UCLA's Josh Rosen: "Football And School Don't Go Together"

[upstater]

This is completely incorrect.

I know that school inside and out. Lectured there, had friends on the faculty who moved to better schools (ranked in the USN 100 range). All the cohort stats show low productivity and low support. Which is not a surprise at a low paying institution with 50% higher teaching load.

There are AAU schools in the 100s but somehow you guys are convinced that 2nd tier schools ranked 60 are better.

No they are not

 

[Jax Husky]

I wrote that a kid with an 850 is a good thing and you somehow countered it. Bizarre.

Not only that. I put several SOUTHERN schools ahead of Clemson and you write that I'm against southern schools. Absurd

You said a kid with an 850 taking his studies seriously and making it through "can" be a good thing. To me, there is no doubt of the fact.

You also referred to several of the Southern schools as "the bottom of the barrel". You don't find that to be a little pretentious? Not everyone is so wrapped up in peer reviews and research monies. There is a bottom of the barrel, but it is a lot closer to Southern University or Xavier New Orleans than any of the SEC schools.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

As per usual, the Twitter headline and the reactions didn't matchup with what the kid actually said.

“Don’t get me started. I love school, but it’s hard,” Rosen said. “It’s cool because we’re learning more applicable stuff in my major (Economics)—not just the prerequisite stuff that’s designed to filter out people. But football really dents my ability to take some classes that I need. There are a bunch of classes that are only offered one time. There was a class this spring I had to take, but there was a conflict with spring football, so…
[…]
Look, football and school don’t go together. They just don’t. Trying to do both is like trying to do two full-time jobs. There are guys who have no business being in school, but they’re here because this is the path to the NFL. There’s no other way. Then there’s the other side that says raise the SAT eligibility requirements. OK, raise the SAT requirement at Alabama and see what kind of team they have. You lose athletes and then the product on the field suffers."

That is a thoughtful and nuanced explanation that gets completely lost in 140-characters.

This.

The "kid is entitled" crowd was in such a hurry to bash him, they missed what he said. I find no fault in what he said. The demands of a D-I Football player at an academically elite school must be staggering. More to his point, there are students at many schools who are not academically equipped to be there, but they had a great 40 time and put up numbers in high school. The quality of the so-called education many of them receive is a joke. There is a reason one of the best public universities in the country created an entire sham department to keep athletes eligible.....and I am not thinking only of UNC.

 

[upstater]

You said a kid with an 850 taking his studies seriously and making it through "can" be a good thing. To me, there is no doubt of the fact.

You also referred to several of the Southern schools as "the bottom of the barrel". You don't find that to be a little pretentious? Not everyone is so wrapped up in peer reviews and research monies. There is a bottom of the barrel, but it is a lot closer to Southern University or Xavier New Orleans than any of the SEC schools.

No doubt about it? Dexter Manley ring a bell? How about North Carolina? I can tell you stories to make your head spin. I would go so far as to say that much of the time it isn't a good thing, but the fact that it is a good thing sometimes makes it perhaps worth it.

No, I didn't say several of the southern schools are bottom of the barrel. I said LSU is scraping the bottom of the barrel. and it is. That school should be in receivership at this point.

 

[Jax Husky]

No doubt about it? Dexter Manley ring a bell? How about North Carolina? I can tell you stories to make your head spin. I would go so far as to say that much of the time it isn't a good thing, but the fact that it is a good thing sometimes makes it perhaps worth it.

No, I didn't say several of the southern schools are bottom of the barrel. I said LSU is scraping the bottom of the barrel. and it is. That school should be in receivership at this point.

So you just look down your nose at LSU. Got it. It (and other southern schools) is not a great academic institution, but it is not "scraping the bottom of the barrel". What is your evidence of LSU being worse than CCSU?

I am of the opinion that society is better served by Dexter Manley getting a chance to attend college regardless of the ultimate outcome. Would you rather he run the streets so as to not diminish the value of some school's degree?

 

[JSM1970]

LSU is a joke

Hot coeds, Death Valley is cool

Academically, Gateway probably has better programs

So you just look down your nose at LSU. Got it. It (and other southern schools) is not a great academic institution, but it is not "scraping the bottom of the barrel". What is your evidence of LSU being worse than CCSU?

