From: The Florida-Times-Union Why can’t football be a college major? It always seemed disingenuous to me to make standout college athletes declare some major they’ll likely never practice in reality. The truth is, the top players in college football are recruited because they can play football. Not because they’re great at English lit. Yet, after they obligate themselves to a school, they are often forced to fake some specified academic interest, such as business, sports management, general studies or Family, Youth and Community Sciences. I’m not saying those degrees might not help these athletes in the future or that players don’t have other non-sports-related goals, but I am saying some athletes should have the option to major in the sport that primarily got them into college in the first place. I realize they are called student-athletes. I’m not suggesting a kid who plays football, not pursue other educational goals, especially if they have little chance of going pro. But let’s face it: Some of these kids are going to play ball as their career. And they’ll likely make more at that than anything else they could have majored in. So why can’t some future first-round draft pick major in football? He could spend his time studying plays and working at his craft, which is beneficial to his future, the school and the fans. Instead, universities and the NCAA would rather keep up the pretense, so the superstar running back has to sit next to you in Biology I. And if he doesn’t pass biology (or whatever other subject he has to take to live up to the title “student”), he can’t play, which is the whole reason the college wanted him in the first place. At least I’m not suggesting that top college players be paid, just that they be allowed to solely focus on their sought-after career. After all, isn’t that what going to college is mainly about?
Recently, I heard a serious suggestions that football be made a college major. This video discusses that for the service academies, why not do this for the Huskies? Of course if we did this, we would need a CURRICULUM. This is a good start, an effort to bring baseball-like math to football!