As a product of the Louisiana public school system, I generally avoid commenting on academic matters. But when they’re related to college football, I can’t resist.
The possibility of college football players eventually becoming university employees makes me wonder: Will they have to take classes?
Your response might be something like “How absurd.” But what once might have been considered absurd in college football has become commonplace.
Transferring players here, there and there without eligibility restrictions has been a drastic departure from the norm of a few years ago. So did those NIL pay-play deals that turned college football into a professional sport.
Given all the dramatic changes, the idea of football players becoming contract workers hardly seems unlikely.
Last time I checked, getting a degree wasn’t a requirement for working at a university. This job may give you a better chance of getting a college education. But it’s not mandatory.
So why would some college football players be interested in school jobs when they are already making millions of dollars capitalizing on their name, image and likeness? And now they are guaranteed a cut of the football program’s revenue.
Take quarterbacks at major programs for example. How could you expect them to study for a test – or even attend class – when they are preparing for regular season games?
There are only so many hours in a week. A quarterback is preparing to manage a game plan. He’s also engrossed in videos, ever hopeful of memorizing an opponent’s defensive tendencies. Why would he invest time studying for a possible pop quiz in any of his courses?
His big test would be on Saturday, not during the week.
I have long believed that athletes should receive college credit for their sport. Even when I was in college — and dinosaurs roamed the Earth — my guess is that most football players worked as hard and spent as many hours on the sport as I did on journalism.
No class is a huge leap forward in getting credit for playing your sport. But it’s a question worthy of discussion as we speculate about where all the changes in college football could lead.
The issue of academic eligibility must be part of this discussion. Athletes can earn money. They can jump from one school to another. However, they must still meet certain academic requirements to maintain their eligibility.
Athletic departments have known this for a long time. That’s why they rely on an army of tutors to help athletes navigate academic challenges that could threaten their eligibility. No matter how much administrators — and even coaches — may emphasize the value of education, remaining eligible is more crucial.
What if education was just an option and not a requirement? The stress relief would be palpable.
At this point, a logical question would be: How can it be college football if the players aren’t enrolled in college?
The reality: It’s not college football. It’s professional football. You need to accept this.
In this version of college football, I hope players can still get some semblance of an education in addition to a salary. That would be in their best interest.
ADAM: Tennessee football can make money from on-field advertising. I can help.
You can’t ignore what the sport has become. You also can’t ignore the huge amount of money it generates.
Not even the most meticulous accountant can identify how much a great football program means to a university. And it’s in a university’s best interest to form a team – be it players, staff or students.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He can be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.
This article originally appeared in the Knoxville News Sentinel: If college athletes become employees, classes should be optional
