'12 NV OT Ronnie Stanley (Notre Dame Signed LOI)

[woolybug25]

...and they went like 4-12 last year.

I don't think three first round linemen make up for losing your QB, RB and best WR (and best player period) from the previous season.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

...and they went like 4-12 last year.

And the year before that who had the better record? Giants or the Cowboys that were one play away from the NFC title game?

 

[IrishLion]

...and they went like 4-12 last year.

Yeah, and old, broken Darren McFadden ran for 1k behind them.

Their OL is legit. Their health was not.

 

[gkIrish]

I don't think three first round linemen make up for losing your QB, RB and best WR (and best player period) from the previous season.

And the year before that who had the better record? Giants or the Cowboys that were one play away from the NFC title game?

Yeah, and old, broken Darren McFadden ran for 1k behind them.

Their OL is legit. Their health was not.

I'm not saying their O-Line isn't legit. It obviously is. The argument is that by spending so much $ and 1st round picks on the O-Line it creates a severe deficit in resource allocation to other areas of the team. They had no depth at WR whatsoever when Bryant went down. Similarly, they did not have a quality backup to Romo despite Romo's injury history. They had no depth anywhere on defense. Their DBs weren't even that good to begin with. This is what I'm talking about.

I'm not even saying the Giants shouldn't draft, an O-Lineman, I'm just telling you what analysts are saying. I tend to agree with them, but I'm not sure.

 

[connor_in]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NFL DRAFT SWAG&#55357;&#56404;<br><br>Ronnie Stanley & Jaylon Smith will rock custom jackets from ESQ Clothing, owned by ND alum Ge Wang. <a href="https://t.co/1pbt7nwPdX">pic.twitter.com/1pbt7nwPdX</a></p>— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/NDFootball/status/719906678230097924">April 12, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[dublinirish]

Film Breakdown: Ronnie Stanley, OT, Notre Dame, NFL Draft 2016

 

[dublinirish]

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/artic...is-studying-and-making-money-at-the-same-time

SORRY NCAA, BUT NOTRE DAME'S RONNIE STANLEY IS STUDYING AND MAKING MONEY AT THE SAME TIME

By any measure, former Notre Dame offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley is a poster child for what the National Collegiate Athletic Association says it stands for.

A projected first round NFL Draft pick last season, Stanley chose to forego becoming an instant millionaire in order to return to school to get his degree. He's majoring in business, with a focus on entrepreneurship—and despite flying around the country this spring to visit with NFL teams as a likely top 10 pick in this week's draft, he's still taking classes and working toward graduation.

But when I asked Stanley whether he endorses a NCAA system that he seemingly embodies, he was quick to denounce it.

"No, not even," he said, almost taken aback. "Not close, not at all."

Read More: Four Years A Student-Athlete: The Racial Injustice Of Big-Time College Sports

During his four years as a "student-athlete," Stanley was subject to the association's amateurism rules, which purportedly exist to enable education and protect college athletes from economic exploitation. While he and his teammates generated millions in revenue for Notre Dame's athletic department—and saw their coaches earn large salaries and bonuses based on their performance—they weren't allowed to see any of the money beyond the sticker price of their scholarships.

Moreover, they weren't even permitted to accept any gifts from the hundreds of thousands of Notre Dame fans who shelled out big bucks to watch them play.

"I've not met one guy who thinks they've been compensated the way they should be for the amount of work we put in for these coaches that are getting paid so much, and for the university that gains so much off what we're doing," Stanley said. "Something as small as $1,000 a week is really nothing in the big scheme of things, but to the NCAA it's treason."



There's nothing treasonous about kissing a commercially-sponsored bowl trophy. Photo by Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Now that his college athletic career is over, Stanley's world has changed. Or maybe just normalized. No longer is it treason for him to accept a gift. Now, his agent can pay for him to fly across the country to meet with NFL teams.

Last Friday, he got free tickets to a Rihanna concert and met her backstage. Just before that, he got to hang out with Victor Cruz and other NFL stars for a fun night out on the town.

