Why I can’t be mad at A.J. Green
I’ll be honest. My first reaction when I heard of A.J. Green’s four-game suspension was one of anger.
And it wasn’t because Green owes any of us anything. I want to see the guy play because he’s a great player. And when there is a big game like Saturday’s between Georgia and South Carolina I want both teams to have all of their weapons. I love college football and I want to see great players play. And we’ve got too many guys who are not playing right now because of NCAA rules violations.
No, I was angry at A.J. because it seems so unnecessary. Early next year A.J. Green is going to be a very wealthy man because he is going to turn pro. So the money was coming. A.J. is a smart kid and he knew that there is no level where selling his jersey for a lousy $1,000 bucks was not a rules violation. The risk/reward/punishment equation for doing this just didn’t add up.
If this NCAA ruling stands (three more games on suspension), and it shouldn’t because it’s excessive, what should be an unforgettable junior season for Green will be forever tainted with “Yeah, he was good but he missed four games.” That made me sad and, at first, angry.
But I learned a long time ago that it’s easy for us adults to wag our fingers and say “Hey, those are the rules. You gotta follow them.” We’re not in the kid’s shoes. We don’t have to watch while the schools fill the stadiums, accept millions from television and make more millions from selling his jersey (with his name on it) while the system pats us on the head and assures us that our day is coming if we’ll only be patient. We really only learn that kind of patience as an adult. Youth, by its very defintion, is not patient.
Understand that the NCAA makes these rules not to regulate what actually happens, like one kid selling a jersey for $1,000. The rules are in place to control what COULD happen–like a kid selling 500 jerseys (provided to him by an agent) for $1,000 each. The NCAA punishes the nickle and dime stuff in hopes of preventing something really big and bad from happening.
When Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant lied to investigators about his relationship with Deion Sanders, the NCAA banned him for the rest of his junior season. Bryant was not truthful but was his lie REALLY that bad? Well, no but the move sent a chilling message to other athletes: Lie to NCAA investigators and you’re done. That message was received and understood. Now before every interview with the NCAA the kid has the fear of God put in him. That was by design.
Yes, the financial end of college athletics is certainly to the benefit of the schools. It’s all one big double standard, we know that. But certain things are just a blatant slap in the face to these guys. The fact that A.J. Green may lose a third of his junior season for selling a jersey while the University Bookstore sells a bunch of them is a double slap. It’s the establishment telling these kids: We can make money off your talent and fame in every damn way we please. If you try it, though, we’ll use the rules to take you out and to keep you in line.
The NCAA enforcement people have been working overtime this summer trying to keep a lid on a bunch of these issues from Agent Gate to Hotel Gate. At the core of all of them is a system where the athletes realize on a daily basis that they are getting a raw deal. They get to the point where they don’t care any more. It’s “hey, if they catch me they catch me but I’m not taking this any more.”
We as fans wonder where the loyalty is to the institution. But through the eyes of a young kid from modest or poor circumstances, that loyalty street seems to only run one way.
I don’t have a lot of answers for you this morning but I would suggest this: A school like Georgia should be able to sell all of the No. 8 jerseys it wants. The jersey and the number belong to the school.
But when some schools–and I am told that Georgia is not one of them–start putting name on the back on the jersey then you have crossed an ethical line. What the kid did on the field made that jersey more valuable than a generic one. He created that extra value and cannot share in it. So the school shouldn’t share in it either.
So let’s just end that practice. Is it a little thing in the grand scheme of things? Absolutely. But it would be one less slap in the face to a group of people who are getting tired of being pushed around.
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847 comments Add your comment
1eyedJack
September 9th, 2010
11:19 am
First of all I can’t see where you can make any arguement that these kids are being taken advantage of. No one held a gun to their head and forced them to sign a scholarship to play football. They have the right to go to work and make money if that is what their priorities are. That scholarship does pay in the form of tuition, books, housing, and meals (all anyone really needs) for five years which is worth $100,000 or more plus lifetime earning potential.
If I write a book and sell you the rights to it for $100,000 then I have no recourse if you make $10,000,000 off of it.
Having said that, does anyone out there know if so-called “disadvantaged” student-athletes are able to qualify for Pell Grants to help with expenses? Some of my students get up to $1000 a semester from Pell to cover incidentals on top of their Hope.
