I think Mr. Breazeale's letter goes in direct opposition to my experience regarding choice of institutions. In my mind, the individual should choose the most prestigious institution that he or she has an opportunity to attend. More on that later. Point by point:

1. It may be tempting to go somewhere so you can start right away. If you can start immediately on natural talent alone, then it means you don't have much of a playbook to learn, which means that the coaching is less advanced. Also, if you can start from Day 1, what does that say about the day-to-day competition you'll face--how much better will you get if there's no one who can truly challenge you?

2. There's nothing I can say about this other than Would you rather you family and friends watch you play in college of in the pros? More on this later.

3. Define national TV as a national broadcast network, a Fox cable channel, or and ESPN cable channel. Due to their very nature, CSTV and JP cannot be considered national. USM played on national TV 5 times this past season. LSU played on national TV 10 times this past season. FSU played on national TV 12 times this past season. Alabama played on national TV 9 times this past season. Auburn played on national TV 6 times this past season. Florida played on national TV 9 times this past season.

4. To reach a BCS Bowl, USM would have to finish with 9 wins and a top-12 BCS ranking. The last time that happened for USM team was...never. It's only been done three times (Louisville in 2004, Marshall in 1999, and Tulane in 1998) since the inception of the BCS (8 years ago), so the odds of a C-USA team finishing in the top 12 are about 3 in 96 or 3.13%.

5. While USM does have an excellent historical record of coaching stability and graduation rates, those of us on the inside have noticed a dropoff in athletic department monitoring. Add to that the never-ending coaching rumors and this overwhelming positive becomes murky.

Finally, there is a reason top-flight players choose schools like FSU. Schools like FSU have a tradition of getting a lot of players in the NFL. As continued from my first paragraph, prestige concerns a lot more than any one factor, but the factors ignored by Mr. Breazeale are tradition, facilities, and results (players in the NFL). Tradition is almost always arguable, so let's let that one stay out of this discussion. Facilities are also arguable, though anyone who's been to Doak Campbell Stadium, Jordan-Hare Stadium, Bryant-Denny Stadium, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, or Death Valley (LSU) knows there's a big difference in playing at those venues and playing at the Rock. Finally, there's results. For instance, the number of USM alumni in the NFL is 18, while the number of FSU alumni in the NFL is 49. Hard to argue with that.

Mr Breazeale makes a heartfelt plea for the home folks to stay at home. That would be good for USM and for people like Mr. Breazeale. It would probably not, however, be good for the young people whose decision it is.