College Football Players Should Be Able To Transfer

The decision by the Pac 12, Big Ten, the MAC and other collegiate athletic conferences to cancel the 2020 football season was heralded as universities taking action in loco parentis to protect the health and safety of their student athletes. The impact, however, is especially disorienting and discouraging to those players who have spent their whole life in preparation for this upcoming season. College football is the lone major American sport which has taken this approach. Instead of the NCAA proposing a uniform policy, the decision was left up to conference commissioners, athletic directors and university presidents.

For a moment, let’s put aside the question of whether these conferences acted correctly. If I had a college age son playing college football, I would much rather he spend the fall under the control of a coach like Alabama's Nick Saban, and other coaches and staff members than running free with more time on his hands. I would also consider his age, maturity level and acknowledge the fact that he is a part of a vulnerable segment of the population which has compromised a large part of the spike in coronavirus cases. Daily testing and supervision would probably make the players safer than their non-athletic peers. Players who feel unsafe could always opt out.

The impact the suspension of a season and uncertainty for the future has on seniors, juniors, and redshirt sophomores is devastating. A large portion of college football players are only on a college campus because the NFL requires the passage of three years from high school graduation as a prerequisite to gain entry into the NFL Draft. We may wish that every athlete understood the critical importance of obtaining a college degree, but the reality is that many college football players are only there to advance a career into the NFL.

A significant group of college players whose schools have cancelled their football programs have been left in limbo. Some conferences have made vague promises of playing a season in the spring, but that is uncertain. Some of the best underclassmen have already made a decision to terminate their college careers and move directly to the pros. They will be missing a year of game film for the NFL to evaluate, and in many cases it is an elevated performance in their last year of college that enhances their chances. How is this good for college football or their athletes?

Top talents like DT Jay Tufele from USC, OT Jalen Mayfield from Michigan, DL Greg Rousseau from The University of Miami, and LB Micah Parsons from Penn State, have already announced their decision to opt out of this season of college football and enter the NFL Draft. Some players will do just fine without an extra year of college play and transfer seamlessly in to the NFL, others may have made a real mistake. It is not the fault of these athletes that coronavirus has not been tamed in this country. They have spent their high school and collegiate careers preparing for this moment. If a conference has made a decision to cancel football for this fall, the players should be left with more options. They should - at least - be able to transfer to a school which is playing this fall without penalty. Given the uncertainty that players face, they ought to be given the opportunity to make the best of their situation.