By MONTE DUTTON

One of the beliefs I’ve cultivated through lo these many years of sports writing is that there is only so far an observer should go.

I know a lot about football but not more about a team than those who observe it on a practice field and watch it on video. The coaches may occasionally mistake forests for trees, but they make educated analyses, and I only make educated guesses.

Jayden McGowan went from Laurens to Vanderbilt, and then he decided, like many great players and some of their brothers, to enter the transfer protocol. The transfer protocol is to college athletes what self-service checkout is to Walmart shoppers. Some find it convenient, and some find it offensive. I can’t decide, so I try not to go to Walmart.

The above paragraph isn’t philosophical or metaphorical. It has more flaws than a vintage Chevette. So does the transfer protocol, not to mention its side program, the NIL, which stands for Name, Image and Likeness but has nothing to do with them. The NCAA, in secure cahoots with attorneys, unleashed a process that should be the LER (Let ‘Er Rip!). Let ‘er rip and see what happens.

Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, once paid with its football program for what is now standard operating procedure.

It is all quintessentially NCAAesque. Inventing a word, NCAAesque, is now legal. All is now fair in love and war … and college sports. And language. English, anyway.

As best I know, McGowan is indeed a great kid, one who undoubtedly became more of a man in Nashville, making a name for himself with a team that usually got its brains beaten out. He caught 80 passes in two years. He returned a kickoff for six against Hawaii. After defeating the Rainbow Warriors and the Bulldogs of Alabama A&M, the Commodores then lost 10 games in a row.

Apart from the kickoff return, McGowan’s sophomore season was less productive than his freshman. He was Vandy’s third-ranked receiver with 36 catches for 383 yards.

Since then, many of Commodore Vanderbilt’s sailors have jumped ship, presumably into the Cumberland River, which snakes its way through Nashville. Oddly enough, I surfed onto the sandy beach of the Vandy website, where the lead pop-up was … yes … “Dore Deals!”

Fun fact: South Carolina handed Vandy its most thorough trouncing, 47-6.

Break for a quick reminiscence: When McGowan was a senior at Laurens, we chatted briefly after a game. I told him my advice was that he could find many schools that would give him academically what he wanted. I said if I was he, I’d go somewhere where I believed I’d win. For a split second, he looked as if he had seen a ghost. I didn’t know he had just committed to Vanderbilt.

The next time I saw him, I apologized and said I liked Vandy, which is true because several old friends once coached there and one, baseball’s Tim Corbin, still does. He said he appreciated what I’d had to say.

My chief concern was that McGowan, not a large young man (5-8, 181), was going to get himself clobbered in the SEC playing for Vanderbilt. Those were 24 games McGowan individually won. He’s fast. He’d better be.

Back then, McGowan was all about academics. Now he wants to win. He hasn’t said that to me. He’s said it to all the world that wanted to hear via social media. That’s almost completely the way athletes roll nowadays. They aren’t allowed to get close enough to the media to get to know any. They think they can’t trust the media. It’s themselves about whom they ought to worry.

Hosannas went up when McGowan announced he was coming home to good old USC, where he intimated that he’s dreamed of being all along. Hosannas may have also gone up at Boston College, which is a Jesuit institution officially located in Chestnut Hill, Mass. I’ve walked around its campus and taken a look at its football stadium. During the NASCAR years, I took a lot of day trips to Boston from Loudon, N.H., because of a baseball team I love.

Poor Jayden. He flipped on the Gamecocks after nine days of garnet bliss, and the social-media monster he embraced roared back at him. In Laurens County, most know him to be a great guy. Contemporary behavior holds that those who do not know someone assume the worst, particularly when they swish pompons.

I hope he finds success in Chestnut Hill. I hope BC plays Carolina in a bowl game, though it will likely have to be in some place like Fenway Park – the Eagles are playing there this year – or a Bahamas Bowl moved to Charlotte and renamed for something called a Famous Toastery.

McGowan’s taking a lot of falls right now. He had every right to change his mind, but it could have been handled a lot better.  Weathering criticism is a consequence of living in a free country. Everyone has a right to his or her own opinions and suspicions. Everyone has a right to accept any advice he or she likes, whether offered by an agent, a collective, a parent, a coach, a teammate, a girlfriend or that guy hanging out at the outdoor basketball court behind the community center.

A kid grows up, by hook or crook, one way or another. Storms never last. Hard times pass with the wind. That’s from a song. My mind hears Jessi Colter.

He’ll learn. He’s already learned. He’ll learn some more.

Merry Christmas. I’m thankful for your support, whether by advertising, contributing or reading.

Thanks so much for the recent contributions. My goal is to provide unique coverage of local sports. I’m aware that folks appreciate what I do, particularly the kids, coaches, parents and fans.

I used to list an address to send a check (DHK Sports, P.O. Box 768, Clinton, S.C. 29325). I finally got it through my thick head that not that many people write checks nowadays. For example, me. A more convenient means might be sending a reasonable contribution to DHK Sports on Venmo.

Support the advertisers, and help keep the site – the game stories, the blogs, the photos – alive by making, if you choose, a monthly donation via Patreon. The Laurens County site is here. The Furman site is here.

Another way I can make a little is if you purchase my books at MonteDutton.net. They’re quite entertaining in spite of the fellow who wrote them. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions. The latest, The Latter Days, is about baseball.

Photo galleries are posted on Instagram @furmanatt and @laurenscountysports.