I will do my best to tread lightly during this blog post. I don’t want to offend anybody. The funny thing is, all the people I would be offending, say the most offensive things.
Recently it was revealed that LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne had his Wonderlic test score leaked. I say leaked because that score was supposed to be safe guarded and highly confidential.
My first thought was to blast the system entirely. Roger Goodell has his hand in everything else yet he can’t keep confidential information confidential. Seemed odd and racially motivated that every “LEAKED” score I can remember hearing about came from a african american ball player. I won’t go that route today. No need to. My issue is with the test. Thats not the way to proceed anyway. Everything is not about race and some white players have their scores leaked also. I also have no facts to back up my theory.
The Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test is a group intelligence test used to assess the aptitude of prospective employees for learning and problem solving.
The learning part I believe can give insight into a player’s ability to learn. The problem solving and everything else I can do without.
The average scores vary with offensive lineman leading all the groups in scores. Claiborne’s score would be the lowest since Vince Young graded out a 6 on the test in 2006. That dumb Vince Young that destroyed USC in the Rose Bowl.
I take offense to those now questioning Claiborne’s intelligence as a football player and a man. Show me transcripts or documents that state that his learning disability makes him dumb and people can feel free to continue make light of him. I believe he understands his learning limitations and worked his ass off to learn.
Speculating about a man’s intelligence without knowledge is ignorant and insulting. Last time I checked LSU had clear admission standards. Last time I checked LSU had one of the most complicated defensive schemes in all of football. Claiborne learned in both.
For every Mo Claiborne, Vince Young, or Dan Marino that score low on the test. Those dumb yet successful types. There are the Mike Mamula’s of the world who in Wonderlic terms would make great CEO”s. Mamula sadly could not play football.
According to ESPN a 2009 study by 3 different professors found no connection between test scores and performance.
Mo Claiborne will be a great corner because he is a hard worker, and good character guy. It’s amazing how the leak of a biased test score can change people’s view of that same character guy over night.
One NFL sunday coming soon that same supposedly dumb corner is going to take an out route from that genius Ryan Fitzpatrick and turn it into a pick six with the game on the line.
Who’s intelligence will they question then?
