Scanning the horizon, I can see some not so good developments ...

[Shmuley]

for college football's future. The alleged #1 athlete recruit for 2009, Bryce Brown, a Miami commit, has not yet signed with the U. This kid is "handled" by the same scavenging fool that shopped Arthur Brown, Bryce's brother, to the highest bidder a couple of years ago. The handler is a piece of **** not worthy of wasting a bullet on. The rumor in most recruiting circles is that Bryce Brown will jump to the CFL, yes the f'n Hoserville 110 yard joke league, and put himself in position to get to the league that way instead of through D1. Supposedly the handler is pushing this to get his cut one way or the other. Apparently ol U booster is not willing to ante up, so handler pimp is taking his piece of *** to moose country.

Curious to see if y'all think this will affect any but the top 5 or 10 guys?

 

[OMlawdog]

Not a bad gig right out of high school doing the same thing he would be doing at the U.

Don't get me wrong the handler is a piece of ****, but if he got a 3 year guaranteed contract worth a million per and did well, and put himself in position to get drafted in three years, would be a hell of a deal for Brown.

Also gives him protection in case of injury and doesn't have to worry about books and ****.

 

[JacksonDevilDog]

and they had 3 or 4 other RB's rated higher than the number 1 player in the nation in Brown.

 

[Shmuley]

Seems to me that it would be highly unlikely the CFL turns into a farm system. Too far from home, no exposure and only the most incredibly skilled and precocious recruits could compete.

And what about the college perks (unlimited trim, kegs, ganja, Benshakes)?

 

[SLUdog]

that's not a bad thing at all from my perspective.

 

[Dawgbreeze]

I agree and if anybody who is honest thinks Powe is a student athlete, they are smoking weed. I think if the kid doesn't want to open a book or at least turn on the computer to let someone do his work for him, he ought to be able to go pro.

 

[RebelBruiser]

I agree and if anybody who is honest thinks Powe is a student athlete, they are smoking weed. I think if the kid doesn't want to open a book or at least turn on the computer to let someone do his work for him, he ought to be able to go pro.

I agree with you, and I've said this for a while that colleges need to be allowed to set up a football major that doesn't give a real degree. Just get rid of the farce that is the student athlete. If they want to pursue a degree and they meet the minimum qualifications for the school of their choice, let them take real classes. If not, then let them just be an athlete with free room and board. And the reason I say that is because physically you can't come straight out of high school and compete professionally. They need some sort of mid-level league to bridge from high school to the pros (be it CFL or NFL). College can still serve that purpose. I'd just like to see them get rid of eligibility requirements and quit forcing schools to make these guys pretend to be real students.

It won't ever happen, but that's the way I think it should be, because there are so many players that just don't give a crap about their actual work, but a lot of those guys have the ability to try to make a living playing.

And for the record, there are players out there that are a lot worse than Powe, at least as far as not making an effort. See Chris Strong, Rory Johnson, etc. Powe makes an effort, which is the least you can do if you're going to pretend to be in school.

Edited to add: I do think that if you were to do my idea, you'd need to put a limit on the number of non-student athletes on your team so that you can prevent it from being purely a semi-pro sport. Like maybe limit it to 5 per year per team, but I still do think that athletes with the ability should be able to pursue a pro career even if they don't have the grades to get into school.

 

[Pony Express.sixpack]

Remember Willie Williams, if you don't then Google search: "stupid high school LB willie williams".. I am serious, you can acutally search this.

As far as damage to College Football, it does not matter. Are you going to watch Toronto vs Saskatoon because Patrick Patterson is catching balls from Brent Schaeffer? If Canada becomes the head-case league, then this may have a positive effect on college football. Having fewer Maurice Clarretts and Lawrence Phillips is not a bad thing.

The worse that could happen is that USC, LSU, and Oklahoma are going to get fewer commits. The television audience will still be focused on college ball, even if all the players are middle class engineering and accounting students. I firmly believe that if College Ball played on Saturday and Sunday, college fans would eliminate pro-football.

 

[DerHntr]

hopefully this will only occur with the real ******** out there. i can understand him wanting the money though.

 

[SLUdog]

and keep unqualified people out of college. However, this will probably not happen either.

 

[rhs43]

lowering the standards will only make more kids not wanna do **** in high school. We already have enough of them.

 

[RebelBruiser]

I'm fine if you want to raise the standards, but I still think if you do that, then a league needs to be created that doesn't require you to go to school.

