Agree, these kids should be allowed to get their educations based on those scholarships.
I do wonder if this changes dramatically once NIL and whatever successor form it takes fully plays out. At top programs it will be pay to play and education will have next to nothing to do with the equation. Under that scenario you have to wonder how programs and schools handle kids how don't pan out. Think professional sports franchise model..........
The bottom line: NIL money is a cruel joke being played on several million college athletes.
The P5 schools with big TV contracts cleverly designed a scheme that allows them to pay what it takes to get the best recruits (under the guise of fairness), but it'll play out coldly and cruelly for most of those looking for money over education because only about 1.6% of draft eligible college football players are drafted in a typical year, along with 0.8% of college basketball players. (see chart below)
One site I looked at reported that 83% of football players drafted are from FBS rosters and over 50% of those drafted were five star recruits and that % is rising over time.
So, the players will stay focused on making it big in their pro sport, with virtually no chance they'll do so, rather than working to obtain a meaningful education that will allow them to live comfortably the rest of their lives.
See details at this NCAA site:
Estimated probability of competing in professional athletics
www.ncaa.org
There's a quote that the probability of a high school kid making the NFL is about the same as it would be for getting hit by lightning at some point in your life.
| NCAA Participants | Approximate # Draft Eligible | # Draft Picks | # NCAA Drafted | % NCAA to Major Pro | % NCAA to Total Pro |
---|
Baseball | 36,011 | 8,002 | 1,217 | 791 | 9.9% | -- |
M Basketball | 18,816 | 4,181 | 60 | 52 | 1.2% | 21% |
W Basketball | 16,509 | 3,669 | 36 | 31 | 0.8% | 6.9% |
Football | 73,712 | 16,380 | 254 | 254 | 1.6% | -- |
M Ice Hockey | 4,323 | 961 | 217 | 71 | 7.4% | -- |
Last Updated: April 8, 2020