Football Players Can Be Smart

Over at The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn's policy blog makes the following observation about two college football players (Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III) that figure prominently in the current bowl season:

Luck carried a 3.45 average at Stanford, studying architecture, and passed up huge money last year to finish his studies. The Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Robert Griffin III of Baylor, maintained a 3.76, finished his political science degree in three years, and is expected to graduate with a masters. Both are Academic All-Americans.

Cohn's point -- recognizing the often overlooked fact that some of the country's most elite collegiate athletes also happen to be some of their most promising students -- reminded me of this brief Terps news item that made me smile a couple of weeks ago.

Listed first (alphabetically) among the eleven football players that participated in the graduation ceremony is the remarkable Kevin Dorsey, Maryland's receiving leader in 2011. Mr. Dorsey graduated with a degree in economics as a junior.

The Diamondback ran a great profile on the player back in September that concludes with this quote from Mr. Dorsey:

"This is fun. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get an education that's paid for through athletics and be able to go out and do something you love every single day."

Exactly.

Congratulations to Kevin and to every other student athlete who walked on the 21st and 22nd.