Should I stay or should I go now?

[BobD]

I've always thought college football players should stay in school and graduate before they pursue a career in the NFL. Lately I've started to rethink this and maybe it would be better to get into the draft when you can, and when it makes good financial sense, then come back for your degree or do your studies in the off season. Could one less year of college football give you one more year of good knees in the NFL? What do you folks think?

Here's some info from the NFL players assoc.

How Long Is The Average Career Of An Nfl Player? | LIVESTRONG.COM

 

[BeauBenken]

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[johnnykillz]

You should go BobD.

 

[bigedefense]

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Thanks! Now I have that God awful tune stuck in my head. Hahaha

 

[johnnykillz]

Thanks! Now I have that God awful tune stuck in my head. Hahaha

Good God.

No joke me too.

Quick!

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[PJWhitfield]

Schools that can't graduate a respectable percentage of players should be put on probation and barred from bowl play. If college football doesn't want to do that, then turn college players into semi pros who are paid and can go to no classes if they wish. Aside from N.D., B.C., Stanford and the military academies, there is hardly any college football right now. One way or another, let's end the fake stuff.

 

[pkt77242]

Schools that can't graduate a respectable percentage of players should be put on probation and barred from bowl play. If college football doesn't want to do that, then turn college players into semi pros who are paid and can go to no classes if they wish. Aside from N.D., B.C., Stanford and the military academies, there is hardly any college football right now. One way or another, let's end the fake stuff.

That might be a slight overstatement. I would agree that at some programs it is up to the student athlete to work hard because the school pushes them to easy programs but really? You don't think Cal, Northwestern, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and even some of the other decent schools such as UCLA, Texas, Michigan, Virginia, USC have some students interested in school who do well. Hell Myron Rolle was a Rhodes Scholar but he didn't go to any of the schools you listed he went to football factory Florida State. Yes, some programs put significantly more importance on academics but you can find damn good students at many D1 programs.

 

[NDTH91]

You don't think Cal, Northwestern, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and even some of the other decent schools such as UCLA, Texas, Michigan, Virginia, USC have some students interested in school who do well.

...but if THIS:

Campus Cribs, Episode 1: USC - YouTube

is what a normal usc "student's" life is like... just imagine what a usc football "student's" life is like.

All teams will have SOME students who are interested in school. There are probably less than 20 D1 programs that have MOST students interested in school.

 

[Rhode Irish]

...but if THIS:

Campus Cribs, Episode 1: USC - YouTube

is what a normal usc "student's" life is like... just imagine what a usc football "student's" life is like.

All teams will have SOME students who are interested in school. There are probably less than 20 D1 programs that have MOST students interested in school.

I don't think that is typical. I'm pretty sure that kid is especially obnoxious, even by SoCal standards.

 

[Irish Houstonian]

If it were me, assuming I'm pretty much guaranteed to be chosen in the 1st or 2nd round, I wouldn't stay in school unless I had a shot at improving my draft status. (Which I predict Floyd will have done this year). There's just too much to lose, in terms of injury, scandal, or dropping down in the draft.

Basically, you can always go back to college, but you can't ever go back to being 20 years old and making 1st or 2nd round $. And the $ you make first year can more than fund your education later (not even factoring the time value of money, which used to exist...)

For example, if I went to grad school for 3 years, and if someone had told me I could actually forgo the last year of school to enter the job force at the job I was looking for when I went in, there'd be no question. And that's before the risk of the job (injury) or cash (personal/draft/"entourage" issue) not being there at all if I stay in school.

Now, Matt Leinart's Senior year at USC was what I imagine making a deal with the devil is like, but that's a special circumstance. All he had to do then was lob a left-handed soft ball over the middle and find the nearest hot tub...

I mean, it seems to me one of the most-touted benefits of an ND education is the ROI -- what's so bad about maximizing it in lieu of a Senior/Junior year(s)? (If anything, it enhances the ROI value of the education by getting the same/more return in fewer years.)