Originally Posted by
sickofpc
EX, I agree with you. If that player would have quit like he did, and I was the coach, I most likely would have told him that he was through (don't think I would have told him about frying burgers, however, for several reasons)...but, in all probability, the guy you are talking about would have been able to play football again, transferring to another school to play , on scholarship, the following year.
Owl, I agree with you about some things, ..others, not so much. I do think most major colleges do put education first for the vast majority of students, ..but, with some athletes, at some universities...not so much, to put it mildly. Most colleges are not just minor leagues for the pros, but many D 1s are considered like that.
Concerning Earl Campbell, I always heard that he had a 5th grade reading level when he went to UT, and I tend to believe that. I do know that he had tutors, his class choices were carefully chosen, and it was understood that he was never going into rocket science, to put it mildly. There were the jokes about pencil sharpening 101 and basket weaving 203 being part of the athlete's class schedules at UT. ......I am pretty sure that no professor at UT would have liked to have been the teacher, or one of the teachers, to fail Cambell...Him being helped to get through UT academically is not looked on kindly by many people, I'm sure, but...he has since become a millionaire, several times over. He built his mother a beautiful home between Tyler and Lindale next to the shack, and I mean shack, where he grew up. He brought millions of dollars to UT, national recognition,and a great amount of positive PR, as well as bringing in many highly sought after football recruits to UT. His PR value alone was worth millions to UT. He may not have been a Rhodes Scholar, but you would have to say his life was very successful, along with many people that he had a very positive influence on....His sausage,alone,has probably made him a ton of money. ....I have met Campbell and talked with him a couple of times. He always was very nice to talk with, but...he is paying the price now, as he is almost completely crippled.
When I was in high school, as a sophomore,... believe it or not, I was asked to tutor a very good senior player we had in math, to help him pass the class he was taking. He passed the class, stayed eligible , ended up going to the University of Miami, and played a couple of years professionally. He, like Campbell, was never going to be a rocket scientist, but he did have a skill set that ended up making him very successful. He was a very nice guy, a good husband, father, and a good Christian man, until his death about three years ago.....He was never an academic all-star,but he was very successful in life.