NFL Draft May Face Challenge : Football: Top college underclassmen are considering skipping senior seasons because of a possible rookie salary cap in 1991.

Potential changes in the economic climate of the NFL could result in as many as 40 college football underclassman applying for next April’s draft.

Leigh Steinberg, a sports attorney who has represented prominent athletes in negotiations with NFL teams, made that estimate Monday.

Included in this group, according to Steinberg, are three highly regarded quarterbacks--Heisman Trophy-winner Andre Ware of Houston, Jeff George of Illinois and Scott Mitchell of Utah. Linebackers Keith McCants of Alabama and Junior Seau of USC also are said to be among those considering such a move.

Steinberg said the anticipated exodus of underclassmen--players with remaining collegiate eligibility--is being prompted by NFL discussions of a possible cap on rookie salaries by 1991.

“So, what underclassmen fear and unscrupulous agents tell them is that we’re sure salaries will be as strong in 1990 as they were in 1989, but 1991 could theoretically be the year of the salary cap,” Steinberg said.

Marvin Demoff, a Los Angeles sports attorney who represents pro quarterbacks John Elway, Jim Everett and Dan Marino, said uneasiness over the new collective bargaining agreement has prompted some agents to recommend that players forgo their remaining collegiate eligibility.

“If that wasn’t a risk these kids face, you wouldn’t see so many thinking about the draft,” he said.

Demoff said other reasons for the trend are that football is one of the few sports that has successfully stopped athletes from leaving college early, and this season’s success of Barry Sanders, the Heisman Trophy-winning tailback from Oklahoma State who challenged the NFL system last year and left school early.

Well aware of what lies ahead, the NFL could fight to protect its rule that excludes underclassmen from the draft.

Exceptions were made last year for Sanders and Timm Rosenbach, the Washington State quarterback. The NFL rationalized that Sanders’ school was on probation and that Washington State changed coaches on Rosenbach.

Otherwise, for a player to be part of the draft, he has to have either used up his eligibility or be able to show that he will graduate before the next NFL season.

Joe Browne, NFL spokesman, said the league has not abandoned its rules because of last year’s exceptions.

“We believe that our rules are in the best interest of the overwhelming majority of college players,” he said, adding that the figure of 40 underclassman opting for the draft is not a surprise.

Browne said the league is concerned about those marginal players who abort their education for a chance at professional football. He cited the case of the Sanders brothers--Barry, who has been a success for the Detroit Lions, and Byron, who left Northwestern for the NFL.

Byron Sanders was drafted but was cut and returned to school at his own expense.

“For every Barry Sanders there are 10 Byron Sanders,” Browne said.

Still, Steinberg said the NFL eligibility rule has some interesting wrinkles.

“One of the ways for a player to lose eligibility and become a participant in the draft is to sign with an agent,” he said. “It’s almost as if the NFL says underclassmen who are guilty of misconduct can have the privilege of coming out early and have an extra year of income, but those players who follow the rules need to stay in school.

“The exceptions made for Sanders and Rosenbach would lead many people to believe that the NFL would like the rule to stay on the books but not to be tested. Obviously, the NFL has a wonderful system, with the colleges, in essence, acting as a farm system.”

And when football players look at Magic Johnson leaving Michigan State for a lucrative contract with the Lakers, or John McEnroe leaving Stanford for a rich career in pro tennis, they wonder why they are not afforded the same opportunities.

Browne insists the NFL is different from other sports and would defend its rules in litigation.

Steinberg said: “Most legal observers believe that the NFL rule excluding underclassmen wouldn’t stand the test of judicial scrutiny; that if challenged, the rule will fall.

“The point is, if they allowed underclassmen into the NFL, it would not destroy college football. There are 100 players on those rosters. It hasn’t destroyed college basketball, which has 10 or 15 players on rosters.”

NCAA officials are also concerned with any departure from the norm. But administrators and educators are divided on what course to take. Some believe in the free enterprise system, while others are more concerned with students staying to graduation.

“I think a university should be for someone who wants to be there,” said William Reeves, the faculty athletic representative for Texas Arlington. “If someone can make a better living outside the university, let them.”

Reeves, a member of the NCAA’s Professional Sports Liaison Committee, said his feelings are bolstered by the fact Arlington does not have a football team.

Marie Ann Lawler, also a member of the NCAA committee and an associate athletic director at Florida, where there is a big-time football team, partially agrees with Reeves.

“I have no problem if they are ready to go and they can make it,” Lawler said. “I don’t think you can ask a kid who is signing for a million dollars to stay. But I feel sorry for the ones on the edge.”

Lawler said she understands athletes’ concerns over potential injury in their senior seasons but believes emphasis should be placed on graduation. Although past statistics show poor graduation records for many football schools, Lawler said recent NCAA rules indicate there will be an improvement in this area.

So, she is concerned with the number of underclassman considering the NFL draft as an alternative to higher education.

“This is a trend the NCAA doesn’t like,” she said.

It is a trend that has clouded the future for some players.

Mark Carrier, USC’s All-American strong safety who redshirted as a freshman, indicated that he will return for his senior season, then hedged by saying he might re-evaluate his options after the Rose Bowl game against Michigan on New Year’s Day.

“I’m just learning about the NFL,” Carrier said. “I haven’t talked to any agents or picked one. My decision (now) is that I’ll be back in school.”

USC’s Seau, a junior who lost his freshman year of eligibility because of the Proposition 48 academic rule, said he is still undecided, adding: “I’m a USC Trojan come January 1, and we’ll see from there on, but I’m leaning on coming back (to school).”

Although Carrier has another year of eligibility, he will be only two classes short of graduating in May and could conceivably take them in summer school, thereby enabling him to graduate before the start of the ’90 NFL season.

Seau, however, would be ineligible for the ’90 draft, according to a strict interpretation of the NFL rule.

Demoff, the Los Angeles attorney, said the warning from agents is not unwarranted.

“I think some kids would pull back if the NFL gave them some guarantee that there will not be a wage scale in 1991,” he said.

If the owners cannot do that, they can expect to have a full house for the draft in April.