He's right on the money! Irish have had a number of players in the last 10 years leave early and not get drafted at all. I'm sure the agents retort will be that even if they don't get drafted and end up on a practice squad they'll be making money instead of playing for free, but they'd be better off getting their degree and maybe improving their draft status. But I get it that some of these guys just don't care about that in the first place. Saban: Players lose by entering NFL draft early
Some guys should leave early when their draft status is high but too many are doing so when they shouldn't. Some would indeed be better NBA players with another year of college...but might also lose their draft status if they have a bad year or, of course, suffer an injury.
Saban was actually saying that players with an assessment of being taken in the lower rounds of the draft are signing 3rd round salaries and are leaving millions on the table. He has always been upfront about 1st round draftees going if they want to, but he advises against others. Of course there is the chance of injuries but he also emphasizes that they should have a degree to fall back on also. Finebaum is an idiot.
I can absolutely see a kid who is going to be a 1st round choice going early, beyond that who knows. That kid that Saban mentioned, maybe he has a great Senior year or maybe he doesn't or maybe he gets injured, 3rd round money is still pretty darn good. But I agree with him on the kids who have late round grades or free agent grades...stay even if you don't improve your status and get your degree. The NBA draft is a different animal, there is only 2 rounds, and European players are a factor and the step up from college is so big that even a late 1st rounder is a riske whether or not he'll even make the team much less play. 2nd rounders they are almost throw aways. I don't know how many players are leaving early, I see a couple of sites that have lists and it looks like less than 50 though. Don't know if that's a complete list or not. But add in the kids who have run out of eligibility and it's a lot more. Most won't even get drafted and will either go to the G-League or to overseas leagues. BTW, ND Jr. Jackie Young declared for the WNBA draft, this isn't very common with women players as there really isn't a lot of money in playing in the WNBA. Women tend to play all 4 years and graduate before going pro.
I'm not sure of the numbers but I think Saban said the difference between a 3rd round choice and a first round DB was.about 16 million over 3 yrs. I think that was his point. I don't don't know if Harrison graduated or not
These kids can be so easily influenced by agents and the media that I think this is part of the problem also. I stand with Saban on this one. Stay in school, work towards your degree and then decide. Money is the driving force.
Saban is right, as usual. We treat these kids like Gods. They are surrounded by posses and blood sucking agents. They get their heads filled with a lot of ****. It's hard to blame the kid because he's living in an imaginary land that no one really drags him out of since it's part of the pitch that was sold to him to come to the university. It snowballs until he's bailing early and screwing himself for the next 30 years.