Life as a College Football Player (USA)--Help?

[3113]

I'm writing up a short story and I'd like some insight into the lives of U.S. College Football Players once they've been recuited and are on the team. There was an ESPN show that actually gave an inside view of Pro-Football life, but I figure college is a bit different. They're all so young and going to classes as well as practice, partying and gaining fame and, I assume, making real money.

There are books on the subject that I could buy, but I'd rather not go that far. Interestingly, I've yet to find any insight on the internet outside of collage football scandals

If anyone has any info, could you can post it here or pm me? I don't need much, but I'd like to give the story a little verisimilitude.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I'm writing up a short story and I'd like some insight into the lives of U.S. College Football Players once they've been recuited and are on the team. There was an ESPN show that actually gave an inside view of Pro-Football life, but I figure college is a bit different. They're all so young and going to classes as well as practice, partying and gaining fame and, I assume, making real money.

There are books on the subject that I could buy, but I'd rather not go that far. Interestingly, I've yet to find any insight on the internet outside of collage football scandals

If anyone has any info, could you can post it here or pm me? I don't need much, but I'd like to give the story a little verisimilitude.

I know a good bit about the college programs. A lot will depend on what kind of program (Division 1A, II or III) and what position he plays. Also, if it's a clean or dirty program.

Just pm me and let me know what you need, I may be able to help.

 

[3113]

I know a good bit about the college programs. A lot will depend on what kind of program (Division 1A, II or III) and what position he plays. Also, if it's a clean or dirty program.

Just pm me and let me know what you need, I may be able to help.

Excellent! thank you. I have to get my husband's computer repaired, but I'll be back and pm-ing you with plenty of questions....

Um...maybe I'd better start right here and ask...what are the Divisions? I guess I kinda forgot to mention that I know diddily-squat about Football.

 

[patricia51]

Division 1 is the big time colleges....... Notre Dame, USC, The Southeastern Conference, the Big Ten, PAC 10, etc. Then you go down the scales to 1A, II and III where you will find like Slippery Rock Teacher's College. All I can tell you pretty much after that, besides being a rabid Georgia Bulldog fan is that back when I was in college my roommate and I tripped up the quarteback at a party...... I better shut up and let you talk to Colly....

 

[CopyCarver]

I didn't play football in college, but I was varsity hockey and I used to be friends with/ party with football players on the number-two ranked team in the country. I'm pretty familiar with the realities if you have questions that go "inside" the life.

 

[Guest]

back when I was in college my roommate and I tripped up the quarteback at a party.

Damn, as the clumsy, slow, out of shape guy with bad eye-hand coordination, I'd always hoped those stories were just guy bravado. So it really happened! (I'm crushed).

 

[patricia51]

Damn, as the clumsy, slow, out of shape guy with bad eye-hand coordination, I'd always hoped those stories were just guy bravado. So it really happened! (I'm crushed).

Ted-E, he wasn't bad but I'll tell you something... the president of the Chess Club was AWESOME

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Excellent! thank you. I have to get my husband's computer repaired, but I'll be back and pm-ing you with plenty of questions....

Um...maybe I'd better start right here and ask...what are the Divisions? I guess I kinda forgot to mention that I know diddily-squat about Football.

Division 1-A is the big schools, but also includes some smaller conferences, sometimes called the mid majors. Here is where you will find the SEC, Big 10, PAC 10, ACC, and Big East. You'll also find an independant or two like Notre Dame.

Division II is smaller schools, you'll find conferences there like the Mac and Mountain west.

Traditionally, your old "black' schools play in Div II or III so you'll find grambling and Alcorn and livingston and southern there.

ETA: you get some rivalry games in some conferences. or across conference. Ole Miss and Mississippi State play the egg bowl against each other each year, Alabama plays Auburn in the iron bowl. Georgia plays Georgia tech in the game called Plain, old fashioned hate

As well as across confrence, teams play across division too. So you will sometimes see something like Nebraska at Acron or Memphis State Vs. Miss. State.

Div 1-a schools can play div II schools. these count towards overall record, but don't count towards BCS ranking. From a players POV winning is what counts, but for the schools, the big money from the bowl games is what counts, so you don't see as much of this as you used too. Back in the day, all that mattered was your reacors, so teams like Nebraska were perinial championship contenders, because they spent most of the season trashing Div II and div II teams.

 

[R. Richard]

I'm writing up a short story and I'd like some insight into the lives of U.S. College Football Players once they've been recuited and are on the team. There was an ESPN show that actually gave an inside view of Pro-Football life, but I figure college is a bit different. They're all so young and going to classes as well as practice, partying and gaining fame and, I assume, making real money.

In the big Div I programs, the players are recruited from the best of the high school programs and also the junior college programs. They do go to class, but most of the classes are something like Football Theory or Underwater basket Weaving. The players typically live in special dorms, eat at a training table, lift weights, etc. They are pros, but have to take the money under the table.