76-DAWG
September 9th, 2010
11:22 am
No, I want UGA to appeal the excess penalty that the NCAA gave Green. And hope that they reduce the penalty to just 2 game total. Then CMR needs to add another 2 game on top of what the NCAA gave Green . UGA needs to double what ends up being the final penalty from the NCAA . If my kids got into trouble at school and had to stay after school or clean erasers I didn’t say well you have been punished enough go outside and play . I said no playing outside for a week and no TV for a week. UGA needs to dish out their own punishment. And running at 6:00 in the morning doesn’t fit the crime.
Houston's Nutts
September 9th, 2010
11:22 am
I can’t be mad at Green. At least his team plays in front of sold out stadiums.
reasonable
September 9th, 2010
11:22 am
Green committed a rules violation and got caught, no one is disputing that but lets get some facts straight.
1. The NCAA rulebook is very detailed and the NCAA has not been consistent in following its own rules. Whatever you think of Maisoli, and I think it is a travesty that he can transfer and play based upon the NCAA rules, the fact is that the NCAA ignored its own rules when it tried to keep him from playing this year. Ole Miss was well within its rights to appeal and they won because someone realized that the enforcement staff was flat wrong in their application of their own rules.
2. I believe I read earlier that Green cooperated and was truthful with NCAA investigators. The fact is that given the Bryant precedent, if Green had lied, he would have been suspended for the whole season.
3. The punishment is not fair in terms of similar offenses, based on what we know now. Given that, it is UGA’s duty to appeal in the interest of fairness and equity. Also, the appeal is filed by the AD not the head coach. I am sure Richt was consulted but it falls to the AD in this instance. Further, the appeal is on the severity of the punishment, not the guilt in this case. That being the case, I do not believe that the NCAA can suddenly impose greater punishment as a mere result of the appeal, nor is the appeal a valid means to reopen the case. Lawyers would love to get their hands on a boneheaded decision like that. Finally, this uneven response to infractions has been a long term problem for the NCAA. Inconsistent and uneven enforcement in whatever field usually leads to more confusion and violations.
4. Anyone equating an NCAA rules infraction with either civil or criminal law issues has no idea what they are talking about. Per the made up Fulmer Trophy analogy, it is “awarded” by AJC sportswriters based upon criminal arrests. To include NCAA rules infractions in the count for this “trophy” by some folks betrays either bias or ignorance. You be the judge.
5. To Barnhart’s point, the plain truth is that the schools, coaches, conferences and media (and I include both print and electronic) make money off of these kids while many are barely able to scrap by, unable to even sell anything with their own signature on it. As a simple matter of equity and fairness, this is not right. Don’t give me the carnard that he got a a free education; so did many other students who can work for adequate spending money without worrying about limitless rules and restrictions. Please remember the situation several years ago when the NCAA found an institution in violation because a coach helped one of his kids with the funds he needed to go back home to attend a family funeral. If anything the fact that these kids are bringing vast sums of money to their institutions and others while burdened with restrictions on their ability to earn money makes their situation even more unjust.
BAMA Dude
September 9th, 2010
11:22 am
And don’t forget breaking NCAA rules and breaking the law are two different things. Green sells his jersey and gets a 4-game suspension. At Tennessee you can assault a cop and various bar patrons and not get suspended at all. Masoli is a thief and he gets to transfer and play right away for Ole Miss.
Apples and oranges. As strange as it may seem, Masoli did nothing to compromise his amateur status. He had already graduated from Oregon and got a full “release” from his LOI. The circumstances surrounding the release weren’t pretty, but he got one.
Richard Cranium
September 9th, 2010
11:23 am
More deflection from Athens…
It’s not AJ’s fault..?? Are you kidding me?? And it’s NEVER going to be Reverend Richt’s fault.
What’s next? Blaming their parents??
Please. Really.
It’s all that inbreading….
takedowndawg
September 9th, 2010
11:23 am
tony’s a homer. I almost certain that if you received a severe cut that you would bleed “red and black”, right? I don’t think so! Your biases come through loud and clear. I am sure that my do as well. At least most of us don’t try to “hide” their them behind some psuedo log in name or saying,”I am a die hard DAWG fan” when your messages are consistently laced with negatives toward UGA and its players. Come out of your closet! Cowards.
LovelyLibra
September 9th, 2010
11:25 am
I agree with you! There should be rules and punishments against the Agents as well. Especially, if they’re operating under a company’s name. It’s unfortunate that the students/athletes work hard on the field to keep their scholarships and not all of them will go PRO or even make the cut if they’re drafted, but others like the schools can capitalize off their name.
