A grown man at 31-years old is punting for Oklahoma State. Does that bother anyone?

I think it's weird anyone cares how old someone is when they decided to get an education.

I had known that Billy Sims was 25 when he started his N.F.L. career but I can't find any confirmation that he was in the military, much less fighting in Viet Nam.

I find that strange. I recall both Barry Switzer talking about it. I recall Billy Ray Sims talking about it. I have seen photos of Billy Ray Sims in Viet Name.

further left than V.I.U. wrote:

[quote]kick ball, get scholarship wrote:

Only a junior and 31-years-old. Clearly, he has a HUGE advantage punting against players a decade younger. Is Oklahoma State cheating?

It didn't bug me when Billy Sims returned from fighting in Viet Nam and played N.C.A.A. Am. football to age 24 or 25.

What bugs me is the complicated aid, grant & scholarship system in U.S. I

BINGO

Scholarships for American citizens. Look at the results of the junior college, d3,d2,d1 championships andf how many athletes are from ethiopia, kenya, etc;

campbell university was a christian school who recruited athletes with similar interests and from us high schools. they fired their coach hired someone new and all of a sudden here comes the 23 24 25 yearold athletes from across the atlantic.

im a democrat but let's take care of our own first.

kick ball, get scholarship wrote:

Only a junior and 31-years-old. Clearly, he has a HUGE advantage punting against players a decade younger. Is Oklahoma State cheating?

Obviously they are not cheating. If they were the guy wouldn't be allowed to play. The guy's age is public knowledge. I think it's really kind of cool.

further left than V.I.U. wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

I had known that Billy Sims was 25 when he started his N.F.L. career but I can't find any confirmation that he was in the military, much less fighting in Viet Nam.

I find that strange. I recall both Barry Switzer talking about it. I recall Billy Ray Sims talking about it. I have seen photos of Billy Ray Sims in Viet Name.

I did some more digging and I couldn't find any mention of him being in the military or an explanation for him starting his N.F.L. career at age 25. The draft ended before he turned 18 so it wouldn't make sense for a H.S. star athlete to choose volunteering for the military over going to college on a scholarship.

A leftist who's bothered by complicated bureaucracy... lol...

GiantsSuch wrote:

further left than V.I.U. wrote:

[quote]kick ball, get scholarship wrote:

Only a junior and 31-years-old. Clearly, he has a HUGE advantage punting against players a decade younger. Is Oklahoma State cheating?

It didn't bug me when Billy Sims returned from fighting in Viet Nam and played N.C.A.A. Am. football to age 24 or 25.

What bugs me is the complicated aid, grant & scholarship system in U.S. I

BINGO

Scholarships for American citizens. Look at the results of the junior college, d3,d2,d1 championships andf how many athletes are from ethiopia, kenya, etc;

campbell university was a christian school who recruited athletes with similar interests and from us high schools. they fired their coach hired someone new and all of a sudden here comes the 23 24 25 yearold athletes from across the atlantic.

im a democrat but let's take care of our own first.

That's "RACIST" and "XENOPHOBIC" and you literally cannot say that without being pilloried as a Democrat. Remember, borders are racist and ANYTHING positive the US has going for it is the product of racism and the exploitation of the poor helpless minorities.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

further left than V.I.U. wrote:

I find that strange. I recall both Barry Switzer talking about it. I recall Billy Ray Sims talking about it. I have seen photos of Billy Ray Sims in Viet Name.

I did some more digging and I couldn't find any mention of him being in the military or an explanation for him starting his N.F.L. career at age 25. The draft ended before he turned 18 so it wouldn't make sense for a H.S. star athlete to choose volunteering for the military over going to college on a scholarship.

It looks like the missing 2 years were before he graduated from HS as he turned 20 the same year he did graduate. He redshirted one year at Oklahoma which resulted in him being there for 5 years which adds up to 25.

Oh you like your labels, don’t you?

Football players usually do well with the ladies. Wondering how this 31 year old fits in.

Comparing punting to winning XC lol. No one cares.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It looks like the missing 2 years were before he graduated from HS as he turned 20 the same year he did graduate. He redshirted one year at Oklahoma which resulted in him being there for 5 years which adds up to 25.

Sheesh. This is not hard to figure out. He moved from St. Louis in junior high to live with his grandma in Texas. Don't know if he started school late or lost a year in the move, but he graduated at age 19.5. This is not that unusual for football players in Texas, many of whom take 'redshirt' years in junior high so they're more physically mature in high school.

He spent 5 years at OU and graduated at age 24.5.

There are no missing years.

non-American here. Who cares? lol

Heisman U wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It looks like the missing 2 years were before he graduated from HS as he turned 20 the same year he did graduate. He redshirted one year at Oklahoma which resulted in him being there for 5 years which adds up to 25.

Sheesh. This is not hard to figure out. He moved from St. Louis in junior high to live with his grandma in Texas. Don't know if he started school late or lost a year in the move, but he graduated at age 19.5. This is not that unusual for football players in Texas, many of whom take 'redshirt' years in junior high so they're more physically mature in high school.

He spent 5 years at OU and graduated at age 24.5.

There are no missing years.

It's very unusual to turn 20 the same year as graduating and there are always HSs nearby so it would be very odd to somehow sit out 2 years.

Are there other football players from Texas that entered the NFL at age 25? This conversation actually started in response to the other poster's claim that Sims fought in Viet Nam.

Heisman U wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It looks like the missing 2 years were before he graduated from HS as he turned 20 the same year he did graduate. He redshirted one year at Oklahoma which resulted in him being there for 5 years which adds up to 25.

Sheesh. This is not hard to figure out. He moved from St. Louis in junior high to live with his grandma in Texas. Don't know if he started school late or lost a year in the move, but he graduated at age 19.5. This is not that unusual for football players in Texas, many of whom take 'redshirt' years in junior high so they're more physically mature in high school.

He spent 5 years at OU and graduated at age 24.5.

There are no missing years.

Billy Ray Sims is less than 10 years older than I am. If I confused Sims with another man, my error. O.P. and most posters on this thread have moved on from O.P.'s original concern I see. I thought this thread was about a 31 year old punter?

as a matter of fact wrote:

I think it's weird anyone cares how old someone is when they decided to get an education.

This is where I'm at. Lot of people go to college long after high school. I took 4 years off after high school and then another 14 before grad school. If I go back for a PhD in another 10 and want to play a sport I'm eligible. If I'm good enough why not?

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It's very unusual to turn 20 the same year as graduating and there are always HSs nearby so it would be very odd to somehow sit out 2 years.

He didn't necessarily sit out 2 years. He could have started school late and/or repeated a grade. My son was in sports in the south and had a number of teammates who turned 20 the same calendar year they graduated high school.

As far as pros, I'm more familiar with basketball. O.J. Mayo, Tyler Hansbrough, and Amare Stoudemire are three I can think of off the top of my head who turned 20 the same year they graduated high school. Tyler Hansbrough won a "10 and under" national championship when he was nearly 12 under the grade exemption rule.

I'm starting to think it never was the age that got everyone all worked up but the religion. No one sweats 40 year old runners. A bunch of people sweat LDS runners. If they seem to be very sincere and truly living the teachings they subscribe to, the smack talk gets all the worse.