This is one thing the NCAA is actually getting correct. Athletes, while providing the school with income and fans with entertainment, are at these universities first and foremost to get an education. Most of these kids won’t play professional ball in the sports they participate in, so they need to have an education that will carry them far in life after their playing days are over. All too often, schools use these kids for their athletic abilities and spit them out after 4 or 5 years unarmed to face the challenges of the real world. And the NCAA is finally cracking down on these schools.
The NCAA is supposed to lookout for the student athlete. By punishing those schools and teams that are doing their athletes a disservice, the NCAA is finally doing their job.
Ryan Perilloux finally got what was coming to him. He’s been booted from the LSU football team. He’s had all sorts of off the field issues since arriving in Baton Rouge, including being suspended for spring practice this season. He finally pushed Les Miles to the limit and got the boot. Good for Les Miles. Often times, coaches in Miles’ position would be more lenient with their star players (especially QB’s), because they needed the talent on the field. So kudos to Miles for giving his starting QB the boot. You don’t need to feel too bad for Perrillox. He’ll likely have FCS teams lining up for his services and he’ll be on the field in some capacity this fall.
Really, this is probably going to benefit LSU in the long run. Perrilloux has never been a “team” kind of guy. He’s always been about himself, which was apparent when he arrived on campus as a freshman and declared that he would win 4 Heisman Trophies. Not 4 national titles (team award) but 4 Heisman’s (individual award). So LSU will benefit from no longer having his off the field issues be a distraction and they’ll get a QB who is going to be concerned with the team accomplishments, rather than his own.
For the first time since 1970, the Alabama Crimson Tide had ZERO players selected in the NFL draft. I find that hard to believe. Sure, probation and Shula’s inability to develop talent may have contributed to some of this, but we still had talented players, like DJ Hall and Wallace Gilberry.
Some of these guys will be signed as free agents, but here’s the list of guys from Bama who didn’t make the draft cut.
Most importantly, there are 2 Alabama players on there: Antoine Caldwell and Andre Smith. Both of these guys are studs and will anchor the line for the Tide this year. Each has something to prove that will give them the drive to win the Outland. Caldwell will want to show that his lapse in judgement with the text book scandal last year was not indicitive of his character or his on the field play. Smith will look to live up to the imense hype that follwed him to Tuscaloosa from Huffman 3 years ago.
Either way, these guys will be paving the road for Terry Grant and protecting John Parker Wilson this year. And that’s a good thing.
Congress is calling for the Justice Department to look into whether the BCS is an illegal enterprise. Is this really all Congress has to do these days? This and the baseball steroids investigations are monumental wastes of taxpayer dollars. With the other problems in this country that need to be solved (Social Security, illegal immigration, pork barrel spending, etc), you’d think that Congress could find something else to do with their time ad not waste my money on investigating the BCS and steroids in baseball.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the BCS is crap and needs to bew scrapped for a play-off system (which I’ll outline one of these days). But I think that is a change that should (and eventually will be) brought about by the demand from fans and the realization from college presidents that more money can be made from a play-off. It is not a change that should be legislated. Nothing good can come from the government interfering with the NCAA operations (no matter how flawed they may be).
The thing that really angers me about this is the timing of it. This was not the first year of the BCS. It’s year 10. Why the need to investigate now? I’ll tell you why: sour grapes. Check out who one of the bills sponsors: Lynn Westmoreland, Republican-Georgia. That’s right, a Georgia guy sponsors the bill the season after Georgia fans felt they were unjustly left out of the BCS championship game (which they weren’t). And this isn’t the first time lawmakers from Georgia have wasted my money to try and change the BCS. (Here’s the actual bill). The elected officials of Georgia need to cut this kind of crap out before they embarrass themselves any further. This kind of stuff only makes them look petty and childish. GET OVER IT! NEXT TIME WIN YOUR DIVISION!
Bottom line: the BCS needs to change, but involving the federal government is not the way to do it.
I was all excited about seeing Ryan Mallet lead the Wolverines this year, only to watch him disappear to Bobby Petrino’s Razorbacks. He was rather untested, but seemed solid. What Big Blue is left with is a bunch of brand new faces. ESPN breaks it down:
