Auburn's Newton reportedly cheated at FL

[Escambia94]

It's a free market. Let the kids negotiate for their fair market value. If you are an average player with a slim shot at the NFL, your market value = tuition, room, board, and a small stipend. If you are obviously NFL stock, the "experts" have you pegged at $100K/year as a freshman, up to $500K as a junior/senior. That's a lotta college tuition and a lotta beer. Besides, the kids are already "earning" it, but they don't get to see the money. Let's take down the NCAA oligarchy-commune and open up some capitalism here.

 

[DRU2012]

They are being paid. Just not in cash. Guaranteeing the cost of tuition, housing, food, medical care, clothing, school supplies, books, travel, marketing, and coaching to some kid just coming out of high school is a pretty big risk that practically no employer out there would take. It's also your best hope of getting into the NFL. So the benefits for a young high school athlete are already through the roof. Let's also not forget that not all football programs out there are profitable. The only schools that could afford this would be big time programs. Those programs already have a big edge against the smaller guys. No use beating them down even further.

Come on, Zooker...first of all, they are there to PLAY, not learn, in a large percentage of these cases. Second, and much more to the point, most of the "assets" listed above are chicken feed compared to the sums that are actually changing hands in what can only be called "the College Football Industry". As for their gaining a shot at the NFL: that's a benefit the NFL gets without spending a DIME, a defacto developmental league. Maybe they too should shoulder some of the financial load in a less exploitative system.
These are not new problems; neither are they new proposals. The idea of a fairer distribution of at least SOME of the big money has come up periodically over the years--especially whenever scandals like this one are in the air. There is no simple answer; going down the "pay for play"-road brings its own questions and complications. Trying to maintain the status quo however, continuing to do nothing and hoping "things eventually get back to normal" is foolish and short-sighted. It invites more of these problems.
It isn't working--and its cynicism pervades all of college sports.

 

[DRU2012]

It's a free market. Let the kids negotiate for their fair market value. If you are an average player with a slim shot at the NFL, your market value = tuition, room, board, and a small stipend. If you are obviously NFL stock, the "experts" have you pegged at $100K/year as a freshman, up to $500K as a junior/senior. That's a lotta college tuition and a lotta beer. Besides, the kids are already "earning" it, but they don't get to see the money. Let's take down the NCAA oligarchy-commune and open up some capitalism here.

Yes. This is a concrete proposal with a lot to recommend it. Takes the hypocrisy--and a whole lot of the TEMPTATION--out of the process. I still see some details to iron out, like the largest stars' portion (even a relatively small one) of sales of ANYTHING with their name on it, and the NFL's role (if any) in such a system.
(It just seems that they gain so much, while these kids risk everything, including their FUTURES, in what is essentially the NFL's "minor league"--maybe they could underwrite some protection, at least?)

 

[Escambia94]

Case in point. My co-worker is a program manager for a billion dollar DoD acquisitions program. His master's thesis at USCw (go figure) was on the free market value of NCAA players in 2001. At that time, a top-notch QB was worth $600K in his senior year at a private university such as USC, or $500K at a public university. A lineman was worth $100K or so, a safety $125K, and a kicker $1.25. If NCAA were serious about the STUDENT-athlete, then it would mandate graduation and not allow early NFL draft entries, as in, nothing before a diploma is in hand.

 

[DRU2012]

(By the way, are you watching the Auburn/Georgia game? Pretty entertaining--interesting, too. I don't think the Bulldogs will beat them, but they ARE making a game of it, and in so doing, showing "The Way": throw, throw, throw.)
Fascinating conclusions there in that MA-thesis; be interested to know how he actually arrived at those numbers--though they certainly have the ring of RELATIVE truth (with the possible exception of Kicker--then again...).
As for that point about the diploma, that's another one of those "details" I mentioned above, and the NFL could (I'm not saying they would, or that they OUGHT to, but they COULD), if they chose to in this re-structured system we're proposing, make it a lot more difficult for the players NOT to graduate, or at least not put in a certain minimum period in the NCAA system, during which time they must fulfill the terms of their particular school's and/or conference's educational requirements. Again, I'm just putting ideas out there...

 

[Escambia94]

Thanks for the advice. I just switched on the UGA-AUB game. Good observation. Throw, throw, throw on that Auburn defense, and move the pocket around to buy time for the QB to throw, throw, throw.