I just don't understand the correlation between going to college and going to the NFL/CFL. If you have the athletic ability to possibly develop into a professional football player, why would you have to go to college and pass classes to earn the right to do that professionally. Tennis players and golfers that are at the top of their game don't have to go to college to play professionally. Neither do soccer players or baseball players. What makes football and basketball so different that we have to require athletes to go to school after high school to have a chance to play at the professional level? Do those sports require extra academic preparation?

Of course not. When you think about it that way, it's a joke of a system. As I've said before, if you want to be a lawyer, they don't require you to pass a physical fitness test as part of your admissions process, so why do we require football and basketball players to pass academic courses to try to play sports professionally?

 

[sweetpapajones]

multi million dollar deal but the CFL has a $4.5 million salary cap. QB's are usally the highest paid, $200K-300K with the best RB's making around $100K.

I would think that 3 years in college would prepare you more for the NFL than 3 years in the CFL due to the syle of game that is played.

 

[bulliegolfer]

not much threat imo.

 

[hdghdawg]

Sort of preparing them to be professional? Lawyers and engineers have to have degrees, why not athletes? I don't know, my own idea sounds kind of stupid to me too.

I just don't want to take away from NCAA football like they've done in baseball and basketball. Basketball is getting better.

 

[patdog]

I just don't understand the correlation between going to college and going to the NFL/CFL. If you have the athletic ability to possibly develop into a professional football player, why would you have to go to college and pass classes to earn the right to do that professionally. Tennis players and golfers that are at the top of their game don't have to go to college to play professionally. Neither do soccer players or baseball players. What makes football and basketball so different that we have to require athletes to go to school after high school to have a chance to play at the professional level? Do those sports require extra academic preparation?

The correlation is that as long as there is big-time college football, the NFL sees no need to fund a professional minor league system like baseball and hockey (and even basketball to a limited extent) do.

 

[RebelBruiser]

I just don't understand the correlation between going to college and going to the NFL/CFL. If you have the athletic ability to possibly develop into a professional football player, why would you have to go to college and pass classes to earn the right to do that professionally. Tennis players and golfers that are at the top of their game don't have to go to college to play professionally. Neither do soccer players or baseball players. What makes football and basketball so different that we have to require athletes to go to school after high school to have a chance to play at the professional level? Do those sports require extra academic preparation?

The correlation is that as long as there is big-time college football, the NFL sees no need to fund a professional minor league system like baseball and hockey (and even basketball to a limited extent) do.

I understand completely why the NFL doesn't care to change anything. They have a built in farm system, and it really isn't hurting their overall product if they miss out on a handful of players every year that simply couldn't cut it academically.

I'm just saying that if you take a step back and look at it, it's a little silly that in basketball and football, if you have extreme talent, you're forced to attend school post-high school if you want to pursue an athletic career.

And I completely understand that a minor league system would hurt college football, which is why it'll never happen. I'm just pointing out the fact that I think it's bogus that we force players to pass courses to try to pursue a pro career. I go back to Taye Biddle as an example. He was bright enough to pass college courses and earn a degree, but when his eligibility was up his senior year, he walked off the campus never to attend another class simply because he had no interest in a degree at the time, and supposedly that's not all that uncommon. He was in school pursuing a professional football career, not a degree, even though he was capable of getting a degree.

I'm sure I'll get the argument of, what will they do if they don't make it in the pros? Well, for a lot of them, it'll be the same thing they'd have done if they didn't have the athletic ability, and for others, if they have a brief career that fizzles out, they can afford to put themselves through school to get a degree if they choose.

 

[StateLover]

The NFL is incomparable. It is the best product of football possible and its champion is determined on the field. if college games were played on Sundays in November and December they would be pummeled in the ratings by the NFL's best games. College football fans who think the NFL is an inferior product are such a joke.

College fans act like you have to choose college or pro football, one or the other. You don't. You can like both. Its not a badge of honor to say that you hate pro football.

 

[TheBigBadDawg]

...is that you'll end up with a whole bunch of overrated players who never really amount to anything in college, go for three to five years with the hope of going pro, and never make it. Then what? You've got a bunch of guys who have gone to college for free and have literally accomplished nothing. They haven't taken any real classes, can't get a degree or a job in anything, and couldn't even produce on the field. So the outcome is that they just wasted a ton of scholarship money. Let's be serious, most college players don't amount to anything in the NFL, if they even make it to begin with.

And before you say it, yes, I realize that many players' classes are a joke anyways, and that even if they DO go and take tests and everything else, there's almost no guarantee that they've learned anything. </p>