"It's a great mix," Stanley said, noting that he's living the kind of life capitalism-obsessed Americans take for granted. "If you work hard, you should get treated accordingly."

Almost overnight, Stanley went from living under a trade-restraining, price-fixing economic dictatorship that has more in common with the old Soviet Union than the rest of the United States to the kind of life you'd expect for someone whose skills are worth millions.

"You feel free," Stanley said. "You feel like you can live a normal life. It's a weird feeling being part of the NCAA for that long and realizing all this stuff you could have been doing. They make you pay for everything yourself and whatnot. It was definitely a weird feeling. You definitely feel a lot more free. You don't have to worry about people buying you stuff, like you don't have to think about it at all."

The NCAA contends that athletes cannot receive endorsements and benefits, like Stanley now has, because it will distract them from their studies, even though those rules do not govern other college students who use their extracurricular talents to make money. A federal appellate court even bought some of this argument.

Yet by fulfilling the NCAA's oft-stated educational ideals, Stanley is a living, breathing case study—the kind you might read about in a Notre Dame business class—in why the association's reasoning for its amateurism restrictions makes no sense.



TFW it's cool and good for you to make millions because you have nothing left to learn, or something. Photo by Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

A top-rated recruit, Stanley could have gone almost anywhere in the country to play college football, but he focused on academically-challenging schools like Notre Dame and Stanford. He chose to sign with Roc Nation out of college because that agency allows him to keep the entrepreneurial spirit he cultivated in school, such as helping him buck athlete apparel sponsorship norms by signing with Zappos.

Even as he's accepting gifts and interviewing for a lucrative NFL job, Stanley is still choosing to go to school. And first-hand experience has taught him that there's no inherent contradiction between the two. He has money in his pocket, and he can still open a textbook.

"(School is) still something that you can be a part of and still get benefits," he said.

If anything, profiting from his football ability has enhanced Stanley's education, allowing him to connect his business and entrepreneurship courses to real world experience. And that, in turn, is teaching him that NCAA amateurism has little to do with education, and much to do with who gets what.

Forbes values Notre Dame football at $127 million. The Irish have a football-only television contract worth $15 million per season. 80,000 people fill Notre Dame stadium every Saturday. So when Notre Dame president John Jenkins claims the school would leave all of that money on the table and downgrade its football program if it were ever forced to let someone pay for Stanley's tickets to a Rihanna concert—under the guise of supporting academics—you can't blame Stanley for chuckling. "No, I don't think (that would happen)," he said.

The NCAA believes that its superficial focus on education will allow it to continue its exploitative practices, and for some reasons that's a good bet—elite athletes hoping to make the NFL have no choice but to play college football, and some segment of the public, including some federal judges, seems to believe that allowing players to keep a fair portion of what they earn on the field will harm them in the library. At the same time, the association's system is slowly-but-surely cultivating athletes who value education and are (ironically) putting what they learn to good use in the fight against amateurism. Former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter, for example, was partially inspired to lead a team unionization effort by "Field Studies in the Modern Workplace," a class he took at the school.

"I like to be different, I like to think outside the box," Stanley said. "I don't like to be traditional just because it's been done a certain way for so long that it always needs to be done the same way. I like to think of alternatives."

That sounds like the kind of thinking colleges exist to incubate and encourage: forward-looking, tradition-challenging, intellectually restless, seeking to make things better and new. Naturally, Stanley was unable to fully explore it until he was no longer making money for Notre Dame.

 

[Rack Em]

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/artic...is-studying-and-making-money-at-the-same-time

"Something as small as $1,000 a week is really nothing in the big scheme of things"

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL that's funny when you don't have any freaking school loans and get all of your meals and housing paid for by the University.

Give me a break and quit the act. Poor baby thinks $52K/year as a college student isn't a big deal. What a joke.

 

[koonja]

If I could be tuition debt free, eat free, and get $1,000 tax free a week, I'd trade that with my current situation, and I'm very happy with my current job/pay.

 

[gkIrish]

If I could be tuition debt free, eat free, and get $1,000 tax free a week, I'd trade that with my current situation, and I'm very happy with my current job/pay.

