People keep blaming the coaches, the NCAA, the leagues, on and on, but in the end these high school players see the chance for big $$, it's now all they are thinking about and it's too late to reel it back in. Their minds have already been trained to think like a professional football players, I mean, there is no need to even mention the word "College Sports"or "Amateur Sports" anymore, it's gone. It is now following the path we all said it would, "they" will have to pay ALL the players because a lineman making "ZERO" isn't going to block for a QB that's making $1 Million and driving a $100,000 vehicle, the morale issues would be insurmountable. We also know that the next step is a mandatory requirement to pay all athletes, every WBB player, every women's volleyball player, every men's Lacrosse player, on and on, otherwise it will be discrimination. This is the country we live in now. All this was discussed ad nauseam here and on many sites for years, but the main response was .... these players deserve to get a part of the "take", part of the athletic department's revenue, just like the coaches. Nothing could be further from the truth, the players never worked for the university and they were already being paid handsomely with free room and board, free college education, free meals, a monthly stipend to spend as they choose, and the chance to showcase their talents and have a chance to one day play in the NFL.
We either accept that we are now watching paid athletes on farm leagues for the NFL, or we walk away and remember the good old days when they played for school pride, the fans, their hometown, and a chance to play in the NFL, among other things. I'm pretty sure where I will fall, just watching as it plays out.
