Streaming on Netflix
Football is finally here! Don’t listen to the haters, preseason is important because every team gets hit with the injury bug and most of those second and third string players will have to step up. If you’re as excited about football as I am you’re probably spending all your free time playing Madden, watching highlights, and doing research to prepare for your fantasy draft. Well let me add one more thing to that list.
Long story short, Last Chance U is a Netflix original series that follows the football season and school year of a JUCO (JUnior COllege) team. The first two seasons focus on East Mississippi Community College (or EMCC for short). The third season just hit Netflix, but this season focuses on a different team and coach at Independence Community College in Kansas. I know you’re probably thinking “Who cares? JUCO is not Division 1, so how is this interesting?”
The reason it’s interesting is explained in the title. The head coaches that each season focuses on are amazing recruiters who basically seek out Division 1 football players who end up not having many options after bad decisions, breaking the law, bad grades, and things of that nature result in them getting kicked off those teams or out of those schools. Their last chance is to graduate early from the community college, put together a highlight reel/stats that will get them back into a Division 1 school, and ultimately get to the NFL someday. A national championship sounds pretty nice too.
These kids are super talented, but a lot of them have a terrible attitude and feel that they’re too good to be there. When there are multiple people who feel that way playing a team sport together there’s going to be issues. Some of the players are kind of divas which is annoying (especially the quarterback in season 3), but it’s super interesting to see behind the scenes and realize that not everyone has the same history or upbringing. Sometimes sports are the only option for these kids to get out of dangerous living situations. So this isn’t just their last chance to make it to the NFL, but also to have some sort of chance at a better life outside of football.
Report Card: 10/10
If you ever played football, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll love this show. If you never played, but love watching football, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll love this show. If played any sort of sport while attending high school or college, I’m very confident you will love this show.
P.S. - Good luck with your fantasy football teams!
