Rockne's Roundtable

Just saw this on twitter as well. Though, much to my irritation, most of the posts accompanying this announcement contained a comment like, "This is a stupid decision," or "Why would he go back? Huge mistake." I mean, I get the argument that Russell Wilson is gone, and therefore, there's a strong possibility that Wisconsin will not be as successful as they were this year. I also can't necessarily always fault a college athlete for doing what he believes is best for him and his family in a given situation. I hated to see Clausen and Tate leave ND, but I understood the issue of timing with the new coaching regime, etc. I also believe that those two are both taking steps to complete their degrees.

My problem is that anyone, for any reason, would call out a college athlete for opting to complete a college degree and live up to their agreement of playing for 4 years at a given university. Might he get injured? Sure. Might they be a less successful team? Sure. Might his draft stock even decrease? Sure. Might he "lose millions"? Sure. But those are not the most important things in life, and that money isn't guaranteed his to lose at this point. Personally, I'm happy to see talented guys like Andrew Luck and Manti Te'o and Montee Ball doing what they perceive to be the right thing and sticking with the commitment they made when they signed on to play D1 football instead of bolting for the first opportunity to make some money.