Making Sacrifices

It’s not all glitz and glamour in college football, according to many players. And finding time to study too –well, that’s a whole other story.

Most people only see collegiate athletics, for what it appears to be on television or the game day experience of tailgates and parties, but most athletes say that doesn’t come close to representing the hard work that goes into being a student athlete.

“It’s a constant stress that wears on you,” said redshirt sophomore Jordan Campbell. “You have to deal with going to class, practicing everyday, and getting ready to play in front of millions of people on TV. You’re constantly being judged as an athlete.

Campbell said these pressures can be overwhelming to many freshman players and even some of the big-time scholarship athletes.

“Some of these kids are 17, 18, and 19 years old. The pressure can be too much to handle. I’ve seen some players break down to the point where they are in tears or wanting to go home,” said Campbell.

And many athletes have left the bigger schools to go to smaller ones or have stopped playing completely because of the constant stress and competition.

This competition occurs in both the classroom and on the field. Athletes at schools are expected to excel on the field, and if they don’t excel or happen to get injured then they face being benched only to watch their dreams slowly fade as another player takes the spot light.

“You can’t get hurt. Bottom line. If you get hurt, the coach has 10 other players waiting to get their chance on the field. If that’s not stressful, I don’t know what is. It’s always in the back of your mind,” Said Campbell.

Then they also need to keep up with their academics. And this isn’t always an easy task with such a rigorous practice schedule. The USC Trojans practice from 7am-10am every morning and then again from 2pm-6pm, not including all the time they are in meetings with coaches and watching film.

This leaves the players exhausted after practice, and they still have to make sure to finish the long papers or study for big exams.

“I’m usually so tired that I have no motivation to do homework after a long day of class and practice,” said junior defensive end, Everson Griffen.

This can be menacing for many athletes because of how demanding the academics are at schools like USC or UCLA, where the both the academics and athletics rank among the best the nation.

“It can be really intimidating trying to keep up with the students that don’t play sports [at USC]. We are expected to keep our grades up, but many of us only got in to USC because of our football skills. I would have probably still gotten into college without football, but not USC,” said Griffen.

Many players at the bigger collegiate institutions are recruited at the top of their class for their respective sport, so many of them are relying on a professional paycheck to come through upon or before graduation.

With the pressures to perform on the field it can become easy to lose focus of academics and concentrate solely on football instead.

“A lot of scholarship players really don’t care about the classroom. Everyone knows football’s not forever, but a lot of people just want to focus on football and get that money in the pros,” said Campbell.

“Sometimes I take class serious,” said Griffen. “But I need to take it more serious. It’s just that football is what I’m here for. At the same time, I realize you always need to have that backup plan because anything can happen, and a degree can really benefit you in the future.”

Players that may not share this mindset tend to be the walk-on players. These are players that may have been recruited to a school and are talented enough to play, but just not quite enough to earn a full scholarship.

These players have all the same responsibilities as the scholarship athletes for the most part, but with less pay-off, as they tend to see little playing time even though they are at practice working just as hard.

Redshirt sophomore Daniel Harper said that even though school may come easier for him because he was accepted for academics, the pressures to play well in addition to doing schoolwork are even harder for him as a walk-on

He is not only competing so that he can see some time on the field, but also has to maintain a higher GPA because he will be relying on his degree rather than a professional contract with the NFL.

“We have the same demanding schedule as the scholarship athletes, sometimes more demanding, and we are expected to bring up the GPA but we still have all the same practice requirements as everyone else and almost no time to study,” said Harper.

Although the NFL is still a dream of his, he knows he needs to excel in both places, and hopes that even the scholarship players can come to understand the importance of a good education and take advantage the opportunity they have to obtain one at USC.

Being able to balance school and athletics is a problem that many athletes face in college, but it is not impossible. In fact, there are some players now at the professional level who made it through college with 4.0’s.

-By Mason Wehrli