Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and defensive end Michael Bennett meticulously tore apart a number of the most frequent arguments against paying student-athletes on Thursday. They also provided a candid view on the hypocrisy and frustration that they say exists within NCAA locker rooms around the country.
You should really watch the videos below in their entirety. But for those who don’t have time, we’ve broken down the best points by subject. (Thanks to Deadspin for first transcribing a lot of this, by the way.)
Sherman on the unrealistic expectations placed on student-athletes:
I would love for a regular student to have a student-athlete’s schedule during the season for just one quarter or one semester and show me how you’ll balance that. Show me how you would schedule your classes when you can’t schedule classes from 2 to 6 o’clock on any given day. Show me how you’re going to get all your work done when after you get out at 7:30 or so, you’ve got a test the next day, you’re dead tired from practice and you still have to study just as hard as everybody else every day and get all the same work done.
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When I was in college, you know, I’m going to class, and then some student comes to me and says “I pay your tuition.” I’m like, you don’t pay my damn tuition. My mom paid my tuition when she worked two jobs, and I woke up every morning at 6 a.m. and I worked hard. To think about that, it makes me so mad and irate to think that people are so simple-minded when it comes to something like that.
Bennett on what it feels like now:
I think there are very few schools that actually care about the players.
