I think it’s time colleges and the NCAA look at that. Do you really think Julio Jones, Cam Newton and others are at college for the education? They’re not. They’re in college to play football. They spend countless hours working on football and while Nick Saban and it seems like Gene Chizik have done a good job getting their players to be productive people in the classroom, about 95 % of the players on both teams want to play in the NFL. That’s not going to happen, but quite a few of them will. During the school year, these players don’t have time to get a job and many of their parents can’t afford to give them cash for living expenses that are not covered by their scholarships. They need financial help just to live like other college students who have parents with the financial wherewithal to provide their children with additional spending money to have a little fun.
With the agent issue now becoming a major distraction to the play on the field, let’s just give the guys $1,000 a month for the year to spend on dates, dinner, movies, ect. In a perfect world these guys would be serious about their school work, but they’re just trying to get by in school so they can make it at the next level. Let’s make it fair for them because they are putting out maximum effort for their universities. There are some exceptions like Greg McElroy and Barrett Jones at Alabama and probably some guys at Auburn, too, who are taking advantage of a college education, but they’re a small minority.
Maybe this would clean up the mess with boosters paying players and the agent issues. It may not, but it’s worth a shot. There needs to be some sort of compensation so the players, coaches and fans can focus on the fun part of the game; the actual games themselves. The players can be compensated for all they do. With coaches making these big salaries–and a lot of them earn every penny of it–it’s time for the players to have a reasonable compensation, too.
These guys want to play football and if they have to go to class, they should be compensated in some way. That’s just my opinion. There are, of course, the Stanfords (though they’re getting pretty big time now but still may keep up their standards), the Northwesterns, the Vandys and the Dukes which still value a college education, and I’m not saying the rest of the SEC besides Vandy doesn’t. I think Nick Saban particularly does a good job with it. But the reality is 95% of the players at big time schools are there to play football, and spend countless hours doing it. Maybe to avoid the problems that come with agents and overzealous boosters, just be up front and pay these guys.
By the way, Alabama is really struggling with injuries. Fluker, Julio, Richardson all banged up. That seems to always happen to a defending champion, too: the onslaught of injuries the next year. Alabama needs to take care of business against UT and then heal up for the home stretch.
(Nick Saban does a great job of getting his players to go to class and study, but is it realistic to think that these kids care about school?)