The Kids Are Alright

I have mentioned this ad nauseam in my recent columns and it bears repeating again. We can't keep labeling athletes such as Alabama's Kadyn Proctor as the embodiment of what is wrong with college football today. It is a recipe for disaster to blame kids who haven’t matured and haven’t fully developed their perspective skills to govern themselves accordingly.

At some point, will hall of fame players and coaches, who went through similar activities when they were hidden from plain sight, point their attacks to those who systematically have enabled college football to be broken since the poll era and the ability to produce a “national champion” became prevalent?

College football, in my mind, will always be intentionally broken because those who control it feel it is what makes the game more profitable.
The guise of marketing and the loose definition of name, image, and likeness has been exploited for indirect play-for-play, something that wasn’t the intention but was the consequence of this new day of college football.

I have always firmly believed the universities, who have always had the power to prevent this under the proper structure ignored the best intentions of the athletes. Why? Because they got fat over the profits from the free labor the athletes produced.

When the universities were caught with their pants down by the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in 2021, they went into a reactionary mode and never fully planned or thought out a structure that would benefit all sides. I believe this was intentional since the schools did not want to alienate boosters or those networks of individuals who help “advance the causes” of the football program.

Since then, many coaches believe the portal is now transactions. Nebraska's Matt Rhule is the biggest example. He's looking to find players committed to the program versus seeking the better dollar or hyper-focused on the transfer portal.

When you have so much talent to offer, and when you have only one chance to make it happen, you can’t blame the athlete for leveraging opportunities presented to them. If you played football or any sport, your coach preached that you always needed to maximize opportunities and that core value is beat into these kids.

With that, why are we surprised when a kid maximizes their opportunities in all facets of themselves? I also feel this narrative of kids not wanting to maximize team success is one of the biggest false narratives I have seen.

These alpha athletes don’t play to lose, they play to win, and they know the team is important. While yes, you will always have those who think they are above the team, that has been a part of sports since they were first played.

Also for their brand, winning is a major component to getting bigger exposure, so why would they sacrifice winning to put up bigger stats? These kids know that.

In addition, kids also know when the game is over, there isn't that team to help them through what's next. It is about them to pick up pieces or maintain. They don't want to look back and regret not taking advantage of opportunities that could have been transformative for them.

The NCAA is at an interesting crossroads with major college football. How can the NCAA create a structure that keeps teams intact for a full season, limit transfer portal entries, and keeps the pay-for-play in check? I wish I had an answer. If I did, I would be in Indianapolis creating that plan to make the sport work better.

Blaming kids is the low-hanging fruit that is easy to stir the pot with, but the true blame belongs to those individuals who have been at the schools for more than four years. As The Who sang on that same landmark album, the kids are alright.