TEH
September 9th, 2010
11:26 am
It is amazing to me how people on this blog or other blogs love to criticize CMR for the wrong doing of young adults. It is easy to say what he should do and what he shouldn’t do. What about the other players that are doing the right things? Do we ever hear or read articles about them? If you are perfect…cast the first stone! People love to focus on the negative…put the scarlet letter on the person who has done wrong and bash them in a blog…isn’t nice we dont have blogs on everything we do wrong. AJ made a choice to disobey a rule that has been set by the NCAA…now he has to pay the price and deal with the consequences. It is like when you or I speed each day on the roads (not following the speed limit that is set by the law of the state) and we get a ticket…sometimes it is a steep penalty…which we go and beg mercy in the court….should we write a blog and take away everyone’s driver’s license away? Hopefully, AJ and the others will learn from their mistakes and realize that they are in a glass bubble for all to watch….you should be thankful that your life is not on that bubble…how many rules have you broken or are still breaking today?
Legend of Len Barker
September 9th, 2010
11:28 am
Further notes on the jerseys at the bookstore
They are genuine, game-used jerseys. They also sell even more anonymous game-used helmets. Both cost $150 each. Also, Georgia does not put any “name” player’s jersey on the racks. Most of them are anonymous linemen.
They do, of course, sell t-shirts with the “name” players’ numbers on them, like David Greene (back in the day), Stafford, and Moreno.
The players should consider themselves lucky to get scholarships, but at the same time, what is Georgia doing to prepare them for life after college? Unless they’re Terry Hoage, Alec Kessler, or the Stinchcomb brothers, most of them have the ambiguous majors like Arts & Letters or Parks & Recreation (that might not have been a Georgia one, but I’ve seen it somewhere).
Add in that most of the players don’t have sterling academic records coming in, plus several are coming from schools that aren’t exactly Eton. Eatonton, yes.
I’m sure Richt, the coaches here, and the coaches elsewhere do have a personal interest in the livelihoods of their players. However, the university doesn’t. Unless the players have inspired a new idea to empty the pockets of the diehard fans a little more.
SecGuy
September 9th, 2010
11:29 am
Tony, why is it that no reporter has been able to identify the agents in these cases? I like the fact that some coaches are finally stepping up to address the agent problem, but Richt has been timid on the issue. Maybe he will finally get on board now.
Cardinal Sin
September 9th, 2010
11:30 am
On come on Tony! This guy is getting a free education that my tax dollars are paying for along with the fact that he will probably not graduate like most Black players but will only use UGA as a marketing platform to get into the NFL. I am sick and tired of others being passed up that gets the job done in the classroom, and yet we will still give scholarships to people who can’t even read on a 6th grade level. Maybe the punishment was a little much, but let’s not talk about all of the money that the university will make off of him as he is getting the red carpet treatment as it is.
Enough Said!
Nix_2_Sanders
September 9th, 2010
11:35 am
A.J. Green got the shaft. It’s his jersey, he can sell it.
MB
September 9th, 2010
11:35 am
Lets take the Jersey out of the conversation for a minute. What would have been the reaction if AJ had merely taken $1,000 from this “agent like” person? I think the conversation would be a lot different. Even from the most ardent DAWG fan.
I sadly think AJ knew IN HIS HEART what he was doing was wrong. By most accounts $1,000 for a Liberty Bowl jersy is a bit “excessive”. The jersy sale is being used as a cover for what amounts to an upfront cash advance.
Take away the jersy and ask yourself if accpeting cash from an agent is OK.
FLDAWG
September 9th, 2010
11:36 am
The jerseys the bookstore sells do not have the name of the player on the back, just the number. If so then every player who ever wore # 8 could benefit right? I guess the guy who was standing on the sideline SAT that was not AJ wearing # 8 has a case to. Bottom line is he broke the rules and knew better. UGA wins appeal and he is back for ARK. The NCAA is the law and has rules in place that must be followed. GO DAWGS!!!
Ed in Roswell
September 9th, 2010
11:36 am
AJ should contribute the money to the teams suspended drivers license fund.
BigTimeTECHFan
September 9th, 2010
11:37 am
Cardinal Sin – you have other issues to worry about then AJ Green
1eyedJack
September 9th, 2010
11:39 am
Hey Dick Head, what is inbreading?
AJ's not unhappy
September 9th, 2010
11:39 am
I really don’t think Aj’s unhappy. His draft status stays put and he doesn’t risk getting hurt.
Pago Pago Dawg
September 9th, 2010
11:39 am
If he knew what he was doing was wrong and it hurt the team, then he’s not a real “team” guy. Let’s move on….
