Playing Devil’s Advocate: Academics Take Precedence Over Athletics

March 4, 2010   ·   Hugh Shannon   ·   Jump to comments

Jacob Hickman, a three-year starting offensive lineman at Nebraska, was invited to Indianapolis this week to participate in the NFL combine.
Politely, he declined.

“I didn’t feel the need to continue playing," he said. "It just didn’t feel like it’s what I wanted to do with my life.”

Florida State safety Myron Rolle was asked during the combine how it felt to desert his team to pursue study overseas as a Rhodes Scholar. Rolle made national news missing the first half of a 2008 ACC game vs. Maryland to attend that interview.

There are eight academic institutions in the Northeast with less than 1,000 football players who made that very decision before they ever stepped onto a collegiate field. Somehow, those decisions get very little fanfare.

Outstanding athletic ability somehow overshadows the superior academic capabilities exhibited by Ivy League athletes. A spectacular athlete denies FBS schools for an Ivy education, and the collec...

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