Quote:
Originally Posted by surfah33
Jake never played volleyball until he was 21. Pretty remarkable.
Casey Jennings is up there with Jake and he's a BYU alum. Jake also has had the benefit of some amazing partners like Stein Metzger.
The transition from indoor to outdoor is difficult. Besides that the money isn't great unless you're wearing fake tattoos of corporate sponsors and consistently in the top 5. Most prefer to play for professional indoor teams in Europe where they can make decent money with guaranteed contracts.
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I've often wondered about that "never played until 21 thing." To hear his friends that he grew up with talk, the more accurate statement would be "he never played organized ball until 21.
Jennings is almost in the same category as Jake. The thing is, Jake and a handful of other big men are rare, Casey, Steino and the like are more common, making Jake, Phil etc. the comodity and the best players IMHO.
You're totally right about the indoor vs. outdoor thing. I'm just surprised that more of the BYU AAs haven't had the perserverance to make the jump. I once saw Mac Wilson block Jake 3 consecutive times in a match. This was the spring after Jake's MVP season. It is clear these guys could make the jump but for some reason they don't.