Ohio State football: Nick Bosa going pro means problems for college football

Nick Bosa is doing the right thing for Nick Bosa by not returning to the Ohio State football program. But where does his decision leave college football?

Of course Nick Bosa shouldn’t return to the Ohio State football program.

It makes zero sense. He’s already pegged by many to be the No. 1 overall pick. He’s got enough film. Nothing he does on the field is going to sway evaluators.

Win a National Championship. It’s all well and good. But who, besides Buckeye fans, really cares?

Obviously he doesn’t. It’s something he’s prepared to live with though, because on the day Bosa announced he was leaving school, he became a pro athlete.

By playing for the Ohio State football program this fall, all he does is increase the risk he’ll get hurt again, which could hurt his draft status.

Yeesh. Who says college football isn’t a business?

For all the cracks made about the pro game, the college game never rails to remind us of its warts.

Bosa isn’t setting the precedent here. It’s more trendy than in the past for players to miss the season to continue rehabbing an injury. More commonly, players are just skipping the bowl games in preparation for the draft.

And players leave school early all the time, most often after their junior year, when they’re eligible to do so.

But perhaps the next concern should be: What happens when a guy puts two great years together, is already talked about being a first-round talent and just skips his third-year all together?

Bosa played in three games this year. If he hadn’t played in those three games, would you still not take him with one of the top two draft picks?

It’s not crazy. A player will be criticized for not having heart, and he’ll take beatings on all the national sports shows, but at the end of the day, when his draft day nears, nobody will really care.

Fans will just wonder how much better he’ll make his new team and they’ll be thankful he doesn’t have an injury history.

Coaches will just be excited to have a shiny new sports car on the field, healthy and ready to roll.

Ultimately, players play football…duh. And when the players don’t want to play? The product suffers.

And that’s the case for this Buckeyes team. They’re losing a premier talent that should be on board, helping Ohio State win another national title.

Instead, college football gets diluted because the program’s best players have already left for the NFL.

If you can live without winning even trying to win championship, which Bosa believes he can, college football has no way to incentivize players to stay. And save the educational mumbo jumbo. Players are eligible to leave after their junior years. Many go back and finish their degrees.

Will something like what happened with Bosa happen again? Of course. Will it happen more frequently. I really think it could.