Written by ESPN Staff at ESPN.com
UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen discussed the academic challenges involved with being a college football player in a wide-ranging interview with Bleacher Report, saying “football and school don’t go together” and suggesting that Alabama would not be as successful if the Crimson Tide were to raise the SAT requirement.
Rosen, who has been outspoken on the issue of amateurism in college sports, told Bleacher Report that “human beings don’t belong in school with our schedules.”
When asked about the inherent conflict of being a college student and a football player, Rosen referred to Alabama, which won four of the past eight national championships.
“Look, football and school don’t go together,” Rosen said. “They just don’t. Trying to do both is like trying to do two full-time jobs. There are guys who have no business being in school, but they’re here because this is the path to the NFL. There’s no other way.
“Then there’s the other side that says raise the SAT eligibility requirements. OK, raise the SAT requirement at Alabama and see what kind of team they have. You lose athletes and then the product on the field suffers.”
Rosen, an economics major who is entering his junior season at UCLA, focused on the lucrative business of college football, saying “there’s so much money being made in this sport.”
“No one in their right mind should have a football player’s schedule and go to school,” he said. “It’s not that some players shouldn’t be in school; it’s just that universities should help them more — instead of just finding ways to keep them eligible.
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