Three college football players, each a finalist for the Campbell Trophy for the nation’s premier student-athlete, appeared at the ’14 Intercollegiate Athletics Forum to talk about issues relevant to today’s student athletes. The panelists were Northwestern C Brandon Vitabile, Kansas State WR Tyler Lockett and Arizona State QB Taylor Kelly. The discussion was moderated by the Chronicle of Higher Learning's Brad Wolverton. Here are a few quick hits from the session:
* On what students athletes miss out on:
Lockett: “For me, one of the things that I wish I would have done since I’ve been in college is get to know people more, to get to hang out with people more. ... We really don’t get to just hang out, to maybe just go to the recreation center ... go bowl and stuff like that because of the commitment that we have to football.”
*On protecting yourself from NCAA violations:
Vitabile: “We’re told before every autograph signing that we have, make sure you find out, if it’s a child, ‘Hey, what’s your name?’ Write, ‘To Joe,’ ‘To Mary,’ to whatever, so that way they cannot go and sell it because who’s going to want an autograph that’s not addressed to them?”
* On giving money to student athletes:
Kelly: “I think there should just be a certain amount of money in an account for each player, an equal amount. I think that they should even raise the stipend that you live on based on what type of school you go to. Those prices can vary. I think students just need more money per month so they can help their family out if they need to, or maybe put that money away, save it for when they get out of college.”
* On the role of social media:
Lockett: “Whether you want to be a mentor or not, being a college athlete, you’re in that position. We all have a platform and it’s all about how you use it. You can use it in a good way on social media or you can use it in a way that can look bad for you. ... There’s a lot of kids out there watching you, and if you’re cussing and doing a lot of that stuff on there, what are you portraying?”
