ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Williams moderated a panel of four college football players during the opening day of the '15 IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in N.Y. The session featured Ohio State's Jacoby Boren, Mississippi State's Taveze Calhoun, Baylor's Spencer Drango and Kent State's Jordan Italiano. All four players excel in the classroom, with GPAs of 3.5 and above, as well as on the playing field. Their discussion covered a range of topics. Here are some of the comments from each player:
* Boren, on preparing for life after college: "It meant a lot that the university was investing in me and my education to further my life and set me up for success after football. At Ohio State, we have a big thing called Real Life Wednesdays, where they'll bring in people from different jobs and they'll come in and give us the background on what they do and kind of set up the thought process for us on what exactly we want to do as student-athletes after football."
* Boren, on whether athletes should be paid: "College football is a business. There are billions of dollars put into it and paid out. Student-athletes getting paid ... it's a tough subject. From my perspective, I don't know what the solution is. We do get a free education, which is great and I know we all appreciate it. But at some point, we're not regular students. They don't get death threats if they mess up in the game. They don't get hate mail. I think (cost of attendance) can benefit some players now that aren't fortunate, that aren't going to make it to the professional level, to get some sort of compensation on top of a free education."
* Boren, on conflicts between sports and academics: "The big issue I have is ... when the classes are offered. I'm studying sustainable plant operations. Originally, I wanted to (study) construction management, but I couldn't because basically the demands for the NCAA to have so many degree credit hours toward graduation … wouldn't allow me to have that many hours because the time for class and time for (football) is matched up a lot. I think that's something the NCAA should look into. For a lot of guys, they can't choose the majors they want because of the demands of football. It makes them look elsewhere."
* Drango, on the benefits of an athletic scholarship: "Being able to go to school for five years now, finish one degree and start working on another ... (and) that I'm halfway through a master’s degree with no student debt at all is unbelievable. It puts you so far ahead in life and finances so you don't have to worry about any of that. You can start with a clean slate when you get out."
* Drango, on the business of college athletics: "I was in the unique position to intern this summer for our business department for Baylor athletics. Getting to see what goes on behind the curtain. ... The budgets that everyone has and how it's managed, where the money comes from and where it goes, how much it costs to get the football team to Kansas State from Waco. How much does that flight cost? All the different things that go into managing the 19 sports that we have plus the athletic department as a whole. It was very interesting to see how much of a business athletics is that you wouldn't normally get to see from an athlete's perspective."
* Drango, on life after football: "I'd like to try the NFL, but if that doesn't work ... maybe get into real estate or (a team's) front office. But I do have that education behind me that will support me and that I can fall back on, because eventually football will end. I don't know when that will be. Could be tomorrow. That's the reality we live in and if you don't have a plan, I don't know where you go. I do have that and look forward to seeing what I can do with it."
* Calhoun, on life after football: "I eventually want to be a coach, so I talk to my coaches a lot about potentially becoming a (graduate assistant). I still have good relationships with my high school coaches in case I want to coach at that level. I pick people's brains a lot because that's my passion and what I want to do.”
* Italiano, on what it takes to succeed as an athlete in school: "It all comes down to time management and discipline. (As a biochemistry major), you have a list of priorities that you know you need to get done. You'll have practice and film study, then you need to make sure you get all your work done for your classes. So just prioritizing and making sure you get done what needs to get done first."
