Mitch Mustain, Whitney Lewis, and Lance Pavlas. What do the names mean to you? Most likely nothing, though if you’re a college football fan they likely ring a bell. All three were all-world college football recruits. They were the “can’t miss” types that missed. Recently the Bleacher Report did a story on some of the most famous recruits who never realized the promise they brought to campus.
All of the above helps explain my own immense skepticism about NILs and other attempts to compensate allegedly exploited college football and basketball players. If we ignore the worst kept secret in all of sports (they were already being paid handsomely, albeit quietly), if we ignore the palaces in which they train, the free tutoring, the nutritionists, the access to the rich alums that any other student would give anything for, and if we ignore that athletes in good standing can finish their degrees at any time (including after professional stints), we can’t ignore the basic truth that immense promise exhibited during youth more often than not doesn’t translate to the collegiate level. The recruitment of top athletes brings new meaning to obsequious, the value of their scholarships is immense, only for all too many of them to not remotely live up to the hype. See the names mentioned. College athletes exploited? The view here is that more often than not they’re the exploiters. Something to think about.
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