<p>3rd year (and friends with football players and nerds alike) here. I’d say that UChicago students don’t really look down at football players, but it’s more that unlike many other schools, football (and competitive sports more generally) just aren’t a big part of campus life/culture; I’d bet that most students would not be able to name (or even recognize!) our quarterback. In other words, football players don’t get the same amount of attention as Tebow got at UF. But lack of attention = disdain. Just be aware that being a football player won’t make you big man on campus any more than being part of the chess team (maybe a slight exaggeration, but still…).</p>
<p>I would say that there is a substantial segment of the student population that don’t like football culture. For example, on three or four separate occasions, other students mentioned that one of the reasons why they chose UChicago was the lack of a strong sports culture. But I didn’t get the sense that they didn’t like football <em>players</em>, and in any case, everyone understands that if a football player chose to come here, they’re not dumb, one-dimensional meatheads.</p>