Because he has already sacrificed his status as an amateur athlete, he cannot play college ball. Young is an example of a player who has great potential, but who needed a year or two of college to realize that potential. However, professional sports teams can no longer ignore the upside of young athletes who declare themselves eligible early. Nobody wants to be the general manager who passes up the next Kobe Bryant. Many professional athletes come from poor families and homes.
Athletic scholarships are often their only hope of attending college.
When athletes go pro, they have a chance to earn more money in a year than many people see in a lifetime. I have a problem condemning players for deciding to eliminate many of their problems and their families' problems while playing a game they love. However, it's refreshing to see a player like Peppers, who is waiting for the best opportunity, instead of rushing headstrong to the pros. After he decided to stay in school, he said he still needed to work on his game before he went to the NFL, and he wanted to get one year closer to his degree. So Peppers will hang around for his junior year and probably head for the NFL after that, much to the woe of John Bunting, Matt Doherty and Tar Heels everywhere, but you can' t hold it against Peppers.