I am not usually a fan of the flavor of the month nature of publicising college quarterbacks, but I am becoming a fan of Josh Rosen. Here is a Q&A he did where he touches the third rail of college athletics.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2722587-josh-rosen-qa-ucla-qb-on-injuries-ncaa-and-post-nfl-goal-to-own-the-world
The whole article is worth a read, but this in particular made me want to stand up and cheer
totally agree - wow.
How does a D1 football schedule compare to, say a D1 swimming schedule?
I am not sure if it does. Football is really just a different animal all the way around at the P5 level.
In what way?
For one thing, at a P5 football program, you are almost certainly funding your entire athletic department. There is pressure on the Swimming or Soccer coach to win, but if they don’t then the school has a crappy swim or soccer program. If the football program is consistently unsuccessful, you might have to cut the swimming and soccer programs.
Despite NCAA rules to the contrary, I think the P5 football players are putting in a ton more hours than they are officially allowed. There are plenty of loopholes. I am guessing that those guys put in a lot more hours into their football job than I do into my real job. Not to mention that no one is beating me up at work every day. Taking even 12 hours of credit at a mediocre school is quite a bit to ask on top of that.
What @dadof4kids said. Plus, given the set piece nature of the sport and the number of players involved, football requires significant preparation time not seen in other sports. No one has a playbook like football. On a daily basis, during the pre season and season, even at the lower D1/Ivy level, you are going to meet first with your position coach to go over that day’s “install” of the plays and concepts to be put in for the upcoming opponent. You might also watch some “cross over” film of the opponent, to give you an idea of tendencies, etc. Then you are going to practice. After practice there will be some type of therapy usually and then dinner. Then at least a couple days a week you are going to come back and watch at least a portion of the practice tape. If you don’t have a post practice meeting, the coaches are going to expect you to watch some cross over tape and/or review the game plan sheets on your own to prepare for the next day. You also are likely to lift or condition once a day outside of the normal practice time. At the Ivy level that probably adds 2-3 hours every day to the official NCAA counted practice time. At a big time school like UCLA, that number is probably closer to 5-6.
In the off season things are better, outside of spring practice of course, but in the Ivy you probably spend 2 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, lifting/conditioning/captain’s practice. Again double that for the big schools.
Completely agree with everything Josh Rosen said. I played D1 ball (as did my father, brother and niece). Because of our experiences, my son will not play D1 football in college. He wants a STEM major, so if he plays it will be for a D3 school. Another issue Rosen didn’t mention was the contract student athletes sign…many are 1 year contracts (making athletes disposable.) Back in the day, my brother, dad, and I signed 5 year contracts with our schools…
@4MyKidz I agree with much of what you are saying and your reasoning but it should be pointed out that all the power 5 conferences(UCLA J Rosen) now guarantee full term scholarships as well as some outside the power 5.
@moscott That’s wonderful for football and those particular programs. But what about all the other student athletes? (I.e D2/D3/NAIA/other D1s)
@4MyKidz As it reads it is for all student athlete in power 5 schools.
Yeah, I saw that, which is long overdue. But again, there’s a lot of athletes that do not play for those programs who do not have that option.
Agreed…kids and parents just need to be informed when making decisions.
@4MyKidz Other schools vary but D3 schools do not give any athletic scholarships at all.
@moscott Yeah, I know that. But, friends who played D3 signed contracts, and academic scholarships & private scholarships were made available. I don’t know how that worked but tuition and/or housing was covered.
@4MyKidz, D3 schools don’t sign NCAA contracts / NLI’s - some may allow a student athlete to do it so they can feel the same commitment as their D1 and D2 classmates, but it’s just window dressing. Our DD is a rising Freshman XC/Track student athlete at a NESCAC and while she verbally committed during the admissions process that’s as far as it went - funny the number of NESCAC prospies that run around before pre-reads and say they committed as it’s impossible to rely on unit same is completed and even then it’s not a NLI.
@Chembiodad I’m confused about the contract thing as I know it is not a NCAA contract…maybe they signed a school/athletic dept contract? They definitely received academic & private scholarships though.
Whatever they signed was just a “glad to have you onboard”, it meant nothing like a D1 or D2 NLI which is a binding document.
All D3 scholarships are either need or merit based - nothing is an athletic scholarship like D1 or D2.
I disagree with Rosen. Playing football or basketball in the Power 5 conferences is tough to do while being a student, but hundreds of students do it and are thrilled to have the opportunity. The PAC 12 gives him unlimited time to graduate. He can take his NCAA required 12 courses a semester and stretch out his Econ degree into 10 or 12 semesters at no cost to him even after he goes to the NFL to play his 15 years. He could get the ‘easy’ degree and go back for the econ degree he wants. Yes, it is hard work but he’s getting a lot for it too - room, board, tuition, books, now a stipend. It’s hard work for non-athletes too, those who have to work 2 jobs to pay the rent, or borrow thousands of dollars to finance their educations, or can’t get into a class for 3 semesters of trying and resent the athletes for having everything paid for and priority registration.
Yes, he has to give up things. (and really, UCLA has a course that is only offered in the spring and only one section? A school of 30,000 offers a course to just 30 students?) My daughter did have to give up one course she really wanted, which is building a concrete canoe. It is only offered in the spring, is sort of a club and a class combined, involves a lot of weekends, and she has to play her sport. It’s really a very small sacrifice to get what she does get from being an athlete. Rosen is claiming he can’t take a class but that football players really shouldn’t be required to go to school anyway. Which is it?
If the student athletes don’t want to be students, take it up with the NFL to allow direct entry from high school. The NBA did that and it worked for a few (Lebron) but not for most because 18 year olds just aren’t good enough to play with 25 year olds with those extra 5+ years of experience (and size). Baseball has a whole farm system but many still pick going to college to play with a scholarship and room and board over riding a bus all over the south for 4+ years before a shot at MLB. If college football players were on a farm team waiting to make the big time, they’d be paid next to nothing and many would have to have other jobs just to support themselves and their families. They’d be wishing they ‘had’ to go to school and play for free to get tuition, room and board, travel, clothing, books, top notch trainers and coaches. They wouldn’t be on TV or playing in The Big House in front of 100,000. Not quite as glamorous as Rosen thinks it would be.
@4MyKidz
Beginning last year (I believe) the NCAA allowed D3 athletes to sign a “celebratory” certificate for signing ceremonies. It’s basically a form letter provided by the NCAA which the individual programs can then personalize with letterhead etc. Unlike D1 signing letters, the D3 version has no legal significance and is basically what @Chembiodad described. The form can only be used after the athlete is officially admitted to the school. Not all D3 schools will use them. My D’s future NESCAC coach told her that it was against NESCAC policy to issue them.