Why does Jarrod McDougal think America "didn't seem like a land of opportunity but a land of failed dream"?

Jerrod considered the locker room home, but it's true that he didn't consider America a land of opportunity, as his family had experienced a number of failed dreams. His brother Jaxon had injured his femur in a football game a couple years earlier- however, the injury and necessary surgery on both of his legs had left him unable to grow. Jerrod’s father, had started an oil business right out of high school; that didn't work out so well, as he eventually ended up being a victim to the oil's plunging prices. He wasn't a stranger to lost dreams, and therefore didn't see America in the same way as others.