Reggie Bush ain't looking too clean

The top 30-40 programs fill 95-100% percent of their seats every year and have a rabid fan base. No one player is going to appreciably raise the demand for the product. And recruiting isn't an exact science. There are very, very few players who fulfill their potential without rough spots and most "can't miss" prospects fill out special teams or scout teams. There's no reason to fix what really isn't broken, and there's no reason to coddle players.

 

Nice work by the kids at Yahoo.

Some axe to grind for that one former employee to spill the beans.

 

The NCAA might not be able to hold Bush accountable, but what about the IRS? Wouldn't the family be required to report cash gifts as income? I think there's a potential criminal side to this.

 

Short, sweet and right on point.

Question to those running counter to my opinion on this thread -- keeping in mind that minimum wage in the NFL is about $300,000 should college football players (and their families) be paid $100,000 to play in the NCAA? Yes or no.

 

Because that's a system that gives a huge advantage to the wealthy kids.

And, having working inside a D-1 team for the better part of four years, I don't think they should be paid.

No, you can't "cash in" a scholarship like you can a check. But, in an inherently flawed system where you have to go to college to receive consideration in the NFL draft, it's certainly worth more than just the hours of class a player may or may not attend. It's a free chance to be noticed by scouts at the next level where you do get to cash in on that.

And if you say that college football players should be played, do you only pay them at the schools in the black for their athletic programs? What about programs like the UNC women's soccer team or the Minnesota hockey team that probably bring in revenue? Do you start to pay those players because the school is making money off of their athletic success? And then what of high schools? Schools like Southlake Carroll make tons of money off of their sponsorship, merchandise and ticket sales. Do we start paying high school kids?

Frankly, it's a stupid system. I think hockey and baseball have the best setups where they allow kids to pursue college if they want but also have professional/semi-pro leagues that offer an out to kids who may not be suited for the academics that college requires.

But then again, if football did that, I'd bet 90 percent of the high end prospects jump straight into a feeder league (especially if, like hockey, it' capped at 20 or 21) to get noticed there. And every college football fan around the country would freak out and blame the media for proposing the league in the first place.

 

There's also a point people are missing about the value of college. It allows kids to mature in a relatively protected enviornment.

You've got so many failsafes in college, especially as an athlete. If you start screwing up, you have you coach, your AD, your professors, your dean of student life, your athletic secretary, your RA, etc. all there to catch you and help you out before you get in dangerous trouble.

No, the system doesn't always work. Yes, it's totally possible to be a mature adult when you graduate high school and be perfectly ready for the real world. And your parents should (but in some cases aren't) be a failsafe as a young adult when you're still kind of figuring things out.

But as a professional athlete, the system isn't set up to provide those failsafes. And you have a whole lot more people trying to take advantage of you.

 

DAMN YOU BUSH WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO YOURSELF.

 

But it would have! Look at him now. His pro career has fizzled out, he's facing criminal charges and all he has is his high school diploma. You don't have to be a genius to realize that, under most circumstances, a college graduate will almost always be more successful in today's American society than a college dropout. So even for this amazing NFL prospect, yeah, there's value in his college education. Because now he's got nada -- except a couple of gun charges hanging over his head.

And when I made the point about the CFL and AFL, I didn't say it was the best way to get noticed. I was just saying that the NCAA isn't the only gateway to the NFL. Indeed, college football is the best way to get noticed by the NFL. But if you're going to make the conscious decision to attend an NCAA university as an athlete, you are choosing to join a team and are bound to follow the rules.