I am of the opinion that society is better served by Dexter Manley getting a chance to attend college regardless of the ultimate outcome. Would you rather he run the streets so as to not diminish the value of some school's degree?

 

[Jax Husky]

LSU is a joke

Hot coeds, Death Valley is cool

Academically, Gateway probably has better programs

Lol, whatever. Not a great school, but their Petro Engineering is very strong, and a couple other programs are decent. Gateway CC huh? Hard to take you seriously with that comment.

The problem I have is this attitude that a school down south that serves its people is just blindly viewed as "a joke" by elitist northeasterners. I personally know some intelligent successful people that went to these schools, so it's sort of a shane to see my Connecticut put just automatically assume that they are superior for having attended Wesleyan.

 

[UConnDan97]

Lol, whatever. Not a great school, but their Petro Engineering is very strong, and a couple other programs are decent.

And this is the point.

I don't know why all of you are fighting about this. Some schools have excellent programs in certain subjects but not others. If you want to major in forensic sciences, you go to the University of New Haven under Doctor Henry Lee. But is UNH a highly rated academic school by most measures? No. But you'd still go there for that.

Chances are, most state flagship schools are pretty good generally and possibly excellent in certain fields...

 

[noeynox]

So you just look down your nose at LSU. Got it. It (and other southern schools) is not a great academic institution, but it is not "scraping the bottom of the barrel". What is your evidence of LSU being worse than CCSU?

I am of the opinion that society is better served by Dexter Manley getting a chance to attend college regardless of the ultimate outcome. Would you rather he run the streets so as to not diminish the value of some school's degree?

Don't you think they should have made an effort to teach him to read, rather than exploit him for his ability to rush the passer?

 

[Jax Husky]

Don't you think they should have made an effort to teach him to read, rather than exploit him for his ability to rush the passer?

Absolutely, but I thought we were talking about marginal kids getting the chance to attend in the first place. In a place like Louisiana (and most of the south), where the public school systems are just tragic, I think universities should be a little open to marginal or subpar students. Unfortunately, this leads to poorer perceptions and subjects these schools to the elitism seen in this thread.

 

[noeynox]

Absolutely, but I thought we were talking about marginal kids getting the chance to attend in the first place. In a place like Louisiana (and most of the south), where the public school systems are just tragic, I think universities should be a little open to marginal or subpar students. Unfortunately, this leads to poorer perceptions and subjects these schools to the elitism seen in this thread.

I agree, with your point. But they're not taking marginal students and giving them full rides out of philanthropy. They take marginal students who are great athletes and in some cases don't even pretend to try and educate them (UNC fake classes), only keep them eligible to help win games.

In Manleys case he was exploited for his football ability. Dude couldn't even sign his first contract.

 

[upstater]

So you just look down your nose at LSU. Got it. It (and other southern schools) is not a great academic institution, but it is not "scraping the bottom of the barrel". What is your evidence of LSU being worse than CCSU?

I am of the opinion that society is better served by Dexter Manley getting a chance to attend college regardless of the ultimate outcome. Would you rather he run the streets so as to not diminish the value of some school's degree?

You're going off the deep end.

When kids are passed through without a care for their future, it harms them.

It also harms other students in the classroom. It destroys classroom dynamics.

It is harmful for the whole goal of educating the young.

And despite all of this, I wrote that it may be worth it!

LSU slashed its budget by a huge amount and fired people left and right. It is a school in total meltdown and disarray. The level of dysfunction is unprecedented.

 

[polycom]

Another thing people are discounting is the background many of these football & basketball players come from. If you didn't know how to manage school & football in high school how are you suddenly going to be able to manage it in college. Also, why do people bring up Myron Rolle and say "See, it can be done" it should be acknowledged that he is a unicorn of the highest proportions.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Clemson #66
UNC Chapel Hill #30
Alabama #103

So basically right in the middle of the 2

Mizzou #111, thought they were higher. Maybe just because its school of Journalism is basically tops in country

Huh? In what world is 30 right between 66 and 103?
Kind of ironic, don't you think?

