How The Big Ten and Pac-12 Accidentally Saved Their Players and Made Them Money.

The Big Ten and Pac 12 don't care as much as the SEC, Big 12, and ACC does about its players, its fans, and about football.

That is the narrative being talked about right now by many in the college football media sphere.

The Big Ten messed up, and they need to fire people, etc.

Perhaps.

But maybe, begrudgingly, they not only did the right thing, but they put their football programs and players in a far better place to succeed.

Because the NFL, or any other company isn't going to pass on players and talent for a lack of tape due to a pandemic and subsequent conference decision.

The NFL and its scouts are in business of stockpiling human capital.  The college season only helps serve the scouts in helping determine who MIGHT be better for their team.  It is not even close to the only metric, and maybe not even the most important one, depending on the position.

The New York Giants aren't going to pass on the physical freaks being trained here at Penn State, or Ohio State, or USC, or whatever players Nebraska has that have a chance to make it to the league.

While game reps matter, they are not necessarily the most important aspect to a prospect.  Size, speed, strength, and an understanding of the game are all more important to a coach and general manager.  The tape is used to help, but it's not everything.

There is also some evidence that playing may actually HURT your opportunity in the NFL.  The position of running back, in particular, is now looked at with how many carries they have in a career, with more carries equating to caution as their career might be shorter.

Wear and tear matters as well, and any player who plays this season will add some experience, but will also add hits to their bodies, potentially setting them up for shorter pro careers.  The off-season is used to heal from a long grueling season, as well as to build up for the next one. 

If I ran an organization and I wanted to draft a prospect, with potentially the exception of quarterback, I would prefer the player that I think has less wear and tear on their system, and the one that had devoted the entirety of the year preparing for the NEXT season and not this current year.

Not only that, injuries and risk are far more mitigated to those players sitting out and focusing on training.

Right now, let's say Kyle Pitts and Brevin Jordan play 4 or 5 games for Florida and Miami, respectively.  They are projected as the two other top tight ends in the country.  Just because they played, while Pat Friermuth continued to work and train, will not put them ahead of Friermuth, especially if Friermuth puts up incredible combine numbers. 


Now, not all players are NFL prospects, but that doesn't mean they don't want to play.  The game is incredibly fun.  I believe if you asked them, they wouldn't care what uniform they put on, as long as they could play.  This game is addicting, and people will do almost anything to keep playing.

Players will try to hide injuries to play.

Players have cheated on tests to play.

Players have taken steroids to play.

So it doesn't shock me in the slightest that a lot of players would want to play during a pandemic, ESPECIALLY if they feel safer in their college bubble than they do at home.

That said, they are more than football players, but human beings that know full well that they will likely not become pros in the NFL, and they will not get to choose the end of their playing days. 

It is essential that those players live, grow, become healthy, and become the best versions of themselves BEYOND football.

By encouraging those players to continue their education and encouraging them to continue trusting in their values and training that they are far more likely to become more well rounded than their counter-parts in the SEC, who will have so much of their attention drawn to playing a meaningless season for the boosters of the their schools.

For example, if I were a bank hiring a finance major from Clemson or Penn State, would I take the student-athlete who was completely focused on football, or one that had a balanced approach?  I'd like to think the latter.

As the schools of the South appear dead set on attempting to exploit America's football addiction for profit, the schools of the Big Ten and Pac-12 have decided to mitigate the damage of the virus to best of their abilities (which was still poorly executed and done with such little transparency everyone was left appalled).

In the end, while I think the SEC has won a short-term image battle in public sphere, it will be the athletes of the Big Ten and Pac-12 who will benefit the most from their leaders decision to postpone the season.