He who controls the spice

controls Division II:

Former Auburn running back Michael Dyer may be on the move again.

After being released from scholarship at Auburn, Dyer landed at Arkansas State under his former offensive coordinator and Arkansas State head coach Gus Malzahn. Now that's rumored to be changing...

Pitt State may not be Auburn, but it did take home the Division II national championship last season and will give Dyer a marquee small-school platform to play for. The talent level isn't great, and Dyer will have the ability to produce large numbers, which will keep his name in the headlines throughout the season. 

Pitt State has had a couple pros come through this little town*. And the Gorillas are the current Division II national champions as well as being the winningest team in Division II history. They've got 4 national championships going back to NAIA days and have played for the title 5 times in the past 20 years.

That said, Division II is what it is. It's DII for a reason. While the talent level at Pitt State is great compared to the rest of the MIAA and the rest of DII, it's still a Division II school. 7000 students. In Podunk County Kansas. There's a reason Pitt State prides itself on the fact that we have more GTE Academic All-Americans than any other NCAA Division II school over the past decade: our kids are not going pro. They need to learn something while they are here.

This one is going pro. He's going to run through defenses like Bo Jackson**. He will quite probably ensure that PSU, who is returning a whole bevy of seniors and is ranked #1 going into the year***, will be #1 on the other end.  Good grief, the guy will probably rush for 2,000 yards in 12 games.  I doubt the mighty defenses of Lindenwood or Southwest Baptist are going to slow him down much. When later San Diego Charger Ron Moore was in the PSU backfield, the Gorillas broke nearly every MIAA scoring and yardage record and a handful of DII ones as well. Those records are in danger again.

I wonder if that's good for the school, though.  Dyer is a ringer, the guy you bring in to win when all you want to do is win. He's not going to help build the team. He's probably not even going to graduate. He might not even go to class. Next year, the team may even be worse for having had his influence. Those kids who remain behind will have missed a lot of opportunities that went to the ringer.

Still, if the guy's coming to DII, no one will be able to stop him. Including us.  I guess that's enough reason to welcome him to our humble town.

UPDATE: Never mind:

As of Thursday night, sources close to Dyer say the running back is reconsidering his intentions to transfer. Arkansas State has scheduled a press conference for Friday at 1pm to discuss the back's future.

That's just as well. Perhaps better the devil you know than the devil you don't, but no devil at all is the best choice of all.

* Current Bills punter Brian Moorman and former All-Pro Steelers long snapper Kendall Gammon are two that come to mind.
** whose freshman records he broke at Auburn.
*** That's a mere formality. The champs are almost always ranked #1 the next season.