Division 1 U: City College of SF your #1 Signing Day Destination |

Community College is the way to go

Most football players have the mentality of Division-1 program or bust and historically that was definitely the best path to make it to the pinnacle of the sport: the NFL, but in today’s Internet infused society other legitimate options are beginning to present itself to the masses. Of course Division II, Division III, and FBS present numerous opportunities to players, but community colleges, especially one in California give players a realistic alternative option of reaching “the league.”

City College of San Francisco sounds like a harmless school where the students who do too much California dreaming go to get refocused. It however is a tiny juggernaut in a land full of giants.

CCSF is a two year community college founded in 1935 offering 50 academic programs in over 100 occupational disciplines. Courses cost a hefty $36 per unit for in-state students; no reason for young adults not to advance themselves in Cali. About 2,000 educators teach to close to 100,000 credit and non-credit students annually. Enough off the fact sheet, but if you want to read more, here’s the link: http://www.ccsf.edu/BOT/Fact_Sheets/ccsf.pdf

So how does such a modest school in the bay produce some of the top athletes we see every Saturday during college football, it all starts with the leadership, Coach George Rush. Rush, a former player at CCSF, ended up there just like the majority of his players because he was considered not prepared enough academically or physically by the big D-1 machine out of high school. Many moons later he returned to aid student athletes get back a dream deferred. Rush has led CCSF to 16 Conference Championships, 12 Northern California Championships, 7 California State Championships and 7 National Championships since 1994. With a pedigree like that you can see how this could be a landing spot for student-athletes, who either couldn’t qualify for the Clearinghouse academically or wanted to hone their skills in an environment with a reputation for doing just that . Over the years there has been a nice list of NFL players who spent time CCSF:

Carter, Mike (1970 – 1972)

Cowlings, Al (1970 – 1979)

Crawford, Vernon (1997 – 1999)

Donahue, Oscar (1962 – 1962)

Holden, Curtis (2001 – 2001)

Hollie, Doug (1987 – 1988)

Holloway, Stan (1980 – 1980)

Hundon, James (1996 – 1999)

King, Henry (1967 – 1967)

Lee, Bob (1969 – 1980)

Lewis, Gary (1964 – 1970)

Matson, Ollie (1952 – 1966) HOF

Rusk, Reggie (1996 – 2000)

Simpson, O.J. (1969 – 1979) HOF

Stanfel, Dick (1952 – 1958)

Sullivan, Carl (1987 – 1987)

Taylor, Mike (1968 – 1973)

Tom, Mel (1967 – 1975)

Virkus, Scott (1955 – 1985)

Walls, Lenny (2002 – 2007)

Wilson, Gibril (2004 – present)

http://www.databasefootball.com/players/bycollege.htm?sch=City+College+of+San+Francisco>

Coach Rush’s claim to fame could have been playing alongside the Juice, but he truly understood the opportunity he was given and the favor was returned to him when he was hired as DB coach in 1972 and took on the reigns in 1976. He runs the program on the promise of assisting athletes in achieving their goals, both academic and athletic. In today’s age of coaches leveraging one position for the “dream job”, Rush has all that rolled into one without having to leave his alma mater. He consistently sends dozens of players to Division 1 schools on full ride scholarships. So if you are a student-athlete and are in limbo in your school decision consider the following information in your decision:

Transfers from CCSF

Division 1-A Transfers

(Since 1997) Top Schools

Alabama

Indiana

Oregon State

Tennessee

Nebraska

Purdue

Texas A&Cal-Berkeley

USC

Kansas State