123
September 9th, 2010
11:41 am
Rules are rules. If I get caught speeding, I know I have to pay the fine, regardless of whether or not I agree with the speed limit.
Tony Barnhardt
September 9th, 2010
11:41 am
I am so angry that this is not happening to another team other than my beloved Bulldogs! Leave my dawgs alone! Nobody is to touch my dawgs! I am angry I tell you! Just damned andry! What? Oh, yeah, I am supposed to be a columnist not a fan.. but it’s my DAWGS!!!!!!!
JASon
September 9th, 2010
11:45 am
Tony, I completely agree with you. The ncaa says it looks at each case individually. Explain to me how this case is so freaking bad. Its not like the guy went into the ad’s office and stole trophies and started selling them. What a disgrace of an organization
chazzo
September 9th, 2010
11:45 am
Let’s see. NCAA investigating AJ for being at a party in Miami sponsored by an agent. Months later, two games into the season, he’s slapped with a suspension for selling a jersey. Something aint right. I am not saying AJ is innocent or deserves something or doesn’t deserve something.
I am saying that the NCAA investigation process is terribly flawed. It is inexcusable for investigations to extend into the season. Either someone set AJ up or there was some kind of plea agreement. Something doesn’t add up.
Now, before everyone jumps my arse for being a whiney, excuse making Bulldog, let me reiterate Saban’s refrain: What does the sleazy agent or overzealous fan get? Why aren’t they being sued or prosecuted? Without going into the whole paying college athletes debate, clearly something needs to be done to the people who are funding the corruption. And, quite frankly, the NCAA is a little open to corruption itself in the way it picks and chooses these cases to investigate for months at a time.
takedowndawg
September 9th, 2010
11:46 am
st.richt, You referenced the reggie bush/usc situation and compared it to the AJ Green situation. $1000/Green = in excess of $200,000 in benefits bush/family? Yes, and benie Madof was just a petty thief!!!! Fine comparison, st. Very in depth perception on your part.
Jaybo
September 9th, 2010
11:46 am
I think the real catch here is that we’re confusing “his” jersey (ie: the No. 8 UGA jerseys in the bookstore) with his jersey (ie: a jersey owned by AJ Green). Green sold the latter, not the former. At what point does a used textbook from an All American become “memorabilia”? I’ve seen much odder things sold as such. There is really only one issue here; AJ Green is punished for selling personal property.
Barnhart’s example of an agent giving a player 500 jerseys to sell isn’t an example of the slippery slope – that would be a different violation – an agent giving gifts to players IS illegal. There is no slippery slope here, let players sell things that are theirs.
TNDave
September 9th, 2010
11:47 am
Four games for selling a jersey, come on.
The player at AL only gets two games and
has to refund the $1800? This is what’s wrong
with college football. No common sense.
Bamafan
September 9th, 2010
11:49 am
Folks remember the old Floyd the barber joke? Tony you need to take violin lessons it will help
you rest your jaw!! Crickets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RTR
DawgBuzz
September 9th, 2010
11:49 am
Did anyone notice how AJ will miss the first three SEC contests for UGA? Seems like someone on this NCAA fact finding team has it in for the Dawgs. Just my take.
NCAA is outdated
September 9th, 2010
11:50 am
BAMA Dude: Fair??? If I pay you $50,000 a year and your work makes me $5 million a year, would you think that’s fair compensation? No, you’d demand a hefty freaking raise! Salespeople make commissions, why shouldn’t college football players? Last year every SEC school received over $17 million, mostly from college football revenue. If the players got a pool of only 1% of that, it would be $2,000 per 85 scholarship players per team. That seems “fair” to me.
TM
September 9th, 2010
11:51 am
Call me one of the “old school” guys you mentioned in the article, but I can not agree with your assessment.
Why is it so difficult to follow the rules. If rule is unfair or not right then change the rule. To say any athlete doesn’t benefit at all from the financial gains by the school is “sticking your head in the sand.”
Each scholar athlete is given a lot of money for an education. And if you down play that amount, then you have no appreciation for those people who spend half of their lives paying off student loans.
Tell the kid who doesn’t have any money and wants to go to college, but doesn’t have the money… about how the privileged athlete doesn’t receive any financial gain.
It’s all about PERSPECTIVE.
The scholarship athlete is selfish and feels deserving of more.
And in this case, the writer of this article (and one’s like it) are supporting those selfish acts.
