The Reality of Being a Student Athlete:

The True Chances of Going Pro

With the NFL draft taking place on April 27–30, many college athletes achieved their dreams. For those lucky 256 players, they will continue their pursuit of massive contracts, championship rings, and football greatness.

According to the NCAA, approximately 16,000 student athletes did not get this opportunity. Instead, those players will have to compete in the job market without the advantages many students are afforded like internships, and part-time jobs.

“Football is my job, it takes up all of our time.” said Ricky Thomas Jr., a redshirt freshman defensive end for the University of Nevada Wolf Pack football team.

He is one of many who are fighting the odds.

“Because with the requirements of football you don’t have time to do anything else. Like even during the summer we’re here, we’re here all winter.” Thomas said. “You don’t really have time. I think we get five weeks off all year.”

This is the reality for many student athletes. But the scarier part still is the perception of possibility among student athletes. In the 2015 GOALS study, published by the NCAA, they found 64 percent of football players thought there was a chance they would go pro. In reality, only 1.6 percent of players will be drafted and given that shot.

“I think it’s a good chance [I go pro], even though I’m switching over from quarterback to receiver, I think my athletic abilities, and the way I study the game, it’ll help me throughout the long run.” said Dominic Christian, a freshman wide receiver for the Wolf Pack.

While some are more optimistic than others about their chances of reaching the NFL, the overall perception is much higher than reality, and it is becoming more pervasive. The NCAA noted that since the last time they conducted their GOALS study in 2010, the number of football players thinking they may go pro has risen by over five percent.

This is in part why Mark Emmert, the president of the NCAA, spent a large section of his 2016 State of the Association speech discussing this imbalance.

“What keeps me up at night, and I suspect a lot of you as well, is that we all know there is a huge number of our student‑athletes who have grossly unrealistic expectations of playing professional sports,” said Emmert in his speech.

While the perception of being able to go pro is on the rise, the amount of time spent on athletics versus academics has remained essentially the same.

On average, FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) football players spend 42 hours per week on athletics during the season according to the GOALS study. Whereas they spend 37 hours per week on academics. This means that on average, college football players work two full-time jobs.

“Waking up at 5 o’clock in the morning getting ready to run in 30 degree weather and then having to get done with class at like 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock at night and then homework and then do it all over again,” Cristian Solano, a redshirt freshman quarterback at the University of Nevada, Reno said. “People think it’s easy, but it’s not.”

Finding a way to ease these time constraints has been a primary focus of Emmert and the NCAA.

“When it comes to rebalancing academics and athletics, time demands on our student‑athletes immediately pop to the top of the list,” said Emmert.

Even with a focus placed on the issue, it is still prominent among college athletes to struggle making time for both sports and their academics.

“It’s definitely hard. Because like even last night I was up until 2 a.m. because I had a paper due, then I had to wake up for 6 a.m. run this morning,” said Thomas. “So I mean, it’s hard balancing both of them, because you have to do both in order to succeed.”

The goal for the NCAA though is to find a way to prepare college athletes for their futures.

“Now, we all know that more than 98% of our student‑athletes won’t be professional athletes. So we’ve got to be committed to providing all of our students with a meaningful education that sets them up for success in life,” Emmert said. “That’s at the core of this, that’s only fair.”

Regardless, many student athletes continue to pursue this dream of going pro with the hope that it will give them the type of life they are looking for. For Christian, this means creating stability for his future family.

“The ultimate goal is to go to the NFL, of course, start a family, and also get my degree and have something to fall back on,” Christian said. “Because you know football doesn’t last.”