Review: “Last Chance U”

Review: Last Chance U

Miquin Davis, Staff Writer

“Last Chance U” directed by Greg Whiteley, is a Netflix documentary series, based upon college athletes who have competed at the highest level of football known as Division 1.

Each player has incredible talent and drive to be the best, but each faces their own unique struggles both on and off the field. These struggles were far from ordinary, due to unlawful things and classifications.

These athletes were expelled from school, with one last chance they had to redeem themselves to their fans, family and friends. With that being said these young men now attended East Mississippi Community College.

EMCC is a small community college located in Scooba, Miss. The home of EMCC Lions football team, for the past decade this school has been recognized for numerous accomplishments when it comes to sports.

Ranked number 1, in NJCAA they competed and won 3 Consecutive National championships in the NJCAA and were 5x state champions in the state of Mississippi.

This school is preparing student-athletes to get back on track and sending them to the top NCAA Division 1 schools in the Nation, as well as winning national titles consistently. With many of these community colleges in the world, many athletes mainly go to junior colleges to try to build their average up from a high school transcript that affected them from meeting NCAA rules and regulations.

Unlike other NJCAAs, EMCC is by far different the ideal of their football team is to get athletes that already competed at the highest level, due to grades and unlawful things they were expelled from it.

With the recognition of “Last Chance U” this documentary shows the characteristics that is built upon these athletes and the wiliness to want to change and do things right for the better.

Many colleges overlooked these athletes because they felt they would not be a benefit to their program because of the negatives they had. Thanks to the documentary series and head coach Buddy Stephen’s this open door for these prospects, many were now recognized by colleges such as, Florida State, Temple, Miami University, Alabama, LSU, Auburn and more. These athletes were not only recognized on the field; they were recognized in the classroom as well.

“Last Chance U” gives a glance of classroom behavior and work ethic obtained by these young men as well as discipline. It is a great documentary series that I would highly recommend.

These men face hardship in a dramatic faze of their life due to foolish actions or lack of academics in the classroom. A chance to redeem themselves was very important, and EMCC gave them the opportunity to do that by taking them in. Promoting them out to colleges was something they needed when others didn’t want to hear them out and EMCC did that.

They were now evaluated as good candidates for their program, more schools began to gain interest and was eager to know the players individually. These players were awarded full scholarships and the media now new them as leaders of society.

They began to give back to the community by visiting hospitals to see disabled kids on holidays giving them gifts and praying beside them to let them know someone cares. This gained a lot of media interest, thanks to this series successful alumnus that are currently in the NFL (like two-time Super Bowl champion LeGarrette Blount) can look back at this and be honored of their changes in life due to mistakes and how the made a new impact to the world in a different manner.