Player pay not the way

College football is preparing to kick off its season this weekend. The rankings are out and the best players are gunning for Heisman Trophy nods.

But how are football fans supposed to forget all that’s happened since the last touchdown was scored in January’s BCS Championship?

This college football offseason was filled with anything but glee for coaches, administrators and fans.

Let’s go back to the beginning of June when the announcement came that Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel resigned and star quarterback Terrelle Pryor opted out of his final year at Ohio State.

The tarnished Buckeye program seemed to be much worse off than many fans and critics could have ever believed. The more information came out, the more the Big Ten’s prized program looked to be its biggest mistake.

Oregon Coach Chip Kelly is involved with a scandal after a “middle man” recruiter admitted to Yahoo! Sports that he received a $25,000 check from members of the Oregon coaching staff in exchange for his recruiting services.

The bombshell of all bombshells hit when a former Miami Hurricanes’ booster, who is in jail for running a Ponzi scheme, admitted he gave thousands of impermissible gifts to members of the University of Miami’s football team throughout an eight-year period.
Nevin Shapiro, unveiled the truth of Miami’s program after being abandoned by his “friends” and colleagues from The U once he became incarcerated.

Sharpiro stated his gifts to Miami players could add up to millions of dollars during that time period.

The NCAA had enough damage control to do from the end of last season, but this summer piled more on its plate than committee members probably know what to do with.

The answer for many: pay college football players.

Thankfully, the NCAA has not been so sleep deprived to agree to this yet.

College football players do get something out of their time at school. The best players receive full athletic scholarships which include the cost of tuition, books, room, board and stipends during away games. These can add up into the hundreds of thousands for some schools.

Solving the problems and downplaying the scandals of this offseason cannot be solved with the simple argument of “Just pay the players,” especially when there are hundreds of schools playing by the rules and doing the right thing.

When the whistle blows for the start of the first game, college football fans can take a breath, but only for a moment. The lid has been blown off the cheating, and it is not going back on anytime soon.