u/CanPositive8980

While I think it has been captured many times on this board, I think it bears repeating how difficult it is to actually be good enough to be drafted in any professional sport. This weekend saw the annual draft for the National Football League. I dont actually watch football anymore, but I am slightly intrigued by the draft as American football is the only professional sport you need to be 3 years post high school on which to play. Other sports either have developmental leagues or if you are good enough, you can go straight from high school to the pros. So the draft consists of 32 teams selecting 257 players to fill out a portion of their roster. Looking at the those selected, and where they "went" to college is a microcosm of how few schools actually produce these types of players. If you teach at a small school, a directional school, or even just a regional school in a so so conference, none of your students will be drafted. 238 players were selected from just 40 schools in 4 conferences, plus Notre Dame. 93 percent of players came from less than 1 percent of the colleges in the US. So unless you teach at Ohio State, Alabama, or Texas A&M, your student athletes never even had a chance. With the big NIL money floating around, and the ability to enter the transfer portal almost at will, this will worsen the position of small schools and their ability to attract and maintain competitive players. Please encourage your student athletes to work hard in school, and to quote the NCAA, "go pro in something other than sports".