In the lesser Div I and Div II programs, the players are the leftovers from the big Div I programs. They actually have to go to real classes, but you don't find a lot of them in Chemical Engineering or Computer Science. Some of the schools helo the top players with housing, food, etc.

In the Div III programs, the players are actually students who play football after class.

If you follow a typical Div I football player through high school, he becomes a football specialist around his 11th grade year. He is being recruited by several schools and they contact him on pretty much a day by day basis. The colleges will visit him and/or have him visit them as often as the rules allow, plus some very inventive rule bending.

There is a local kid who just happens to weigh 305 very muscular pounds thanks to a state of the art high school weight room and some injections he got during the summers. [I don't know exactly what the injected him with, but it wasn't for chicken pox.] One of his buddies decided to go on a road trip to see one of the big Div I schools play. The buddy invited him along, just because they were buddies. The buddies went to the game town and checked into a nice motel, ate well, sat in 50 yard line seats and "just happened to meet some of the players." The buddy, like most high school students scrimps and saves just to keep gas in his car. I will leave it to your imagination as to where he got the road trip money.

 

[3113]

I'm going for Division II, I think. Some midwestern college that is by no means big league, but has enough clout to be broadcast on local television, hand out football scholarships...that sort of thing.

Would that be Division II?

 

[R. Richard]

I'm going for Division II, I think. Some midwestern college that is by no means big league, but has enough clout to be broadcast on local television, hand out football scholarships...that sort of thing.

Would that be Division II?

Sounds like Div II. The Div III schools normally don't hand out athletic scholarships, at least not except in very rare cases. However, even a Div III school can be on local TV, depending on the area.

 

[BlackSnake]

Division 1 is the big time colleges....... Notre Dame, USC, The Southeastern Conference, the Big Ten, PAC 10, etc. Then you go down the scales to 1A, II and III where you will find like Slippery Rock Teacher's College. All I can tell you pretty much after that, besides being a rabid Georgia Bulldog fan is that back when I was in college my roommate and I tripped up the quarteback at a party...... I better shut up and let you talk to Colly....

Go Dawgs!

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I didn't play football in college, but I was varsity hockey and I used to be friends with/ party with football players on the number-two ranked team in the country. I'm pretty familiar with the realities if you have questions that go "inside" the life.

Hockey?? *PERK*

My husband played hockey...

<---loves hockey players...

 

[3113]

I didn't play football in college, but I was varsity hockey and I used to be friends with/ party with football players on the number-two ranked team in the country. I'm pretty familiar with the realities if you have questions that go "inside" the life.

I'll take any insights I can get, thank you very much.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

More football fluff:

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) divides college football into four categories. I-A, I-AA, II, III. The primary difference between them is the number of scholarships they can grant. What follows is an approximation: Div I grants about 90, I-AA 60, II 30, and III none.

Divisions aside, the thing most fans don't realize about American college football is that the NCAA, which governs all other aspects of major college sports, doesn't control the college football money. The universities of Georgia and Oklahoma went to court and wrestled that away from the NCAA. That laid the groundwork for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) with consists of the the biggest of the big schools and conferences in Div I-A.

From what you've said, I'd think a non-BCS, Div I-A school would be perfect, and would suggest you look at the Mid-American Conference (known as the MAC). They play in the shadow of the Big 10 but consistently produce players who go on to the NFL.

Here's a list of the MAC schools with last year's conference and overall records.

East
Akron (OH) 5-3 7-5

Miami (OH) 5-3 7-4

Bowling Green (OH) 5-3 6-5

Ohio (?) 3-5 4-7

Buffalo (NY) 1-7 1-10

Kent State (OH) 0-8 1-10

West
Northern Illinois 6-2 7-5

Toledo (OH) 6-2 8-3

Western Michigan 5-3 7-4

Central Michigan 5-3 6-5

Ball State (OH) 4-4 4-7

Eastern Michigan 3-5 4-7

One last item, even the "outlaw" programs aren't as wild as they once were. About ten years ago, a man was arrested in LA who was functionally illiterate. Turns out he'd played football for four years at USC back in (I believe) the seventies. Now days things aren't pure, but the NCAA requires minimum test scores to enter school on a scholarship, monitors graduation rates and courses taken, and compulsory housing in a jock dorm has been outlawed

That's probably more than enough for now. Hope some of it helps.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[CopyCarver]

QUOTE=SelenaKittyn]Hockey?? *PERK*

My husband played hockey...

<---loves hockey players... [/QUOTE]


Great thing about hockey: you don't need medical tests to determine the source of all the aches and pains that crop up years after the fact.

I'll take any insights I can get, thank you very much.

Glad to help, but I don't want to bore you with more information than you really want to know. Would you like answers to specific questions, generalities, or ???

