Just a thought

[Bub]

This may make some people mad, but I have these thoughts that have been renewed with the ISU -Jason Berryman and the Milford Academy threads.
Re: Milford

It bothers me that I-A schools(Iowa is guilty of this) offer scholarships to kids who can't pull an SAT/ACT score high enough to even be admitted to a big public unselective school. Kids who aren't college material and then send them to places like Milford, to bulk up, improve their football, oh and by the way study for a year to see if they can score high enough on these tests to be eligible. This extra year doesn't count against their eligiblity. What are the success rates of these kids in college once they get there? Big time football has forgot the student part of the student/athlete equation. I like that the lower divisions seem more attuned to this goal. If you can't make it into an I-A school because of your grades go the JC route. You'll learn, you'll play, but you won't maintain 4 years of eligbility. It's college, not the minor leagues.

Re:Berryman

This bothers me about I-AA, a player such as Berryman or the poster child of idiots, Hakim Hill, gets booted out of a I-A school because they committed so many violations of the law or team rules that they are no longer viable for the team. Yet the I-AA schools line up to sign these guys like junkies waiting in line at a methadone clinic for a fix. Berryman is a felon for crying out loud, Hill was a rapist, yet UNI took Hill, after about 5-6 breaks, and if Berryman decides to go the I-AA route, someone will sign him too. or Marcus Vick. Other then winning, the decision to sign these multiple losers can not be defended. Has I-AA come to that point? Granted Berryman is very good, but he's tainted. How many tainted players can a program accept before the odor becomes unremovable?

Does any of this bother anyone else?

[Mr. C]

Not all kids who end up at prep schools for a year of educational seasoning are thugs. Appalachian State has ended up with some very high quality people, who just needed some extra academic work. Dexter Coakley fits that mode, as did several others the Mountaineers have gotten from prep schools. I know some other SoCon teams who have also plucked some good citizens from the prep schools.

[Bub]

No doubt I'm generalizing. Do you think the time at the prep school should count towards eligibility like the time at JC?

[Mr. C]

No, because it is not college. While some people are taking advantage of it to help some players develop more athletically, some kids are there for the right reasons. I'd rather see the NCAA crack down on the use of players going on two-year Mormon missions and then coming back and playing college football as 25-year-olds. BYU and Utah have used that loophole for years.

[Baldy]

No, because it is not college. While some people are taking advantage of it to help some players develop more athletically, some kids are there for the right reasons. I'd rather see the NCAA crack down on the use of players going on two-year Mormon missions and then coming back and playing college football as 25-year-olds. BYU and Utah have used that loophole for years.
What about the kid who does a tour in the military and then decides to go to college and play football? Should the NCAA close that loophole too?

[nlwwln]

i think that at the age of about 20 youve pretty much reached the pinnacle of your physical and athletic growth. I think that once you reach this age physical training is the only way to make yourself a better and stronger player and everyone is just as capable as the next guy to put in the time training. so I dont think you could say the older guy has an advantage. The harder working more determined man has the advantage!

[Tod]

What about the kid who does a tour in the military and then decides to go to college and play football? Should the NCAA close that loophole too?

Good point!