal of course, or they end up waking up in a tree with a ripped Hulk Hogan shirt covered in Hennessy.

Instead of having a good time and socializing, these impressionable young students usually “choke” underneath the pressure when they have a group of fellow students cheering them on to drink more and party harder. So, does this same pressure exist for True Freshmen QBs?

I can say with strong serenity that there are three things that these first-year QBs face every Saturday that makes them ‘choke’ underneath the pressure of college football. These same factors can make a young QB lose games, which then forces them to face the embarrassment of defeat after the last whistle blows.

3 factors that begin the “Choking Process:”

1.The Stadiums:

These stadiums, when jam-packed, can make a player, especially a first-year player, shake with immense anxiety and throw them off their game flow. Attendance at some games can reach 100,000+, like at Bryant–Denny Stadium; Alabama Crimson Tide home field. These giant football stadiums can create thunderous sounds, and that alone could make a young QB ruin his underwear and force him to sit in the locker room, out of fear, for the rest of the night while he waits for his mother to come pick him up.

2.The Competition:

The transition from high school football to NCAA Division 1 football is one of the biggest problems for young QBs. They go from the competition of high school football to playing against some of the giants of high-level college football. It can be a hard process to get through because once that freshmen receives his first big hit from a 260 lb linebacker from Alabama, he will then know what its like to play at that level and he might even play dead to hide from the giants that roam the field.

3. The Fame:

Every true Freshmen dreams of becoming the next legendary football player. Sometimes these dreams can fog a players’ vision of whats really important. It can make them worry about looking good on camera instead of trying to prove their self-worth on the field. The drive for fame can do awful things to a first-year player. For example, they can become a public relations nightmare with crazy press conferences after games, with them saying something outrageous or controversial. Or even better, they go on a huge party binge and make a mockery of themselves with pictures of
them vomiting in a Denny’s parking-lot. Somehow, the true freshman QBs will find a way to embarrass themselves.