COMMENTARY : No Reason for NFL to Block Underclassmen

Slice through the rhetoric and ethical posturing over whether collegiate underclassmen should be allowed to play professional football, and this truth remains: There is no moral or legal reason to prevent them from pursuing a career.

They have had enough restrictions placed on them while in the NCAA’s grasp. It’s time to take off the leg irons. The plantation system is out of style.

Staying or leaving is an athlete’s decision--and ultimately his risk. He might be given bad advice by a money-hungry agent. It’s a shame, but it is a risk connected with big money and big boys.

Atlanta agent David Ware, one of the most ethical of his ilk, is opposed to wholesale signing of underclassmen. But he is realistic enough to admit, “The player should have the option.”

Certainly.

The announcement that Alabama junior linebacker Keith McCants will turn pro could be the kickoff to a landmark year for this emotional issue. Reaction will be strong. Tide fans wanted Coach Bill Curry to leave, not the team’s best player. Around the country, alumni will be livid as more and more underclassmen spurn dear ol’ alma mater for cold, hard cash. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, rattling his public-relations sabre, may propose rule changes at the league meetings in March.

More than 30 underclassmen are said to be considering the move. Fewer than 20 will go. It could be 50 or five. That’s not the point. Everyone who wants to should have the right. That does not mean everyone who wants to is capable. But like everything else in a free-enterprise system, the market will take care of itself. There will be some successes and some failures. Other undergraduates will see how this crop fares. Next year, one or two might decide to wait because of the risk. But that should be their decision.

“Not everyone will go,” said Ware. “In baseball, there are a lot of guys who get drafted out of high school, yet they never sign a contract even though they could be getting paid. They decide to go to college.”

Once a collegiate player establishes himself, he sees very few reasons to stay in college. Pro coaches argue players need time to develop. That may be true with linemen, but Barry Sanders looked plenty developed this season. College coaches argue players need a degree. Herschel Walker never graduated, but he has already earned something a journalism degree won’t--$20 million.

A player can always go back for a degree if he wants. Few will. Again, that is their choice.

You can forget obligations to the alma mater. A football scholarship is for one year, renewable each summer at the coach’s discretion. Players owe nothing more. Rare is the coach who wouldn’t jump from his five-year contract for a better situation.

College coaches can avoid the moral dilemma easily--stop recruiting players with pro potential. Oh, but then the college doesn’t win so the coach can’t earn the credit that leads to a better job.

Pro teams can avoid the dilemma by not drafting underclassmen. Oh, but then someone else will take them.

Pro teams are not without risk. Top-level college talent sometimes mysteriously transforms into slop after a contract is signed.

“A first-round pick is probably the most over-valued thing in pro football,” said Gil Brandt, former Dallas Cowboy vice president. “The top six or so are usually very good, but after that, there’s not a lot of difference.”

Research supports him. According to an NFL official, from 1985-88, 61 first-round picks and 59 second-round picks started. According to a National Football League Players’ Association official, only 26 of the 1990 Pro Bowl picks are first-rounders. Green Bay offensive lineman Tony Mandarich, taken No. 2 overall last year, played behind a journeyman.

This says NFL teams are paying too much for what they get in the first round. That is one reason the league proposed a wage scale for rookies. It is also one reason agents accuse the league of wanting a flock of underclassmen to jump this year. If it happens, first-round talent might be available for second- or third-round money.

Ideally, underclassmen should stay in school, earn a degree, marry a pretty girl, live in the suburbs and have 2.5 children. Too few players survive long enough in the NFL to run the risk of being jettisoned without the parachute a degree can offer.

But this is far from an ideal world. Reality paints a different picture. If players like McCants have an opportunity to make their families secure, let ‘em go.