Maurice's dilemma

Football Digest, Jan, 2004 by Karl Soxowsky

Maurice Clarett, the sophomore running back from Ohio State, is in an interesting situation. He is suspended from his college and now would like to enter the NFL. The problem is, the NFL requires players to have been out of high school for three years before they are allowed to enter the draft, and Clarett does not meet this requirement.

I do not want to see Clarett succeed in gaining early admission to the NFL. When players are forced to attend at least three years of college, they grow stronger and improve their skills so that they play at a higher level when they do finally enter the NFL. If Clarett succeeds, we will be having college freshmen and sophomores entering the draft all over the place, and eventually players would try to bypass college altogether. I think this would be detrimental to the quality of athletes in the NFL.

Karl Soxowsky

West Fargo, N.D.