 

[The Zooker]

Come on, Zooker...first of all, they are there to PLAY, not learn, in a large percentage of these cases. Second, and much more to the point, most of the "assets" listed above are chicken feed compared to the sums that are actually changing hands in what can only be called "the College Football Industry". As for their gaining a shot at the NFL: that's a benefit the NFL gets without spending a DIME, a defacto developmental league. Maybe they too should shoulder some of the financial load in a less exploitative system.
These are not new problems; neither are they new proposals. The idea of a fairer distribution of at least SOME of the big money has come up periodically over the years--especially whenever scandals like this one are in the air. There is no simple answer; going down the "pay for play"-road brings its own questions and complications. Trying to maintain the status quo however, continuing to do nothing and hoping "things eventually get back to normal" is foolish and short-sighted. It invites more of these problems.
It isn't working--and its cynicism pervades all of college sports.

But the vast majority of these kids will never play in the NFL. But when they graduate they are handed several options as a former ______ player. If you make a name for yourself at a university then you can take any number of solid jobs within the hometown of your school. That's a guarantee that most college students would love to have. The fact of the matter is that there is no practical way to handle a payment system for college players. The disparity in income between the programs is way too great. It will never happen. That's a fact. With all the mess we are seeing with the current BCS protocol, what makes you think we could further beat down the small guys? Right now we are living in an age of opportunity. Everybody wants fairness. That makes your scenario absolutely impossible. On one hand I can rationalize the support of it, I see where you are coming from, but on the other hand I see the approach that the system will take and it will never ever happen.

 

[The Zooker]

Prothro at Alabama was a solid player. He got his leg snapped in half and never fully recovered. Now he works as a head teller at a major bank in Alabama. He's dumb as rocks. But he has that position and its full benefits. Do you think it is because he deserves it? I guarantee there are hundreds, if not thousands, of laid off bank employees fighting for that job. But right now, Prothro has that solid position with solid pay and solid benefits. It has to do with marketing. Folks around Tuscaloosa would love to see a guy like Prothro behind the counter. It makes them feel good. Whether it is fair or not is inconsequential. He has the job. And that's a big deal. That's technically a payment he got for playing at Alabama.

 

[Escambia94]

Ya know, after watching a little bit of Auburn, I can see why the Zooker likes Gus Malzahn as an OC. That offense is well coached, has some unpredictable plays, and they actually know how to run the Dive for positive yardage.

 

[The Zooker]

Like I've said before, Gus Malzahn and Chip Kelly are the premier offensive minds in college football right now. Everyone else is trying to catch up. They are the trend setters, everyone else is the follower. Chip Kelly has completely destroyed the Nick Saban approach to offense. Nick Saban focuses on time of possession and controlling the clock. Chip Kelly throws the clock out the window and scores in as little time as possible. The Oregon Ducks are 115th out of 120 FBS schools in time of possession. And yet they lead the nation in scoring. Looks like Nick Saban might want to rethink his approach to winning. The modern game of college football looks to be heading towards a shootout type of offense. At the same time though, I think solid SEC defenses can provide the difference maker in these scenarios. If you throw Oregon up against Auburn, I bet Oregon won't be as dynamic as they've shown against their Pac10 rivals. They've never faced a defensive lineman like Fairley before.

 

[Escambia94]

IF...if we play Auburn, that defensive front is going to eat up our pocket passer. UGA had no chance for a comeback as long as the QB was sitting in the pocket waiting for the open receiver. When they moved him around, UGA had a chance. Otherwise, the plan for the SEC East champion to beat Auburn should be:
- Throw, throw, throw
- Move the pocket
- Shut down everyone but Cam Newton (you can't shut that kid down, so don't try without shutting down the other guys first)

 

[DRU2012]

You know, earlier while watching Cam and the Auburn offense operate so freely I found myself thinking that THEY (the Auburn coaches--like Zooker has always said, Malzahn himself) were doing a better, more imaginative job of using THEIR ultra-mobile QB (both running AND passing) than we did last year--as we all remember frustratedly screaming at our TVs about LAST season (and long before it finally caught up to us in Atlanta, too).
As for the points Zooker raised above, all valid, I'm just putting the Big Question out there once more.
I know it is complex, difficult to even envision and make work--but I also believe that in some form it is necessary and inevitable at some point in the future. Like the problems, questions and difficulties in enacting some kind of playoff system (not to mention the various powerful forces arrayed against it, with their own longtime interest in maintaining the status quo)--
Kick off--Dubose gets it--going, He's gonna score! I'll be damned...gotta wrap this up, sorry!
anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if it were to only get done, in SOME form, when and along with the eventual restructuring to that Play=off system, with both of them limited to a certain "Elie-Strata" of the biggest programs. (Sorry again...I'm gonna wrap this and concentrate on the game!)

 

[Ufgatorfan]

Who cares he don't play for us anymore. If his dad was shopping him around then too bad on his part. Let Auburn and the FBI deal with it. If he cheated here then that just proves our point as to why we encouraged him to leave. Hes still a good football player and a lot better then sorry ass Brantley thats for sure.