Dating back to 2016, “Last Chance U” is a documentary-type series that follows a JUCO football teams’ season. For most, the bottom level of playing football after high school is playing for a junior college league. In most situations, the kids have made significant mistakes in their lives, but playing JUCO is their second chance.

The way that they can get the education they need and continue to play football is through this league, but the documented path for these students is far from easy. 

It’s interesting to see how all four of the recorded seasons play out. In the first two seasons of “Last Chance U,” we witnessed a respected head coach work to switch the culture around in a small college named East Mississippi. The players were very, and still are, juvenile and misbehaving. While the end of the first season didn’t end the way they wanted it to, in the second season, the coach does a better job in terms of recruiting the best players and keeping them in shape behavior-wise. 

In the following two seasons of “Last Chance U,” producers switch to a different JUCO program that needs help establishing a winning culture. I will say the one thing I don’t like in this series is the repetitiveness in the beginning of a new season. The first episode of each season really just starts with a new coach or hiring in the staff and interviews with people in the community and it gets a little boring.

However, if you stick it out through that initial episode, you won’t be disappointed in the second season either.

You will see a completely new culture being made along with meeting new players with different backgrounds and aspirations throughout a two-season rebuild. 

Overall, this show is one that I look forward to continuing to watch every summer. It is inspirational to watch the journey of each team: from seeing failing programs working to improve, to watching the football players take what is their last opportunity and making the best of it. This is truly the “last chance” these players have to do what they love.

I would recommend “Last Chance U” to someone who would enjoy watching people come up from struggles and to people who enjoy the culture of football and what it brings. I rate this Netflix series 9/10 Mrs. Greenfields.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the GENESIS staff. Email Damien Funnell at [email protected].