You would trade your current situation for $52,000 tax free, free meals, and no student loan debt. Shocking

 

[Rack Em]

You would trade your current situation for $52,000 tax free, free meals, and no student loan debt. Shocking

Big sweaty guys included

 

[Ndaccountant]

"Something as small as $1,000 a week is really nothing in the big scheme of things"

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL that's funny when you don't have any freaking school loans and get all of your meals and housing paid for by the University.

Give me a break and quit the act. Poor baby thinks $52K/year as a college student isn't a big deal. What a joke.

I read the statement as paying the players $1k per week is nothing compared to how much money they bring in. Now, I am with you that in both that 1) $1k per week is a big piece of change & 2) not valuing the benefits you are receiving and ignoring them in this context is also a mistake.

I am happy he is still going to class. I wish him all the best and he was fun to watch while at ND.

 

[Rack Em]

I read the statement as paying the players $1k per week is nothing compared to how much money they bring in. Now, I am with you that in both that 1) $1k per week is a big piece of change & 2) not valuing the benefits you are receiving and ignoring them in this context is also a mistake.

I am happy he is still going to class. I wish him all the best and he was fun to watch while at ND.

Ah, maybe I missed that. Either way...

$1k/week * 52 weeks = $52k/per scholarship football player

$52k/player * 85 scholarship players = $4.42 million. I don't consider that nothing even for a school like ND or UT whose athletic departments are rolling in cash.

Plus wait until female athletes demand the same pay under Title IX.

Cut it whatever way you want but it's somewhere in the range of "ridiculously stupid and entitled" to "insensitive".

 

[Chamellion]

What if they operated under a salary cap? Best recruits get the most money, you won't end up with $4.42m per school. You'd have guys who could choose between more money from a lesser school, or a better coach / staff / situation. I think that would be much more interesting for recruiting than a straight flat payment system.

Also, for those saying they get to go to school debt free, why can a music major on a scholarship earn money selling albums they create while maintaining their earning power / scholarship, while an athlete can't capitalize on his talents? Sure, you can maintain your scholarship if you're ruled ineligible in some schools, but athlete's potential earning power is tied to being on the field.

 

[Irish Insanity]

If I could be tuition debt free, eat free, and get $1,000 tax free a week, I'd trade that with my current situation, and I'm very happy with my current job/pay.

So you'd prefer to room with 4 dudes instead ?

 

[IrishLax]

I'm for letting players earn fair market value from fans/boosters. With that being said, that article does a laughably poor job of framing the argument on WHY they should be paid, and it's almost more sad that anyone would say it's a "great" article.

EDIT: To explain why the article is crap, consider this passage:

A top-rated recruit, Stanley could have gone almost anywhere in the country to play college football, but he focused on academically-challenging schools like Notre Dame and Stanford. He chose to sign with Roc Nation out of college because that agency allows him to keep the entrepreneurial spirit he cultivated in school, such as helping him buck athlete apparel sponsorship norms by signing with Zappos.

The article barely mentions in passing fact that he wanted to go to an elite academic school and then moves on. It doesn't get into the fact that Stanely wanted to do that because the VALUE of attending such a place is not nil... it's in fact extremely significant and beneficial to the rest of his life. The article talks about all of the bad in the NCAA and only alludes to the fact that Stanley is receiving an elite education with an elite degree at an elite school worth $75k+ (when you include taxes, etc.) a year while also being given a springboard towards the millions he'll now earn as a professional.

The system is dumb and needs massive overhaul. But the people being "exploited" are not Stanley. The people being exploited are the kids at certain schools where they don't even try to educate them or graduate them and leave school with absolutely nothing of value for their "work product."

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Whenever these sorts of articles get shared, a few things need to be kept in mind:

• ND is one of the only FBS schools that is fairly compensating its players under the current system.
• Swarbrick and Jenkins have openly stated many times that ND will never abandon the amateur model. So if you're in the "just pay 'em" camp, realize that you're advocating for the end of ND football as we know it.
• As LAX mentioned above, there's a lot to be said for moving to the Olympic model, so that those very few NCAA players whose market value is handicapped by the amateur model can realize it without blowing everything up.

