Terrelle Pryor tears himself away from college life

So, what's wrong with that?

These are businesses, plain and simple. They already do this for coaches. Heck, coaches have contracts, yet, that doesn't seem to stop schools from poaching them from each other.

This whole "purity of amateurism" crap is gone, except for the Ivy League, the military academies, perhaps the Patriot League in basketball, and D-III. For Division I, this is business.

And in a business, people are allowed to choose where they work, and to negotiate for their compensation. In big-time college sports, the kids are only able to negotiate where they work. Their compensation has already been determined by the NCAA. And there isn't another place for them to seek better compensation.

 

If the market bears that out, then the kids would go to college, they would have no leg to stand on in claiming they're not properly compensated for their services, and the debate would end. But let the market bear it out. I suspect any number of teams would rather spend $500,000 for 2-3 years to develop a high school quarterback than $25 million for the same quarterback after a college has developed him for 2-3 years.

 

Except he wouldn't be ready to start at 20-21. Anyone who thinks he could is a fool.

 

Here's the fallacy in that. The training that could be provided in an NFL internship won't begin to match the learning process afforded by playing in front of 70,000-plus for 26 to 52 games. I don't care if you have Charlie Weis, Pete Carroll and Jon Gruden in the kid's ear, it pales in comparison to being out there under the gun.

 

Just from a quick Google search I see that Drew Bledsoe, Matthew Stafford and Michael Vick were 21 when they started their first games, and they were decent as rookies. Others have been that young -- I know Alex Smith was 20 as a rookie but that didn't turn out so hot. Anyway, this is all just a theoretical argument, but I think a guy trained for two or three years in an NFL environment would be farther along than a guy the same age spending the same amount of time in college.

 

A lot of people said things like that when Rashard Lewis went pro -- how could sitting on the bench in the NBA be better than playing in the pressure of the NCAA tournament.

 

Basketball:football :: applesranges

 

Maybe so. I would still like to see kids have the option though. Terrelle Pryor and Cam Newton had no business on a college campus, and everybody knows it.

 

Some would say they have no business under center in an NFL game either.

 

A primary "what's wrong with that?" is that it alows the Establishment schools to consistently dominate.

Lowered scholarship limitations were designed to minimize that bullshit.

Parity is good, to the extent possi8ble. NCAA football has sustained historical issues in this area, and most-anything that aids in presenting as many truly-competitive contests as possible is a positive.

52-0 games suck, uniless you're scratching yourself while stuttering, "Goooo, ------- (insert name of Establishment SEC/Big XII powerhouse)" ., . .

 

Those athletes are already going to the Establishment schools. The MAC schools and the like get what's left already.

 

Of course . . . but simply turning the dollar spigots to full blast would just result in even greater clustering of 2nd/3rd tier talent at all of the Enormous State U's.