When it comes to the NFL Draft, some players leave school well before they are ready to try and chase their dream of playing at the professional level. Sometimes, they are not picked up by any team and left to hope for a job in the days of being an undrafted free agent and Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema wants to change that.
Bielema recently spoke with recently spoke with Bo Mattingly of Coaching Search and talked about how he wants to see kids get another chance at the collegiate level. He proposed an idea of allowing undrafted underclassmen to return to college football, whether it is at their original school or another.
Bielema: I’m reaching out to coaches & putting together collective thoughts on undrafted players possibly returning to school.
— Bo Mattingly (@SportandStoryBo) May 9, 2016
Here is more of that interview that explains Bielema reaching out to other coaches in the SEC.
“I haven’t touched base with Gus (Malzahn) yet, but he had two that didn’t get drafted. Dan (Mullen) did as well. Ohio State had a couple,” Bielema said. “Those coaches, I’m reaching out to them and trying to put together some collective thoughts on how to approach it. Now, some kids maybe had to move on for academic reasons or personal or their own story. But if you have a guy like Denver (Kirkland) who’s on progression to graduate, is doing the right things and needs another year (can we change something?)”
My opinion, for what it is worth, very much reflects Bret Bielema’s stance on this. However, I feel they should have the chance to return and play out their eligibility if they have not yet obtained their degree.
Whatever the case may be, the policy needs a major face lift and it looks like Bielema is leading the charge in trying to do just that.
