NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

 For a student-athlete, picking the right school can be a very difficult task.  There are so many factors that are part of the equation.  What makes this choice even harder is that success means something different to each athlete and family.  For most, a college degree equals the ultimate success while for others; simply receiving significant playing time athletically is the true measure of making the right choice.  While success is hard to define, failure is typically far more transparent. 

In a recent article by Stewart Mandel from Sports Illustrated, an analysis was conducted of the top 25 “dual threat” and “pro-style” quarterback prospects from the class of 2005.  In what equates to a thoroughly interesting “where are they now” piece, Mandel detailed the current athletic status of all 50 prospects.  Basically, the article demonstrates the difficulty in projecting success at the quarterback position as recruits go from high school to college.

While it’s interesting to learn what has become of these once heralded prospects, the most eye opening aspect is how many of these prospects, for lack of a better word, “failed” at finding the right fit.  More than half of the prospects transferred, were dismissed, were forced to change positions, or never enrolled at the college they committed to.  More than half!  Think about that…These are the top 50 quarterback prospects in the country and their success rate is less than half!

What does this tell us?

• 1) Being successful in high school does not guarantee success at the next level. It also shows just how difficult and competitive DI college football can be for even the most talented athletes.
• 2) Student-athletes might not be basing their college decisions on the right things. Did all these quarterbacks make terrible decisions? Of course not. There were certainly circumstances that occurred after the decision was made which prevented some from achieving success, but I have to believe some of these “failures” could have been avoided with better guidance.

All the quarterbacks profiled are excellent athletes.  Every single one of them could have chosen from a number of scholarship offers.  Every single one of them could have graduated from college for practically free.  Yet, more than half have had what seems like a negative experience so far.   I certainly hope that those who transferred colleges find athletic and academic success, but part of me believes it did not have to come to that.

If you are a student-athlete in the process of making your college decision, think long and hard about what you are basing your commitment on.  Get as much guidance, do as much research, make as many visits, and do everything in your power to find the right school both athletically and academically.  If you do all that, I would guess that your chances at success are over 50%.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Athletic Scholarships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.