Football: It can be a slippery slope for some blue-chip prospects

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Did you know that blue-chip high school football prospects are as likely to get arrested during their college careers as they are being named first-team All-America? Well, that’s what was revealed when taking a look at the players who were ranked among the nation’s Top 25 prospects by two leading recruiting services in four recent classes.

That and the following are some of the interesting points presented in Scott M. Reid’s take on the football recruiting process in a story today in the O.C. Register.

Reid tells us that additionally, the review of the college careers of the 133 recruits that received Top 25 national rankings from either SuperPrep or Rivals.com between 2002 and 2005 show mixed results.

• Only one out of every four Top 25 signees earned first-team all-conference honors in college.

• Nineteen out of the 133 earned first-team All-America honors. The same number of players were arrested during their college careers.

• Players who completed their college careers and were available for the NFL draft were more than twice as likely to go undrafted as they were to be picked in the first round.

• Twenty players were suspended at least once during their college careers. Six failed to qualify academically at the university they signed with, and 10 were ruled academically ineligible after they enrolled.

-- Editor Bob

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