In a veritable blast from the past, Jon Gruden and Shaun King have reunited. No, not in the world of gridirons and ACL sprains, but in the media universe, where the two have engaged in a mild proxy war. It began with Jon Gruden's feature on ESPN, Gruden's QB Camp, in which Gruden analyzes, prods, and interviews young quarterbacks, aiming for the draft.
A former young quarterback under Gruden, now turned radio analyst, Shaun Kin had some thoughts on the matter:
I won’t watch [Gruden's QB Camp]. I disagree with the premise of the show. The premise is that Gruden is some kind of quarterbacks guru and that having him as a destination for a rookie QB is the ideal situation for a rookie and that just hasn’t proven to the case.
One would think Shaun King would know. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected King in the 2nd round (50th overall) in the 1999 draft, but he never developed into the star -- or even starter -- his pedigree might imply.
However, King's comments did not seem to get to Gruden, who -- somewhat kidding -- responded:
I did fail miserably in developing Shaun King and I’m sorry he’ll miss our show.