 

[ACamp1900]

Whenever these sorts of articles get shared, a few things need to be kept in mind:

• ND is one of the only FBS schools that is fairly compensating its players under the current system.
• Swarbrick and Jenkins have openly stated many times that ND will never abandon the amateur model. So if you're in the "just pay 'em" camp, realize that you're advocating for the end of ND football as we know it.
• As LAX mentioned above, there's a lot to be said for moving to the Olympic model, so that those very few NCAA players whose market value is handicapped by the amateur model can realize it without blowing everything up.

Sorry if this has already been addressed and I'm just missing it, but.. Stanford?

 

[greyhammer90]

Sorry if this has already been addressed and I'm just missing it, but.. Stanford?

"One of"

 

[ACamp1900]

"One of"

ah, thanks... I totally just latched onto the "only' part...

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Sorry if this has already been addressed and I'm just missing it, but.. Stanford?

Yup. Duke as well. I can't see how schools that are graduating 90%+ of their football players and offering elite degree value are taking advantage of anyone. The degree value they're receiving alone (to say nothing of the incidentals) far surpasses the free market value of the vast majority of the players on scholarship. The occasional superstar like Andrew Luck or Manti Te'o can be dealt with fairly by allowing them to make paid endorsements.

The best way forward is to force the rest of FBS to be more like ND, Duke and Stanford. But the most popular "solution"-- to abolish amateurism and pay each player a salary-- would instead drag those few programs who are doing it right down to the "pay to play" lowest common denominator that prevails most other places.

 

[Irish#1]

This is going to be an issue for a long time. $1,000 a week is better then what a lot of people earn. Do they get that every week or only during the season? That would make it more reasonable, but what about spring practice and off season workouts? Pandora's Box!

 

[NDRock]

I have no issues with guys wanting to "make" more money. Yes, they are given a free education and at a place like Notre Dame that is very valuable. College football is also a full year deal for these kids, something that wasn't the case not that long ago.

Stanley seems to have done everything right as a student-athlete for ND. He's also sticking around and getting his degree. It's not like he was openly complaining about this stuff during his playing time. Now that he's finished, he has given his honest thoughts.

Do any of the guys that think his stance is ridiculous ever think they deserve more money in their professions? Seems a little un-American for guys to think this way.

 

[stlnd01]

I think it says a lot about the depth of general cynicism about major college athletics (much of which is deserved and self-inflicted) that a piece like this can make no mention of the very real value of the world-class education Stanley received in exchange for his labor, for free - an education he'd get no matter if he ever earned a dime in the NFL, or even played meaningful minutes at Notre Dame. The perception is widely out there that players are being used. To the point that even many players internalize it.

That cynicism is not at all Notre Dame's fault. But it's the environment in which Notre Dame and the handful of other programs like it have to operate. At least until other schools get serious about academics and can make the student athlete argument with a straight face.

 

[stlnd01]

That said: I suspect the free market "pay them what their worth" folks would quickly be surprised at how little the typical college football player (a 19 year old backup safety at a MAC or weaker P5 school) is actually worth in the market.
The education's worth a lot more than most would get paid.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Changing the subject. Don't be surprised if Stanley goes before Tunsil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Here's a glowing review of Stanley by retired NFL DE Stephen White arguing that he should be picked first over Tunsil due to his superior pass blocking.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Here's a glowing review of Stanley by retired NFL DE Stephen White arguing that he should be picked first over Tunsil due to his superior pass blocking.

Good write up. Could have done without all the cursing though.

 

[woolybug25]

Tunsil is also currently being sued by his step father and it's gotten pretty ugly. That paired with Stanley being a better pass blocker, I could easily see him go before Tunsil.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

Tunsil is also currently being sued by his step father and it's gotten pretty ugly. That paired with Stanley being a better pass blocker, I could easily see him go before Tunsil.

See three posts above.