While watching Michigan pull off an unbelievable comeback after giving the game to Notre Dame last Saturday, I had a discussion with a friend about Andrew Luck. Andrew Luck is the quarterback for the Stanford football team and he is a senior this year. He had the opportunity to leave college and enter the NFL draft last year. He was the projected number one overall pick worth millions upon millions of dollars. However, he decided to return to school for his senior year to complete his architecture degree.
The debate was intense on all the sports shows at the end of the college football season earlier this year when he made this decision. The majority of people were talking about how bad of a decision he made because he was the number one overall pick. Guaranteed millions and millions of dollars. And it makes sense. Why not forgo your last year of school and make all that cash money? However, I like what he did. I liked that he said 'nope, I want my education.' And why not? It's free for him. He's got a full ride scholarship to a great institution in Stanford. It can't be cheap. And it's not like he is going to school for a business degree or a sports recreation degree. It's architecture. He wants to design buildings for a living. I don't know anything about architecture degrees or the type of classes that you have to take to get that type of degree, but it can't be easy.
So the discussion with my friend was all about how if he left school for the NFL he could make millions of dollars and even if he only last for four year (roughly the average length of an NFL career) he will have that money and he can just go back. This is my friend's statement/argument. A very valid argument. And it's true. If he went into the NFL, made millions of dollar for four years, maybe didn't get hurt, and retired, he could roll onto the Stanford like nobody's business and re-enroll in the classes. Hell, they may let him coach the football team too. But he would have to pay for it. It would be a drop in the bucket for sure just because of all the money he made the previous four years. So let's say he finishes up his degree after football, goes into the real professional world, and bombs. He can't get a job or he just flat out fails as an architect. He still has his millions of dollars, but he is a twenty five year old out of work millionaire. Is that going to be the case? No. If he has the financial resources, he can keep himself afloat.
But that is where our society is at right now. Get the money, get the money, get the money. Who cares about your immediate education? I think he is role model for education. He is getting it for free, sure. He gets to do what he loves on Saturday afternoon and can probably get away with more than you or I could in college. But he is still there. He is putting that degree, that education, ahead of making money in the NFL. The NFL is going to be there when he graduates. A very strong argument against his staying in school is what if he gets hurt this year? A crazy random play where he lands wrong on his shoulder and is out for the year. Two words: Sam Bradford. Bradford pulled the same move as Luck and in that year suffered a few injuries that cost him a good portion of the season. After his junior year, he was projected number one overall pick (like Luck) and even after missing most of the senior season was still the number one overall pick and he is doing just fine in St. Louis. Or what if he has a bad statistical senior year much like Jack Locker. Another projected number one overall pick. He had a bad senior year and went from being the number one projected pick to number eight when he was drafted. He has a four year, twelve million dollar contract. Poor guy missed out on all those millions.
Either way, he is going to get his millions of dollars playing the sport that he loves. Why not take advantage of getting a free education in the process?
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