 

[Marty Jackson]

Lol, whatever. Not a great school, but their Petro Engineering is very strong, and a couple other programs are decent. Gateway CC huh? Hard to take you seriously with that comment.

The problem I have is this attitude that a school down south that serves its people is just blindly viewed as "a joke" by elitist northeasterners. I personally know some intelligent successful people that went to these schools, so it's sort of a shane to see my Connecticut put just automatically assume that they are superior for having attended Wesleyan.

Settle down chachi.... One persons anti SEC sentiment doesn't reflect the entire state of CT.

 

[UConnDan97]

Huh? In what world is 30 right between 66 and 103?
Kind of ironic, don't you think?

At risk of defending JSM, I think he meant that Clemson was in the middle of the other two. He just wrote the list in a weird way...

 

[Jax Husky]

Settle down chachi.... One persons anti SEC sentiment doesn't reflect the entire state of CT.

Thanks, I'm calm, but coming from West Hartford, I am very used to people looking down on colleges that aren't Ivy or Little Ivy as if people that don't go to high end schools are less worthy. Gets my hackles up.

 

[JSM1970]

To me it's more about the SEC, and maybe garbage schools like WVU and Louisville.

SEC Alums are obnoxious and annoying. You meet an Arkansas alum and all they want to talk about is SEC domination. "Look, Arkansas sucks and isn't relevant, and is a wasteland academically."

You meet a Wake Forest or G Tech alum and they don't start gushing about Puke or UNC basketball.

Thanks, I'm calm, but coming from West Hartford, I am very used to people looking down on colleges that aren't Ivy or Little Ivy as if people that don't go to high end schools are less worthy. Gets my hackles up.

 

[Jax Husky]

I am sure that if your preconceived notion is that their university is "a wasteland" you are being met with zero defensiveness. And actually, I have had a Wake Forest co-worker brag to me about tobacco road, but I just shrug it off.

 

[JSM1970]

Umm, SEC alums are idiots. Do they realize the minute these kids are eligible they leave and play on Sunday, not Saturday.

Alabamer is a joke of a school. Yeah, coeds are hot & down to €&%6, but dumb too.

I am sure that if your preconceived notion is that their university is "a wasteland" you are being met with zero defensiveness. And actually, I have had a Wake Forest co-worker brag to me about tobacco road, but I just shrug it off.

 

[RSTuthill]

He rips Alabama and Clemson. I wonder if this kid knows that Clemson is a really good school.

Primarily engineering. A REALLY good school. I have been to quite a few conferences there. I love that little town.

 

[Guapo]

Umm, SEC alums are idiots. Do they realize the minute these kids are eligible they leave and play on Sunday, not Saturday.

Alabamer is a joke of a school. Yeah, coeds are hot & down to €&%6, but dumb too.

You need to stop, you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[whaler11]

Reminds me of BD's comments that we don't want guys who love math more than they love football--I think the quote came as Jefferson Ashiru was leaving the program. It's the truth--players are guided towards BS majors in BS programs (and I'm not saying bachelors of science), and yet such a slim margin of them will make any decent money in the NFL. Then we get folks arguing that pay for play is nonsense because the players already earn a college degree for free. Problem is, they don't even get a real college education 9 times out of 10. It's all a front.

Diaco didn't need math guys. When you can't score, 7+7 can equal anything. Maybe we'll find out this season.

 

[The Funster]

It doesn't matter how a school is ranked academically. It's what a school does (or doesn't do) to keep it's athletes eligible. What is Watson degree from Clemson? Is it a conventional degree or some degree that was designed for an athlete to sail though?

 

[HartfordHank]

What is Watson degree from Clemson?

"Watson, a true junior who enrolled early, will graduate with a degree in communications studies in December in just three years on campus."

Communications can be a suspect degree at many schools. I am not saying that his is.

How Deshaun Watson is starting new trend in race to the NFL

 

[Waquoit]

Thanks, I'm calm, but coming from West Hartford, I am very used to people looking down on colleges that aren't Ivy or Little Ivy as if people that don't go to high end schools are less worthy. Gets my hackles up.

Why are you wasting perfectly good hackles on schools from the SEC?