 

[Huckleman2000]

I used to work with a guy who played Div II football, and actually went on to play Pro in Canada for a few years.

The stories he told about wild sex things seemed to revolve around groups, and also some kind of weird homoerotic subtext. Not orgies exactly, but pairing off and having sex in the same room, or sharing women. And locker-room/dorm-bathroom behavior like several guys pissing on the guy who just shampooed up in the shower stall - that was an escalating prank. Also, women were aggressors in many, if not most, of the sex situations. "Like, these two chicks at the party just started making out with us at the same time!"

It just sounded to me like a really physically-charged atmosphere all the time, and alwaays with teammates around. Just my impression.

 

[3113]

That's probably more than enough for now. Hope some of it helps.

It's certainly more than enough. Very little of this will make it into the story--but the more I know the less likely I'll be to make some sort of bad stumble...which probably wouldn't matter to 99% of the readers (so long as the sex is good, right?), but I care.

Here's a question: Do players just get scholarships, or do they get paid as well? Those college games must make a ton of money and I know a lot gets funneled back into the school and the athletic programs themselves...but does any go to the players?

 

[3113]

The stories he told about wild sex things seemed to revolve around groups, and also some kind of weird homoerotic subtext. Not orgies exactly, but pairing off and having sex in the same room, or sharing women. And locker-room/dorm-bathroom behavior like several guys pissing on the guy who just shampooed up in the shower stall - that was an escalating prank. Also, women were aggressors in many, if not most, of the sex situations. "Like, these two chicks at the party just started making out with us at the same time!"

It just sounded to me like a really physically-charged atmosphere all the time, and alwaays with teammates around. Just my impression.

Wonderful information...alas, that's really a different story from the one I'm writing. Inspiring all the same. Not really surprising either. If I ever decide to go for the group sex category....

 

[3113]

Glad to help, but I don't want to bore you with more information than you really want to know. Would you like answers to specific questions, generalities, or ???

Yes. Was hockey a 24/7 thing--you thought about it most of the time, wanted to play it, hung with teammates, lived it, breathed it, ate it....

Was it, in other words, rather like being in the army? Or did you have a life outside of it? Did you ever think about life outside of it, or beyond it? Or was your time in Hockey all in the now?

 

[R. Richard]

Here's a question: Do players just get scholarships, or do they get paid as well? Those college games must make a ton of money and I know a lot gets funneled back into the school and the athletic programs themselves...but does any go to the players?

The players get crumbs from the table. It is enough to live on and even enough to live it up a bit. However, it is hundreds of dollars for a guy who will literally make millions when he signs a pro contract.

 

[R. Richard]

Wonderful information...alas, that's really a different story from the one I'm writing. Inspiring all the same. Not really surprising either. If I ever decide to go for the group sex category....

Even if you don't want to go for group sex, there are always groupies around a football team. The guys tend to party together, at least in small groups of players. Public sex is a normal part of the process. However, you can always use an isolated groupy pursuing the player and work that against the main love interest.

A football team IS an army. Each guy has to do his job or the whole effort collapses. In a real army, the goal is survival. In a football army, the goal is the BIG pro contract.

 

[Huckleman2000]

...Here's a question: Do players just get scholarships, or do they get paid as well? Those college games must make a ton of money and I know a lot gets funneled back into the school and the athletic programs themselves...but does any go to the players?

You're right, the games make a fortune for the schools. apart from their scholarships, though, the players themselves are not recipients of that largesse. My favorite team, the University of Wisconsin Badgers, had a scandal a few years back over an athletic shoe store that gave players discounts on their merchandise. So, an athletic shoe company can make a deal with the University for sponsorship, but an individual athlete is prohibited from even getting a discount on their shoes that they wear outside the game.

Many of the replies have been sort of cynical about the 'under-the-table' payments, but almost every year there is one University or another that gets busted for some really mundane infractions.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Here's a question: Do players just get scholarships, or do they get paid as well? Those college games must make a ton of money and I know a lot gets funneled back into the school and the athletic programs themselves...but does any go to the players?

Players get an all-expenses paid stay in college, but they don't get any cash. This has caused some hand-wringing due to the situation of players from economically disadvantage backgrounds. The "get out of jail" on that rule is summer jobs which are often, but not always, obtained through the school.

Among colleges, a few "big time" programs in major conferences have mega-budgets, but most operate on a shoe-string. Only two college sports make a profit: football and men's basketball. All other sports, both men's and women's, depend on the money raised from those two programs to balance the books. At smaller schools, especially those which seldom appear on TV, even football and men's basketball are money losers. The difference is made up by student fees and donations from boosters.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[3113]

Many of the replies have been sort of cynical about the 'under-the-table' payments, but almost every year there is one University or another that gets busted for some really mundane infractions.

Well, then why not just go into the pros and skip playing for college altogether? As I understand it (and I could be hopelessly wrong) players can do that now. Straight from high school into the pros?