To Opt or Not, That Be The Question

With the rise of NIL deals and college sports becoming more of a business, the issue of opting out has become controversial. With many star players, like Ohio State’s Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson and others, opting out of their post season bowl game, many fans, coaches, and others are crying foul for their decisions. 

“You’ve got an obligation to the place that helped build and develop you and finish it out in the bowl. That’s part of it. You owe it to your team, you owe it to your fans, you owe it to your coaches and it’s the most bizarre thing in the world to me,” explains Mississippi State’s head coach Mike Leach during a Liberty Bowl press conference on Dec. 11, 2021. 

With many players hoping to reach their NFL goals, many opt out to avoid risk of injury. However, when the bowl game is either a playoff or New Year’s Six, many choose to stay and risk injury. Two cases appear when discussing injury: Jaylon Smith in 2017’s Fiesta Bowl and now Matt Corral with last night’s Sugar Bowl. Both severely injured themselves in the game, and their draft stock soon quickly dwindled. Smith was assumed top five, but soon dropped to the second round, and the fate of Matt Corral is to be determined. 

The ripple effects of college sports’ business aspects can be seen throughout all levels, whether it is the transfer portal, opt outs, high school commitments, to even now middle schoolers deciding where to go to high school to get better ‘looks’. In addition, the opt outs raise questions to NFL owners and GMs on players’ integrity and commitment to a team or organization. Many are claiming the “selfish” nature of players instead of doing it “the right way”, like ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Joe Tessitore.

In yesterday’s Rose Bowl pre-game hype and analysis, Herbstreit elaborated how “this era of player just doesn’t love football.” He further questions how “...if you don’t make it to the playoff, how is it meaningless to play football and compete?Isn’t that what we do, as football players, we compete? I don’t know if expanding [the playoff] is going to change anything.” Herbstreit would soon adjust his comments, as many sounded off on him, including NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe.

With the discussion of the playoff expanding, many hope that expansion will reduce the number of opt outs. However, as the saying goes “Money Talks.” In a perfect world, one can hope that college football and other sports will return to its ‘purity’ of amateurism. The opt-out situation summarizes the struggle and often irony, hypocrisy of the NCAA. The one time the athletes look out for their well-being, they get shamed by those who make millions off of them. Only time can tell how the college sports landscape and its players will evolve with each other.