NCAA Football: Where Men are Made…or Arrested

What You Gonna Do When They Come for You?

Being in college is hard work. Attending a large university as a star athlete? Now, that’s damn near the toughest task around, particularly when it comes to avoiding that all-so-difficult college experience — the arrest. Or at least that’s what one would have to infer from reading the news these days.

Now, granted, kids are kids. Hell, I too received a citation from the Ithaca po-po back in my college career (public intoxication and urinating in public, if you must know). I was “sentenced” to an eight-hour long alcohol education seminar (on a Saturday) during which we had to pledge not to imbibe for at least that evening. I neither pledged, nor adhered to any such pledge. Such is neither here nor there.

My point? It’s the offseason and NCAA football players around the country are beginning to return to campus for preseason camps, training and prep for the upcoming season. And they can not seem to keep themselves away from the police. I don’t know if you’ve been keeping up, but I’ve been blown away by the volume, frequency and severity of some of the headlines being driven by the nation’s most prized “student athletes.”

Below is a sampling of front page stories gracing the college football section on ESPN…today.

Michigan RB pleads not guilty to drunken driving

Ohio St.’s Clifford charged with punching 2 in bar
San Jose State LB sentenced to 45 days in jail
Tennessee punter pleads guilty to drunken driving
Louisville WR Guy still hospitalized, in good spirits (after being shot in back)
Indiana reinstates QB Lewis after suspension
Louisville WR Spillman dismissed from team (looks like the Cards may be a little short at wideout)

For those willing to push back the clock a little further into the final weeks of June, the roster becomes even more impressive. A little cocaine dealing courtesy of the Tide in Tuscaloosa, a suspension and rape charge for a Ga. Tech baller, assault and battery charges for a Clemson Tiger gridder…and a partridge in a pear tree!

We don’t do a lot of social commentary on this here blog, and tonight certainly won’t be the start of anything that diverges from that stance. All we’ll say is, c’mon fellas. I wasn’t a big-time recruit at an SEC school. Sure, there may be pressure and what not. Of course, it’s a new environment and things happen at parties. But if being a college football stud is anything like I witnessed in “The Program,” it seems y’all may catch a break or get a cut a bit of slack from time to time. Therefore, it should be even harder to get in trouble with the law.

So, what is the deal? And who deserves the blame? Coaches? Administrators? The players alone? The system? Talk to us. We’re not sure what’s going on, but the rap sheet being collectively compiled by players around the country is simply staggering, and it seems that something has to change. Right?