<p>Interesteddad,</p>
<p>Your statement that “There isn’t a serious candidate for the NFL draft who has been in class since the end of the college football season” seems a bit strong. I certainly do not know the grades and test scores of all of the top draft picks this year, and I would agree that it is likely that the vast majority of big-time football players do not have excellent grades, but there are exceptions. Danny Wuerffel was a Heisman trophy winning quarterback at the University of Florida in the 1990’s and graduated with a 3.98 GPA. Matt Bonner graduated from University of Florida last year, also with about a 3.98 GPA (he was named the Academic All-American of the Year for all sports for 2002-2003 and 2003-2004), and now plays for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA. True student-athletes such as these not only maintain high grades but also participate probably 30 or more hours per week in a high-level Division 1 sport. They are definitely rare, but not extinct. As you may have guessed, I am familiar with these examples because I was an undergrad at UF. However, many other colleges still have some excellent student-athletes. Pat Tillman, the former Arizona State and NFL defensive back who was killed in Afghanistan, had something like a 3.8 GPA and graduated in fewer than 4 years. Cartainly MOST Division 1 college athletes underachieve academically, but so do many other college students.</p>
<p>I agree with your statement that “today’s athletes, of the caliber to be drafted in the NFL or NBA are NOT in college for the academics.” It only makes sense that if an athlete is capable of earning millions of dollars doing some activity that he enjoys that he would pursue that for now, when he can always go back to college later. Unfortunately, most of the college athletes who THINK they will have successful professional careers do not, and many do not go back to complete their degrees. I have heard that women who participate in college sports have signifciantly higher GPA’s and graduate rates that than non-athletes. Perhaps it is because they know that there is no possible way to make a big salary through women’s sports (except for tennis and golf). The top WNBA and women’s professional soccer players (before the league went bankrupt) earned less than a strong starting salary for a BS from a top university.</p>