Titans DC suggests his players should injure opponents

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

It's pretty unlikely these kids are getting great guidance heading into college. They're 17, 18, 19 when they're going to school. I can remember the things I was concerned about back then and personal responsibility wasn't at the top of the list.

Plus they're going to school to play football. That takes up a lot of time. Especially if they're striving for that to be their full time job when they leave college. Education is probably an after though. And guys on a scholarship are being told how great they are by everyone. And their positive reinforcement is all about football.

We've seen the SAT scores of a lot of these players. I bet it's hard to focus on education if you have problems with basic reading and writing. I've seen smart kids get easily lost in school. If school isn't a focus or you didn't win the DNA lottery for brains, you're probably going to struggle. And then lose interest. And then get lost. Especially in these big college programs with huge numbers of students.

It works out for some, but others could probably use some guidance and positive role models in their lives. They probably need some people that care about them as people and don't objectify them as football players.

We're all victims or slaves in this world to money, power, greed. We all start out innocent. And someone eventually takes advantage of our innocence and takes it away. We're lucky if we have someone to protect it. Not so much if we don't. We've all gotta make the best of it and do the best we can.

But it looks from the outside like big dollars are involved and many of the players that make it in the league come from modest backgrounds. They're effectively kids when they start down this path.

It's the American way. Think coal miners, migrant workers, any one of a number of professions, I mean jobs, where kids grow up with few other options and so get hired at great short term and long term personal risk for the benefit of stockholders . "Would you have it any other way?" (he asked at least somewhat rhetorically)?

(Dang, how is that sentence supposed to be punctuated????)

[Slapstick]

Personal responsibility is a big part of it...

That is a very difficult thing to instill in teenagers and young adults these days...they seem to want to learn the hard way...

I teach at a high school that has produced three NFL players over the last 10-11 years...those players come back and tell the students here to stay in school, make the most of opportunities, etc....and it even sticks for a few days before all of those lessons go out the window...

It is the nature of teenagers and young adults...and difficult to overcome...