my brother is a part time instructor in business stats at one of the BIG schools, and he called me this AM to discuss and issue he is having with a couple FB players in one of his classes. Seems they are both struggling, and one is on his way to an F for spring semester. One of the players was a starter last year, and is working to get an NIL deal for local commercials. Their early warning "student success" system is identifying this player for intervention. A person from the AD's student success team contacted my brother, and as opposed to discussing intervention, he started to challenge my brother on his "evaluation system". He called me because he feels some pressure to pass the players, due to the career implications on them. He said that this pressure is also a policy violation of the school, and he could turn them in, as he recorded the webex meeting. He is pretty sure that if he fails them and/or files a complaint against the AD, he will be let go as an instructor. He does not need the $$$, but it would harm his reputation. If this is normal, maybe we need a better option for players to take that does not involve going to college.
IMHO it would be beneficial for the NFL to build a minor league. Every NFL team could just expand their practice squad, and recruit DHS (direct from high school) players to supplement it. The teams could just recruit the DHS players without a draft and get them in a bidding war. This would bid up the value of the top end players, and this would provide an advantage for some teams to purchase a player early, as opposed to waiting and trying to get them in a draft - a big advantage. They could keep practices organized so that only players ready to go against the NFL players would be elevated to that level. They could then run a developmental minor league among the franchises (i.e. the Stillers could have a team playing vs the Iggles). The developmental league could contain the elite high school players and some of the older players who are not good enough for the NFL team. Developmental league games would likely be attractive for the fans of the NFL team - players much better than what you would see in CFB. The NFL could maintain a type of GI bill college fund for those players who later wanted to go to college for real later. That would cover the vast majority who would never make it in the NFL.
the real college side would then have players who find value in the academic scholarship, and are not there primarily to get to the NFL. The NIL value of these players would be minimal - so it would be more about college football. CFB would then be a bit more X's and O's vs Jimmys and Joes. The NFL draft from college still, but this would likely be a minor event - Micah Parsons would have already been purchased by the highest bidder. This also eliminates the difficulty of the NCAA trying to regulate this new world, since the vast majority of players would be STUDENT athletes. This also allows the players to practice their craft - remember that is why Lonnie White did not come to PSU. He got $$$ now, and he can focus on his craft, without the burden of going to college.
IMO the NFL should not be using CFB as their minor league. This has distorted the entire relationship between players and students. If players are not ready to attend classes at a university, give them another option. the advertising and comp $$$ have to be better with an NFL option than college NIL. What would the Atlanta Falcons have paid Trevor Lawrence in a bidding war as a DHS player to join their dev team?
IMHO it would be beneficial for the NFL to build a minor league. Every NFL team could just expand their practice squad, and recruit DHS (direct from high school) players to supplement it. The teams could just recruit the DHS players without a draft and get them in a bidding war. This would bid up the value of the top end players, and this would provide an advantage for some teams to purchase a player early, as opposed to waiting and trying to get them in a draft - a big advantage. They could keep practices organized so that only players ready to go against the NFL players would be elevated to that level. They could then run a developmental minor league among the franchises (i.e. the Stillers could have a team playing vs the Iggles). The developmental league could contain the elite high school players and some of the older players who are not good enough for the NFL team. Developmental league games would likely be attractive for the fans of the NFL team - players much better than what you would see in CFB. The NFL could maintain a type of GI bill college fund for those players who later wanted to go to college for real later. That would cover the vast majority who would never make it in the NFL.
the real college side would then have players who find value in the academic scholarship, and are not there primarily to get to the NFL. The NIL value of these players would be minimal - so it would be more about college football. CFB would then be a bit more X's and O's vs Jimmys and Joes. The NFL draft from college still, but this would likely be a minor event - Micah Parsons would have already been purchased by the highest bidder. This also eliminates the difficulty of the NCAA trying to regulate this new world, since the vast majority of players would be STUDENT athletes. This also allows the players to practice their craft - remember that is why Lonnie White did not come to PSU. He got $$$ now, and he can focus on his craft, without the burden of going to college.
IMO the NFL should not be using CFB as their minor league. This has distorted the entire relationship between players and students. If players are not ready to attend classes at a university, give them another option. the advertising and comp $$$ have to be better with an NFL option than college NIL. What would the Atlanta Falcons have paid Trevor Lawrence in a bidding war as a DHS player to join their dev team?
