But They Will Never Have Rome

College Football scholarships are great because they allow those who would ordinarily be unable to attend prestigious universities because of grades or monetary issues an opportunity. They force students who would ordinarily skate their way through high school, to focus on a goal of going to school to get a free education and an opportunity to compete at a high level. The NCAA has certain minimum guidelines to pass through the NCAA Clearinghouse and enroll in college. The guidelines are modest to the majority of students and chances are you never had to consider them. But what about those can't qualify despite their best efforts. Either they just started going to school, or they are mentally incapable of successfully completing their school work. So what happens if kid is blessed with natural talent and needs a couple of years of seasoning in college football to take his skills to the next level except their is no way in. Now Juco is a route to go and it works for some kids, but not all. Is it fair for these kids not to play football at a major program where they can be noticed by pro scouts?

I am not outright arguing for kids to be "pushed through" high school and college to afford them the chance to play professionally. I realize that kids would take advantage of this worse then people take advantage of welfare (nothing could be that bad). I am merely stating that the system is imperfect and that football is the only major sport without a realistic option of making it to the big leagues without going the college route. Look no further than Brandon Jacobs a kid that could not qualify to play at USC and instead opted to play pro ball in Rome for a year to meet the ludicrous NBA Draft requirements. He was able to work around going to college and now he is averaging 19 Points and 6 assits per game as a rookie.

Hundreds of kids each year are unable to qualify in college football. Some are able to go to Junior College and work on their grades and end up playing big time college football eventually, others never make it and thats a shame. It's just as wrong for athletic gifts to wasted just as it is for mental gifts to be wasted. If football is your sport, you don't have Rome. You can't play internationally to earn a living. Our country focuses on grades to a fault sometimes. Instead of going into specialized training programs for atheltes that afford the opportunity to earn yourself a living in sports, you are faced with uncessary roadblocks. To play on the NCAA's favorite commerical during tournament time, what happens to the kids whose only option to go pro...is in sports?