Going Pro : No Longer Unthinkable for Underclassmen, the Recent Trend Hasn’t Ruined Football

When, as a junior at Oklahoma State in 1989, Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders called the NFL’s bluff and declared himself eligible for the draft, some predicted college football would collapse as wave after wave of young players streamed out of school in search of the fame, and, especially, the fortune of professional football.

Reality has proved to be less catastrophic.

Today, deciding whether to declare himself eligible for the NFL draft is routine for a talented college junior, and even for some sophomores. There are still complaints from some coaches that their programs are being “raided.” Some wonder about athletes turning their backs on a free education.

Despite the occasional challenge, the reality is that the line drawn in the sand by Sanders four years ago is still there. And, as several underclassmen met Wednesday’s deadline to declare for the draft, the line is in no danger of being erased.

The drafting of underclassmen by the NFL is so common that it’s difficult to remember when the policy was unthinkable.

“The reaction at the time (to Sanders’ challenge of the NFL) was complete, unexpurgated horror,” agent Leigh Steinberg said. “The world of college and professional football said that the result of this draft would be that people would come out early, not make it in the pros, not have their educations, and their lives would be ruined.

“They said that somehow this was going to ruin college football. We’ve always had this underclassman draft in college basketball and baseball. There are still a few good players in college basketball and a few people still watch it on TV.”

Baseball players are often drafted out of high school, and, like hockey players, are chosen involuntarily. Thus, drafting doesn’t affect their collegiate eligibility. A new NCAA rule allows collegiate baseball and hockey players to negotiate with professional teams without losing eligibility.

Basketball, too, has a relaxed attitude toward underclassmen.

Spencer Haywood signed with the Denver Rockets of the ABA as an underclassman in 1969. When he jumped to the NBA for the 1970-71 season, his contract was declared void because of the league’s college rules. Haywood won in court, and since then the NBA has changed its rules.

Football has always been different. Sanders was seeking the same right when he decided to forgo his senior year and turn pro in 1989. The circumstances were unique: Sanders had won the Heisman Trophy; his coach, Pat Jones, would not be returning and the Oklahoma State football team was on probation.

His argument was a rational one: I have nothing to come back to, I’m at the height of my marketability, so why play another season and risk an injury?

When Sanders said he wanted to turn pro, he knew the NFL policy forbade any team from drafting him. At the time, the NFL allowed the drafting of only those who had exhausted their eligibility or who had graduated.

But faced with Sanders’ determination and its tenuous legal standing, the NFL made an exception.

The next year, 38 juniors declared themselves eligible for the draft. Since then the numbers have decreased.

“What we are really talking about is a tiny, tiny number of players, against the backdrop of the total number who play college football,” Steinberg said. “This is not a huge trend.”

The NFL’s about-face in Sanders’ case was easy to see through. No one expected that the league would be able to successfully defend its policy in court, for anti-trust reasons and others.

Since then, exceptions have abounded and lawsuits have been avoided. Even as two prized quarterbacks--Tommy Maddox of UCLA and Todd Marinovich of USC--were drafted as sophomores, the NFL stood by quietly.

College coaches have not. Former USC coach Larry Smith has led the local charge. His team was hurt in the 1990 draft, losing defensive back Mark Carrier and linebacker Junior Seau, both All-Americans; and in 1991, losing Marinovich.

Coaches argue that they make plans in the spring to use certain players, and they recruit to fill needs. In January, the keys to their next season can be drafted.

To some coaches, NFL scouts have gotten out of hand. The vigorous scouting of Maddox led to a policy among college coaches that allows NFL scouts on campus only during October.

Maddox, in his first year with the Denver Broncos, said he has heard more opinions than he cares to count about his decision to leave school early.

“You have to do whatever you feel is right,” Maddox said Wednesday from Denver. “Everybody has an opinion. None of those people were in my shoes. Part of me was offended a little bit. Everybody was questioning why I came out. It hurts. It hurts that people don’t give each other enough credit. I went against what everybody was telling me. I was willing to live with it if it didn’t work out. It’s different for every person. You can’t set a guideline and make everyone live by it.

“The main thing (is), no matter when you come out of college, you’ve got to go through that first year in the pros. It’s going to be just as tough, whether you came out as a sophomore or fifth-year senior.”

Conventional thinking was that the NFL refrained from drafting underclassmen only to appease the NCAA, which was, in effect, operating an NFL farm system at no cost to the league. The NFL still is keen to preserve this valuable training ground, but understands that it hasn’t a legal prayer in preventing underclassmen from declaring.

The NCAA, too, has softened its position. Its Professional Sports Liaison Committee has been advocating for the last few years that underclassmen in football and basketball be allowed to enter the pro drafts and still retain their college eligibility, providing they don’t sign contracts or break other rules.

Such a system would benefit a player who decides to turn pro thinking he will be selected in the first round, but who is disappointed with his position in the draft.

This so-called “testing the waters” proposal has been voted down three times, but it is not without its supporters. In its current incarnation, the proposal would allow an athlete one chance during his five years of eligibility to enter the draft, choose not to sign and return to school.

Many proponents of the system argue that other college students have the right to test their marketability.

“When you cut through it, this has always been a country predicated on a system of free choice,” Steinberg said. “From an educational standpoint, we should make it as easy as possible for someone to change his mind and further his college education.”

As the rules stand, if an underclassman declares for the draft in football or basketball, he can’t get his eligibility back. Athletes have attempted to challenge this in court and have lost. The “testing-the-waters” proposal is not likely to come up again at next week’s NCAA convention in Dallas.

Early Exits

Underclassmen who have announced they will apply for the NFL draft.

Player Pos. School Patrick Bates DB Texas A&M; Jerome Bettis RB Notre Dame Drew Bledsoe QB Washington St. Phillip Bobo WR Washington St. Tom Carter DB Notre Dame Curtis Conway WR-KR USC Sean Dawkins WR California Roger Harper DB Ohio State Andre Hastings WR Georgia Garrison Hearst RB Georgia Othello Henderson DB UCLA Marvin Jones LB Florida State Natrone Means RB North Carolina St. Mike Reid DB North Carolina St. Leonard Renfro DT Colorado Charles Thompson RB Central State Robert Smith RB Ohio State Kevin Williams WR Miami

Times staff writer Danny Robbins contributed to this story.