Can Castonzo become a Rhodes Scholar?

As many of you have read already, Anthony Castonzo has been nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship. It will be interesting to see how this plays out since the Rhodes Scholarship is not purely merit based. Don't get me wrong, it is a great honor and only the best and brightest get nominated, but all sorts of variables factor into the final selection. (One of my classmates from high school actually was a Rhodes Scholar.) One of the challenges traditionally for any BC student has always been the region. BC kids compete against other talented students from the northeast, while some other areas of the country might be less competitive.

Castonzo's story and athletic success will also be huge factors in his favor. Everyone nominated has a special skill, but few skills are as high profile as playing DIA football. Castonzo has the added benefit of being great. Assuming he is healthy, he could be a first round draft pick/All America candidate. Let's face it, he is a better football player than Myron Rolle. The committee would love the brainy left tackle who is on ESPN between chem labs.

The other factor is how much Anthony even wants this. To win he will have to put in plenty of time, prep and effort. He is clearly capable. It is just a matter of where it falls in his priorities.

I hope he does succeed. While it won't get the same type of attention as a Heisman run, it would be as important to the football program and to the school. Castonzo already represents so many things we want BC to be, that it would be nice to have the world recognize that too.