 "Photo: Slam Sports")
When Casey Printers left Texas Christian University in 2001, he seemed to be venturing away from an ideal situation.
Printers received a scholarship to play quarterback for TCU in 1999 after being named a second-team blue chip All-American upon graduating from high school. That same year, he led the Horned Frogs to a Mobile Alabama Bowl victory and was named Most Valuable Player of that game.
His NFL career looked promising as he guided his team, which also featured current Pro Bowl running back LaDainian Tomlinson, to three straight bowl appearances.
Prior to his senior season, Printers decided to transfer to Florida A&M.
“I was under the impression that if you were good, the NFL would find you anywhere,” Printers said.
With so much of the offensive focus on Tomlinson, a Heisman Trophy candidate, there was a need to prove that he had the passing ability to be successful at the next level, he said.
“After I left TCU, I needed to show the NFL that I was a passing quarterback. At the time, [FAMU] had the supreme passing program and I would’ve been able to fit right in.”
After a successful, but not spectacular season at Florida A&M, Printers went from being a third-team Freshman All-American to being an undrafted player looking to find a home on an NFL team.
He found success in the Canadian Football League and was named CFL’s Most Outstanding Player in 2004.
In 2006, Printers finally got the opportunity that he coveted, signing a three-year deal with the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. That opportunity, however, proved to be short-lived when the Chiefs released him the following year.
“When I played for the Kansas City Chiefs, there was guy who, after they released me, told me my pedigree wasn’t good enough; and by pedigree, I mean where you come from,” he said. “I was under the impression all the way up until that moment that your pedigree didn’t matter.”
“Everything that I thought was the truth about college and professional sports were false.”
Propelled by the numerous disappointments Printers had previously experienced that culminated in that one conversation, he began conducting research on the trends of the drafts in professional sports.
The 2008 NFL draft, for example, he found that of the 255 players selected, 200 came from D-1A BCS (Bowl Championship Series) schools, which are the six major conferences in college football.
The same tendencies occurred in his studies of both the NBA draft and the MLB draft, Printers said.
Inspired by his findings and with the help of his life coach, Raymond Perras, he wrote a book that was published and released in January called, From High School to the Pros.
The book is geared towards the young, black athlete; and Perras, who has been coaching athletes on how to achieve “peak performance” for 17 years, said that the principles and concepts he has taught Printers are evident not only in his recent success on the field but also in his writing.
“There are a number of things in there that are a direct outcome of the work we’ve done,” Perras said.
In addition to it’s motivational nature, Printers’ book also focuses on raising awareness.
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