Coach Cool
September 9th, 2010
11:52 am
Homer: you’re WRONG on at least one thing: the NCAA does NOT allow universities to sell jerseys with player names on them. I should know. I have an Adrian Peterson #28 and Reggie Bush #5.
They are BLANK.
Like you’re argument.
“Kids” know the game.
Be an “ELIGIBLE” playa.
Never a H8a.
76-DAWG
September 9th, 2010
11:53 am
1 eyed jack
Thanks for the laugh, I had missed it. If Richard Cranium was going to say something that stupid at least he could spelled it right.
chazzo
September 9th, 2010
11:55 am
123,
Rules are rules. You are correct. But, if you choose to speed and get caught, I am sure you won’t happily pay your fine if you find it is twice as much as everyone else’s. I am sure that you would be upset if you found that only cars of your specific make and model were pulled over that day, while all the different makes and models were driving twice as fast as you.
This argument is not about the rule or whether it was broken or not. this argument is not about whether college players should be paid or not. the argument is about whether the judgement was fair. The argument is also about the power and discretion of the NCAA. Any institution (throw a dart) could be picked and investigated and found guilty of something.
The rules are too arbitrary; the NCAA is too powerful, and there is too much money involved in these decisions.
Gen Neyland
September 9th, 2010
11:57 am
This incident requires no analogies. It’s the NCAA vs Our Teams on a case by case basis…Although I must agree with the idea that some programs seem to be found in violation moreso and with more gusto than others, no program is perfectly clean. Penalities from the NCAA must have something to do with the way a player or university presents it’s case or attempts to cover things up, that is, things pertinent to whatever the NCAA is looking at or for…Good luck to all in these matters that aren’t cheating matters…
NCAA is outdated
September 9th, 2010
12:00 pm
I am so sick of you people talking about kids who’d love to have that scholarship so they could get an education. If your kid was as valuable to the school as the football player, they’d get one. Nobody cares about the journalism major with the 3.9 GPA because he/she doesn’t help the school make millions of dollars in TV revenue. GET OVER IT PEOPLE!!!! Running a university is a business, and talented athletes are the #1 way to make that business profitable. If you want to change that, then I suggest you stop going to games, stop donating money to the athletic booster association, and stop buying the products and services advertised during the games.
takedowndawg
September 9th, 2010
12:01 pm
reasonable, as the great late Rodney Dangerfield might say, “You would be a loads of “laughs” on cross country trip across the USA” All the listeners in a car would have CALIFLOWER EARS listening to your long winded self in a few hours on the trip!!!! You are not alone on the AJC web site. You others know your names! Brevity is not an ugly word.
NCAA Headquarter's Bookie
September 9th, 2010
12:01 pm
Saw this on another site. Marcel Dareus’ “mitigating circumstances” which changed his suspension to 2 games was him ratting out the entire Miami scandal. It had nothing to do with his coming clean on his own. He only came clean when rumors started circling.
Marcel Dareus is the new Phil Fulmer. The NCAA’s &!^#h.
Alphare
September 9th, 2010
12:02 pm
chazzo ,
you nail it. It’s not fair at all. Dez Bryant was suspended for the rest of season while Green is only suspended 4 games. They both dealt with agents and lied about it.
Dareus of BAMA was 100% straightforward and told his coach what happened once he realized he was snared by an agent. If Dareus got 2 game suspension, don’t you think Green should be suspended more than 4 games?
Green should be suspended like Dez Bryant, the rest of the season. NCAA is a joke.
Tony Barnhardt
September 9th, 2010
12:03 pm
NO!!!!!!! NOT MY DAWGS!!!!!!!!!
asheville dawg
September 9th, 2010
12:04 pm
Mr. Barnhart, I believe you have some erroneous in your story. All jersey’s sold of current / eligible players at all colleges have only their number on them. all those jersey’s are prohibited by NCAA rules from marketing the players names. So they sell the jersey of the popular players with only the numbers. Of course, some enterprising individuals realize that UGA uses three inch block letters on the back of the jersey and add them on after purchasing said jersey from various stores.
258DAWG
September 9th, 2010
12:05 pm
-BREAKING NEWS-
the pounds of dope that multiple UF players bought before last weeks game came from a friend of an agent. Just as you expected, it won’t surface until after they leave for the NFL. Expect it to be around febuary or march.
Yes AJ should have known better but NCAA is a joke!
