College Football Players Staying in School: Has the Dream Changed?

Yesterday afternoon, Sam Bradford announced that he was going to stay in school instead of turning pro.

After winning the National Championship, Tim Tebow elected to stay in school as well.

Another Heisman candidate, Colt McCoy, decided to return for his senior season.

Mark Sanchez deliberated his options until yesterday as well.

Even Michael Crabtree made his decision into a tough one.

But why am I making a big deal out of this?

Because it shows how dreams have changed.

All of the aforementioned players (maybe except Tim Tebow) are NFL-ready and are sure-thing prospects. Bradford won the Heisman, and McCoy was the runner-up.

Long ago, people dreamt of stardom. They dreamt of playing on Monday Night Football, or being in the Superbowl and winning it all. When an opportunity to jump to the NFL would present itself, people had to take it. There was too much risk of waiting until next year.

Now?

Well, players just want to play college football, I guess. None of these guys seem really too excited about the NFL, and they are all very talented players. Don't get me wrong, I am all for fourth or fifth-round draft picks staying in school, but top 10 picks that want to continue to play college football? Now that is just downright weird.

Many people will tell you that kids finishing up school and passing up on millions for one extra year is a beautiful thing to do, but I have to disagree.

Unfortunately, I feel the reason for this phenomena is that none of these superstar athletes want to get drafted by terrible teams. Modern players lack the discipline and heart that football players once had. None of these star players want to play for a train wreck like the Lions, the Rams, or the Chiefs.

These players have been on winning teams their whole lives, and now they don't want to come play for losing squads. Nothing holds more merit than playing in the NFL, and a national championship will never be the equivalent of a Superbowl ring. If you play for the Lions, you will probably never taste the playoffs, much less a Superbowl.

But that is why they are drafting you.

The real problem is that these young players are showing their true colors now, tipping their hands at what they will be like in the future.

We all complain about the motivation level in sports every now and then, and claim most athletes are overpaid, but what about collegiate athletes?

Before, the reason you came to the NFL was to fulfill a life-long dream. Now, as shown by guys like Bradford and McCoy, players come for the money. A while back, as soon as a door opened for you to come to the NFL, you sprinted through it. Now, athletes want to enjoy college as long as they can, then enter for the millions.

These players have showed that they either really don't want to become professional players, or that they really want to win in college. Like it really matters.

Maybe it is fear. Nobody wants to get hit by Ray Lewis, Troy Polamalu, or Bob Sanders.

Not many other excuses come to mind to explain why these particular college athletes would decide to not enter the NFL draft. You can say maybe they just want to stay in college, but that is ludicrous, because who the hell really wants to stay in school?

Who passes up a chance at the NFL? Sam Bradford says he has always dreamed about playing at Oklahoma. Really, Sam? Well, what about the next level? Isn't that a more reasonable dream?

When I was young, the dream was simple: play professional football. That was it. End of discussion. Sure, collegiate sports have always been important in the athletics department and in entertainment, but never like this.

It just doesn't make sense. It is not about the millions they pass up. It is about the dream. The dream once was to make it to the pros and to succeed there. Nowadays, all of these stud athletes are staying in college for a reason beyond my comprehension.

Maybe I am just weird, but that is how it was when I was growing up.

Perhaps Eric Burdon was right: "I was so much older then...when I was young."