Josh Rosen’s comments on the workload for a modern college football player created a national discussion on Tuesday. And two-time SEC player of the year David Pollack could not idly sit by without throwing his opinion into the discussion.
The ESPN college football analyst took exception to the words of Rosen, who implied that education and football do not go hand-in-hand during an interview with Bleacher Report’s Matt Hayes.
Pollack fired back on the air during an ESPN College Football Live segment on Tuesday:
“It’s an uneducated comment,” Pollack said. “It’s one that I wish he wouldn’t have said, and I say that because of this: Remember how many people go to the NFL. It’s not like everybody who is going to play college football is cashing in that lottery ticket. Less that one percent of people actual make it [to the NFL]. So you do need a backup plan and it’s not just about football.
“Listen, I was one who was in school and focused primarily on football. I’m not going to lie to you. I’m not going to act like I didn’t, but you have to have a backup plan. It’s not always going to be just football. Very few make it, so I don’t agree at all with the comment.”
Pollack, who was a three-time All-America selection while at Georgia, serves as living proof of his opinion on the matter. After being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft, Pollack played just 16 NFL games before a broken cervical vertebrae ended his football career.
In case you missed it, here’s a look at Rosen’s comments that were scrutinized on Tuesday, in part because of his use of Alabama as an example when offering a hypothetical about raising SAT requirements.
“Look, football and school don’t go together. They just don’t,” Rosen told Bleacher Report. “Trying to do both is like trying to do two full-time jobs. There are guys who have no business being in school, but they’re here because this is the path to the NFL. There’s no other way. Then there’s the other side that says raise the SAT eligibility requirements. OK, raise the SAT requirement at Alabama and see what kind of team they have. You lose athletes and then the product on the field suffers.”
On the surface, that appears to be a dig at the caliber of student that Alabama is admitting to its football program. But when pressed on what he meant by saying some people have “no business” being in school, he clarified what he meant.
“It’s not that they shouldn’t be in school,” he told Bleacher Report. “Human beings don’t belong in school with our schedules. No one in their right mind should have a football player’s schedule, and go to school. It’s not that some players shouldn’t be in school; it’s just that universities should help them more—instead of just finding ways to keep them eligible.”