College Football Insider: Andrew Luck Staying at Stanford is a Good Idea

It’s easy for us to sit back and judge the actions of some of today’s biggest and best athletes.  Did we question the decision for LeBron James to skip college and go directly into the NBA?  Do we question the occasional jump of a hockey player from high school into the NHL? We can say yes to both of these questions because, for the most part, a majority of us feel that it’s probably better that these athletes stay in school or go to school for that matter because it’s free and nothing beats a free college education.

The sport of football is in a similar situation except players do go to college for at least three years before they can jump to the NFL.  When these eligible players make the switch to the NFL they lose their collegiate eligibility and do not graduate with a degree.  Some of them take the initiative to head back to school and get their degrees while others don’t return and miss out on an education.

We now have one player in college football that is being scrutinized for his decision not to go into the NFL.  Who is it?  Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck recently decided that he would not go into the NFL Draft this coming April and decided to go back to school for another year.  

There are those that feel that Luck made the wrong move while others feel that it’s a good decision and one that will reap him rewards later in life.  Let’s take a look at both sides of the argument and try to figure out if Luck made the right decision.

Against coming out

Luck had stated that he wanted to return to school to finish his degree (in architecture) as a reason why he wanted to return to Stanford for another season.  Anyone that wants to finish his degree (especially when he is getting a free ride) should be commended.  

It’s also assumed that Luck went back to play for now former Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh.  Harbaugh was still the head coach when Luck made his decision, but now Harbaugh is heading to the NFL.  Perhaps Luck decided to stick around with his head coach to try to get the Cardinal to a national title.  Now, that’s not going to happen.

Finally, Luck may be one of those guys that really enjoys the college experience, so staying at Stanford may have been exactly what he needed to do for himself.  This experience comes around just once in a lifetime and perhaps he wanted to take advantage of it.

For coming out

Money.  Money is a big factor in the decisions for players to come out of college early and go into the NFL.  With Luck, he was virtually guaranteed to go first in the draft (to the Carolina Panthers) and would have made somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-75 million dollars (if the CBA wasn’t signed and didn’t have a rookie salary cap in it).  That’s a lot of money to give up that’s for sure.

If there is indeed a rookie salary cap then it’s possible that Luck could have lost out on a lot of money and there are many people who will laugh and call him crazy for giving this up.  Is he really that crazy for giving up all of that money?

Another reason why Luck has been criticized for not coming out this year has been because of the harsh reality that his stock might drop next season.  He might get injured or he might struggle and struggling is not a definitely reality for Luck.  With Harbaugh headed out of town, the team will have to readjust to a new head coach and so Luck will have a learning curve next season.  Unless the team decides to keep the same system the learning curve will probably affect Luck.

This means that his draft stock will drop and while he probably would have been a number one pick this season he probably won’t be one next year.  Is the drop that he might experience worth not coming out this season?

There is also the chance that Luck may get hurt and damage his draft position as well.  Injuries can always happen and if Luck gets hurt that could cause him a big drop in his draft position.  Is that worth not coming out?

In the end, I am not going to second guess the decision that Luck made in not coming out in the this year’s NFL Draft.  He made his decision, he exercised his right not to come out and enter the professional draft and he made his own decision.  It was the right decision for him but perhaps not the right decision for those teams that may have been looking at drafting him if he would have come out.

What is your opinion?