If college athletes become employees, classes should be optional | Adams

As a product of the Louisiana public school system, I usually avoid commenting on academic issues. But when they’re related to college football, I can’t resist.

The possibility that college football players eventually could become employees of a university makes me wonder: Will they have to take classes?

Your response might be something like “How absurd.” But what once might have been considered absurd in college football has become commonplace.

Players transferring hither, there, and yon with no eligibility restrictions has been a drastic departure from the norm of a few years ago. So have those play-for-pay NIL deals that have transformed college football into a pro sport.

Given all the dramatic changes, the idea of football players becoming hired hands hardly seems farfetched.

The last time I checked, pursuing a degree wasn’t a requirement for working at a university. Such employment might give you a better chance at a college education. But it’s not mandatory.

So, why would some college football players be interested in schoolwork when they’re already making millions of dollars by capitalizing on their name, image, and likeness? And they’re now assured of getting a slice of a program’s football revenue.

Take quarterbacks at prominent programs as an example. How could you expect them to study for a test – or even attend classes – when they’re preparing for games during the regular season?

There are only so many hours in a week. A quarterback is readying himself to manage a game plan. He’s also engrossed in video, ever hopeful of committing an opponent’s defensive tendencies to memory. Why would he invest time in studying for a possible pop quiz in any of his courses?

His big test would be on Saturday, not during the week.

I’ve long believed that athletes should receive college credit for their sport. Even way back when I was in college – and dinosaurs roamed the earth – my guess is most football players worked as hard and logged as many hours in their sport as I did in journalism.

No class at all is a big leap from getting credit for practicing your sport. But it’s an issue worthy of discussion as we speculate on where all the changes in college football could lead.

The matter of academic eligibility should be a part of that discussion. Athletes can make money. They can hop from one school to another. Nonetheless, they still must meet certain academic requirements to maintain their eligibility.

Athletic departments have long been aware of that. That’s why they have relied on an army of tutors to assist athletes in meeting the academic challenges that could threaten their eligibility. No matter how much administrators – and even coaches – might stress the value of an education, staying eligible is more crucial.

What if an education were merely an option, not a requirement? The stress relief would be palpable.

At this point, a logical question would be: How can it be college football if the players aren’t enrolled in college?

The reality: It’s not college football. It’s pro football. You need to accept that.

In this version of college football, I would hope players still could get some semblance of an education as well as a paycheck. That would be in their best interest.

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You can’t ignore what the sport has become, though. Nor can you ignore the huge amount of money it generates.

Not even the most meticulous accountant can pinpoint just how much a big-time football program means to a university. And it’s in a university’s best interest to field a team − whether the players or employees or students.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 orjohn.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.