Riding a wave of unorthodox teachings to a near ubiquitous presence on the quarterback development scene, George Whitfield is a name a lot of people know. The guru has worked with the likes of Cam Newton, Andrew Luck and even Ohio State's Braxton Miller.
Yet, even a successful professional like Whitfield can be tempted to embellish their work history.
From Whitfield's official site:
As a result of his relentless training and hard work, he pursued a career as Arena league QB. After the 2007 season, George made what he has called “one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” and hung up his cleats for good.
It appears, however, relentless training and hard work had little to do with anything. A quick Google search yields plenty of stories claiming Whitfield played for such teams as the Louisville Fire, the Memphis Xplorers, the Chicago Rush and the Bossier City Battle Wings. According to The Shreveport Times, however, nobody seems to remember him:
“I can find no record of George Whitfield playing AFL or af2 and he certainly never played for us,” [Battle Wings owner Dan] Newman said Thursday afternoon.
Whitfield’s biography indicates he shared time in the Windy City when [Former Southwood Cowboy and NLU Indian star Raymond] Philyaw was the starting quarterback for the Rush in 2004 and 2005. Asked if he remembers George Whitfield as a teammate, Philyaw responded, “He wasn’t there when I was there.”
The Memphis Xplorers were an af2 team that existed six years, from 2001-2006. Newman said, “We played Memphis home and home every year from 2003-2006. They never had a George Whitfield play for them.”
This all has nothing to do with teaching prospects ways to handle a pass rush, but people have lost a lot more for a lot less. (Top o' the afternoon to ya, George O'Leary.)
Perhaps Whitfield embellished his arena football career when he was still in the process of pulling himself up from the bootstraps, and has since been a hostage to that lie, despite receiving critical acclaim and national success.
