Read the debate intro and Loyal Homer’s argument that success for college football athletes is best judged by professional potential.
College and pro football are very different; therefore it is impossible to use professional football potential to judge the success of a college career. The games are different and the players are asked to do different things. It is illogical to use the possible accomplishments of a professional athlete to determine how great of a college career they had. Here are some of the differences between professional and college football that illustrate how ridiculous it is to use pro potential to judge a college career.
While pro football is clinical and precise, college football is more emotional. Both are difficult, however. Professional football is about competition against the best in the game as physical bodies and game smarts evolve with an intense focus. College football is about the heart of competing, keeping emotions in check to stay calm and complete the job no matter what the situation is. Sure, pro football has that element to a degree – but nothing is quite like college football.
Then there is passion, and pressure. College football has boatloads of both, while pro football does not have both in the same way college does. College football has 100-year old rivalries, pro football has teams changing towns if ticket sales lag. In college football every minute of every game counts. Taking a play off could be the difference between the BCS and Champ Sports Bowl, or the Champ Sports Bowl and a seat on the couch on January 1. In professional football, even 1-3 teams make it to the Super Bowl.
It is impossible to use professional potential to adjudicate a college career because college athletes – even the ones that fail to study hard – do have to perform in the classroom for at least three years before they can think about going to the NFL. They have to balance a split focus (unless they attent Auburn or Florida State) and must excel on the field given the pressure from fans, coaches, and teammates. Professional football players have a singular focus – football. There is a substantial difference.
College football has very different offenses that professional football does. An NFL team could never run a triple option offense or a spread offense the way a college team does. But, does that mean the college players who run those offenses, but never have a career in the pros, are undeserving of acclaim in college football? Absoletly not. Former Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch and former Oklahoma quarterback Jason White never played a down of professional football – does that mean they did not earn their Heisman Trophy? No way, they were great college players. Should the NCAA take away Ron Dayne’s Heisman Trophy and all time career rushing yards record just because he flamed out in the pros? Nope. Here is a whole list of football players who won college awards but never made it in the pros – all of these players have their college football legacy firmly intact despite their lack of fulfilled potential in the NFL. The two types of football simply are not related.
The rules between the two types of football are different, too. College receivers need to have one foot inbounds for a completion, in the pros it is two feet. The hash marks on an NFL field are much closer together, meaning most plays start in the middle of the field and force the defense to cover a lot of ground – not the case in the college game, which often forces offenses to run plays to a very short side of the field and kickers to kick from difficult angles. Overtime is different between the two as well, with college football overtime requiring both ability and stamina while the pros rely on the luck of a coin toss.
The point to outlining these differences is to prove that the games are very different, and using potential performance in one to judge performance in another is unfair and inaccurate. Does Albert Pujols become a better minor league player in retrospect because of the numbers he has compiled as a professional and his fulfilled potential? No. Does LeBron James become a more outstanding high school player because of his incredible professional career? No. More, does a successful college coach mar his legacy by a failed professional coaching attempt? If it does not happen to coaches, why should it happen to players?
It is a matter of expectations. College football is seen by many fans as a feeder system for professional football, rather than what it actually is – a sport completely unto itself. College football is not just a feeder system for the NFL, or the games would not matter as much as they do. Only a handful of college players go on to play professional football.
Here is the 2009 class of College Football Hall of Fame Inductees. Not all of these gentlemen had great professional careers. But, that is no reason to deny them admittance into the college HOF.
Posted by Sports Geek 
