Florida State University Cheating Scandal and Academic Importance in College Football

What are some of the important things to look for in a college football recruit? Well first, you probably would look at the athletes base skills: how fast the player can run, how quick the player can shuttle run, and specialized abilities important to the position of the player.

College teams in the United States have relied on a "star" system, ranking each potential college recruit from one to five stars, even going down to the half star. This rating is based on a variety of factors, but one important factor is always overlooked when calculating this star rating: the willingness and overall abilities from an education standpoint.

How academically committed is the recruit? How did the athlete's SAT scores look? Scouts spend hours and hours talking about recruits skills out on the gridiron, but often overlook poor grades or no educational work ethic. Most of the time, the education aspect of being a recruit is among the last things a coach considers when recruiting and signing players to his program.

The latest Florida State cheating scandal proves a very significant flaw in college sports today: so much attention is being put on the quality of recruit a coach brings in, and not enough (if any) emphasis is put on the educational aspects. Heck, college football analysts often bring up character issues; why can't educational issues become more of a discussed topic?

Having spent time at both Ohio State and Wake Forest, I see a significant difference even in the athletes at the two universities I have attended. At Ohio State, you could have students leaving class in the middle of the lecture, or after a big test grade was received. It seemed that pretty much any student athlete could "slip" by and remain academically eligible.

At Wake Forest, I've seen athletes that all seem to take academics seriously. I'm not saying that all student athletes at Wake are committed at the same level, but it is important to the program. My point has nothing to do with the quality of normal student at each university; rather, it is to stress what I've seen as a student on each of these campuses.

The NCAA should look into imposing stricter academic restrictions on recruits entering into college football. For instance, if a player doesn't have a higher minimum GPA (say, 2.3) or a certain SAT score, make the recruit go to junior college. They will most certainly be in a smaller football environment, but they will be able to get a decent local education while focusing on developing their game of football. Then, have the player transfer after academically succeeding at a junior college.

The FSU cheating scandal only shows how serious of an issue this is. If a college football recruit is not capable of being an average (GPA=2.0) at the university they decide to attend (without the significant help from other teammates or from tutors), they have no business being on the football field to begin with.