The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Could opt outs ever infiltrate H.S. sports?
Unlike, “That guy is going to be playing on Sundays,” it was a phrase you don’t often hear in college football.
Unlike, “That guy is going to be playing on Sundays,” it was a phrase you don’t often hear during a college football bowl game.
It was the Cheez-It Bowl on Dec. 29 between Oklahoma State and Miami (Fla.).
As ESPN returned from halftime, the announcement was made. Cowboys receiver Tylan Wallace, an NFL draft prospect, would not be playing in the second half.
Not because of injury. Not because coaches sat him for conduct, attitude or poor performance.
It was a “player’s decision.”
After the Cowboys’ 3734 win, Coach Mike Gundy stated Wallace playing the first half was the plan all along.
“We just talked with him and at some point we wanted to get some players in the game that were going to be here next year and we wanted to protect him,” Gundy said. “I’m not going to say that what happened with Miami’s quarterback didn’t have a little bit of effect on that.”
Gundy was referring to a knee injury suffered by Hurricanes quarterback D’Eriq King. It looked bad, and that presumption was confirmed, as King was diagnosed with a torn right anterior cruciate ligament.
It has become common — and student-athletes are allowed to do with their futures whatever they desire — for college football players to opt out of bowl games in preparation for the NFL draft.
Doing so mid-game? That’s a unique approach.
Seeing Wallace in uniform but no longer with pads on, it brought a question to mind:
If college student-athletes opt out in order to ready themselves for the next level, could such a move ever be seen in high school sports?
If a student-athlete has their college future sorted, could they decide to not participate in their senior year of their sport with an eye toward the future?
It’s not likely or in most cases advisable, mind you. It would likely only happen with Power 5 conferencetype student-athletes.
And it’s always important to note, student-athletes and their families should have power over plotting their future.
But it’s not a wholly unreasonable thought.
We’re well out of that season, but there’s a case to be made this philosophy has already infiltrated soccer.
We’ve discussed ad nauseam in this space over the years the pull club soccer has over the high school game. In recent years, it has become more common for standout players to bypass playing for their high school in the fall in order to work on technical skill or play with a club side.
Without belaboring this point, high school soccer is about representing your community and playing with your friends as much as the game itself. If you want to play club or attend skill training the other nine months of the year, knock yourself out.
But unless you’re a United States national or regional pool player, headed to a big-time Division I program or it leads to a significantly better college opportunity, forgoing high school soccer in the fall seems ill-advised.
With the exceptions, they’re clearly doing so with an eye for the future. They don’t want to do anything to jeopardize their college career. Getting injured playing for their high school or, in the eyes of a college coach, not developing their game enough in what is indisputably a less technical version of the sport, is a gamble.
Perhaps such a premise could also apply in a sport such as tennis or golf. Maybe going to the local court and recording a 6-0, 6-0 win or heading to the back nine at the course down the street doesn’t get a tennis player or golfer ready for the college game.
In basketball, the impact of AAU and travel ball cannot be understated. Some players decide, for the betterment of their skill set, they need to go elsewhere to find it. So in a sense, they opt out.
Particularly in contact sports, similar logic could apply at the high school level.
One wrong hit or move could lead to major injury that could adversely impact an eventual college scholarship.
Let’s be real: It’s partially why we don’t see as many two- and three-sport athletes anymore.
Specialization occurs in part because college coaches don’t want their future talent participating in other sports. Football players are at times openly discouraged, for example, from taking on track and field in the spring — absurd as that is.
I’m reminded of a scene many years ago at a track and field invitational. A student-athlete who had a Division I football scholarship was participating in high jump. He was clearly close to but not quite 100%. But he was determined to gut out the event for his team. A football coach from another school who knew the player approached him and openly asked him if it was “worth it.”
The coach meant well, of course, trying to look out for the student-athlete’s health. But the optics were far from ideal.
Student-athletes deciding to forgo part of their college experience to go pro is time you don’t get back. You have to be sure.
No opt out occurs without heavy consideration for reasons deemed a higher priority.
Same goes for high school.
If you want to be a productive standout college student-athlete, what to do with your high school career is important.
For most, staying the course and seeing through the entirety of four of the most important years of your life should be the choice.
The quality of competition or risk for injury — a risk, by the way, that would exist no matter what decisions were or were not made — exists in high school, too.
Tylan Wallace is not a bad person because he wants to get ready for the NFL draft.
A soccer player who forgoes high school in the fall for academy training is not evil for wanting to do what they, their family or future college coach thinks is best.
But when several factors are on the table, the chances of opting out with an eye for the bigger picture increases.
It does run against the grain of the core of what makes high school sports special. Depending on the case, though, maybe it does have to be considered more and will be.
Even if most of them won’t be playing on Sundays in the end.