College Athletes Quotes

I don't think college athletes are given enough time to really take advantage of the free education that they're given, and it's frustrating because a lot of people get upset with student-athletes and say, 'They're not focused on school and they're not taking advantage of the opportunity they're given.'

I do support college athletes and the opportunity for them to be paid a stipend.

A lot of kids my age can make a lot of mistakes, but college athletes that are in the spotlight, you have to grow up so much faster than regular students or regular kids your age because you are a public figure, so you get one shot, sometimes two.

I don't think we should ever compensate players. I think we can do as much as we can for players. The cost of attendance is good. They get more meals now so they can keep their meal money. I think those are all good things and I think more of those things should have been done. But I don't think you can compensate players straight out.

If the NFL can keep getting away with forcing players to wait three years out of high school before they're drafted - three! - the NCAA should be made to do away with its rules against paying players beyond room, board and tuition. I'm not talking about some token, $2,000-a-year 'spending money' stipend for every player.

Guess what, the cheerleaders in college are the best athletes in college. You think, I'm joking, they're almost all gymnasts, the stuff they do on hard wood, it blows my mind.

A college athlete is going to be competitive. You don't get to that level if you're not.

You know what's sad about this? Not the gambling, but the best way to reach college athletes is the Cartoon Network.

College baseball, I love it. I love to work with the younger kids who are trying to live out their dreams, if in fact that's what they plan on doing after college to take the next step.

We got to think of other ways to help these kids out because there's a lot of kids who get hurt in college and then don't make it to the NFL and don't have insurance, and their entire lives are changed when they put their bodies on the line for their school.

A lot of people talk about the one-and-done attitude of college athletes, but if you look at the University of Kentucky, we do build winners.

As bad as some of the teams in the NFL seem to be, they all have way more talent than any college.

What I tell student athletes is first of all, you've made good choices this far in order to be able to be in college and to be an athlete. Keep making good choices.

You see a lot of smaller-school guys go to the NFL and have success: Carson Wentz, Derek Carr for example.

Some college athletes don't want to turn pro, they don't want to take the cut in pay.

What would be wrong with letting a kid go pro, and if it doesn't work out he can come back to college? What's the harm in that? The reason is the word "amateurism." The NCAA has to protect colleges' tax exemption.

LeBron james came, and he gets $10 million a year. There was no stigma or blemish, like you have with one-and-done. Now people say, "He's not a student, he's an athlete." Well, of course he's not a student! He's here for one year and he told you he's here for one year, and the school took him with open arms.

I think the colleges should be free to give athletes less than a full scholarship, no scholarship and more than a scholarship. And the athletes should be free to bargain.

If the players aren't getting paid, there's something terribly, terribly wrong, and that's true only in the United States. Everywhere else, where money is involved with sport, the players get paid. But these poor kids in college, they're doing it for free, and that's just disgraceful.

Stop the nonsense about 'student-athlete.'

Here were these college kids beating the Soviets and going on to the Olympic Gold Medal. To me, that's the greatest upset of all time in any sport that I can think of.

Going to that level, a lot of guys get to the NFL, and they don't make a long career out of it. The NFL is very hard. One percent of college athletes make it to the NFL.

Obviously, college stars deserve substantial compensation, right?

There were very few people who were both intercollegiate athletes and Star Men.

We play the whole summer. I do think guys should be compensated. Just like I think college players should be compensated as well. Unfortunately, it's not there. But I think it should be something, you know, there for it.