GT Alum
September 9th, 2010
12:05 pm
Let’s get real. The players aren’t getting paid by receiving tuition and free books. Most of them would have not gotten into these schools had it not been for their football talent, and will not use their “education” for financial gain. Hell, most of them won’t even graduate. I don’t know what the solution to the problem is, but they are not getting more than they deserve with the cost of tuition and on campus living arrangements.
GT Alum
September 9th, 2010
12:08 pm
However, Dawgs are a bunch of thugs for the most part, and my last comment applies to UGA more than Tech. We don’t have degrees in basket weaving.
T-MAN
September 9th, 2010
12:10 pm
Hey Reasonable,you’re rants unreasonable….let’s not forget that this is a University they’re playing for and representing..It’s sole purpose is to educate students,Football is(or was)an extracurricular activity.No one coerced or forces student atheletes to sign up.Take this down to the next level(high school)would you expect to pay a student who happens to be gifted in a certain sports,no.So why is an Education with room and board not acceptable,as an incentive.And for you nitwits who think they should pay the players,take a breath and think about the resulting controversy when the schools with the biggest pockets wins year after year.
Dawgfan
September 9th, 2010
12:10 pm
Absolutely one of the lamest NCAA decisions that I’ve ever seen. First off why does Green get 4 games and the receiver at Bama only gets 2? Theres just no consistency with the NCAA other than being consistently stupid.
I agree with you and I think these kids should get something for the amount of money they bring to these institutions. Everyone always says, they are getting something a free education blah, blah, blah. Well we all know that’s a load of bull. Sure they’re getting to take classes and are on a scholarship etc but the amount of money that these big programs bring in is enormous and a lot of these kids come from nothing. It’s a one way street in college athletics and I love college sports but this is abusive in my mind.
5IML
September 9th, 2010
12:11 pm
All these arrests and suspensions are depressing. Can we discuss this week’s games? They are uplifting and will be exciting.
Whoelse thinks UT loses by 17 to Oregon?
Howard Cozell
September 9th, 2010
12:16 pm
I have lived in this state for 6 years now and have a number of UGA fans as friends and have even attended several home games. One consistent thread is common among 90% of Dawg fans; you have this inferiority complex that everyone is out to cheat you. You think Herbstreit and Mark May hate you, you think you were robbed in 2007 from playing in the National Championship (nevermind you didn’t even win the SEC East), you thought the refs stole the game against LSU last year (nevermind that the LSU runningback broke 6 tackles on his TD run). You think there is holding on every play when you are defense but never when you have the ball. What causes this whiny phenomenom with UGA?
Howard Cozell
September 9th, 2010
12:21 pm
TEH
The critisizm of CMR is because of your fans always talking about what a good man he is and how he builds young men of character; Please already, if you are paying him to build character then you are getting your moneys worth about as much as you are for him winning championships. Too bad he doesn’t win championships like his players get thrown in jail.
It really is NOT about college ball, anymore
September 9th, 2010
12:25 pm
The kids are in a hot spot. They are mostly very, very poor kiids and have never even dined with a knife, fork, spoon and soup spoon on fine dinnerware and crystal. They do not know how to comport themsleves in the compnay of mainstream folks. I am not knocking them but drive down Hwy 441 near Madison Ga. on the way to Orlando and see for your self. The towns and the shacks all along the way might be where many of these boys come from. That is not their fault. Are they “coached up ” by the particular university on such potential violations? Sure they are BUT HAVE YOU EVER BEEN REALLY POOR??? This is the CORE issue, not one coach or other school. No way.
Take this reality away from the universities and place it squarely on the NFL. Draft a kid, and let the MDs determine if he can immediately take the BRUTAL pounding of the NFL and if not, then “red shirt him for one or two years, beefing him up, building him up physically and mentally and ensuring that he has been taught about the basics of life ( like MOTOWN did the Supremes and The Four Tops and Marvin Gaye in the mid 60s) and then let him play NFL ball. It is no the U of Wishbone Pro Set Back to do that. Parents should and if not, then the NFL should do it. MBA Schools prepare folks when it is needed. I know this to be a fact.
This is so simple to me. Get the schools OUT of this social engineering crap.
Liberals will hollar ” oh, um, what about their educations” and I would respond with “they will make millions or NOT and they can pay to become a carpenter or a MD or insurance exec or teacher or a banker with their earnings. See? Maybe the kid by then, say 29 with two bad knees wants to become a long distance truck driver. He can be better equipped to do that by then. By the way, I paid for my education so they can too. It will be good for them. It was for me….. responsibility.
This baby sitting crap is not what a university is all about and we are kidding ourselves if we think this IS what they are for.