Life of a College Football Athlete
Whilst watching college football games, I sometimes have to remind myself that I am actually watching university students. High-performing university students, but students nonetheless. It is easy to forget when you see them performing in front of a stadium full of people that they are exactly that.
Now university was a long time ago for me personally, but my memories of sports are centred around my university’s football ground on Wednesday afternoons. Possibly still hungover and probably clutching a Lucozade Sport and a Yorkie bar as a “pre-match meal”. Our adoring fans consisted of a couple of local dog walkers and a few excitable canines who would occasionally “do their business” on the pitch.
“I bet Messi didn’t have to put up with this…”
The comparison between college players and my own attempts at sporting glory are of course silly. These are not just students, they are student-athletes. An important distinction. But I couldn’t help pondering what their life was like as a student. Did they too fall asleep in lectures? Were they also experts in making the perfect bowl of super-noodles or answering the Countdown conundrum on a Tuesday afternoon?
The Answers are in Boise
Curiosity got the better of me and I went in search of answers.
I found them at Boise State University where the football programme is flying high after a great season. The Broncos won the Mountain West Conference, secured a bye for the first round of the first-ever 12-team playoff and pushed Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl on their way to being listed 8th in the AP Top 25 poll.
I spoke to David Dietrich (Assistant Director, Media Relations) who was kind enough to give me a good insight into the schedule of a college athlete.
Enter the Broncos
Firstly a few words about the Boise State Broncos, which if you are not familiar, are based in Boise, Idaho. Idaho is located in the North West of the United States. Latest figures online suggest that the population is around 1.9 million making it one of the lesser-populated states, albeit growing quite rapidly.
Idaho’s capital Boise, as a sports market, does not boast any major league teams. Therefore there is a stronger community focus and tie to the Broncos who are well supported. All of its home games in the 2024 season were sold out.
In turn, its college alumni often build a strong link to the community with many staying local after graduation.
The Finite Career of a College Athlete
The first point to make is that only 105 players are allowed on a football squad each year. Such a small percentage of the intake for any university year. The majority of these will not be expecting to make it as a professional in the NFL and for most, this is their last opportunity to play football.
As such, motivation is generally not hard to find in the locker room. Whether that is motivation to train or motivation to get their studies done. Getting a place as 1 of 105 is a privilege and staying there requires work.
In addition, under NCAA rules a college football career can last for 4 seasons over a 5 year period. This can be slightly extended for injury/other external factors but the general timelines are clear.
Given this finite career span, the college-athlete life is intense and a University Athletics Department will make a significant investment in making sure an individual is well placed to thrive.
For an athletics department, that investment starts by working with the Admissions team to understand who will be coming into the programme. We hear quite a lot about the recruiting process, national signing day and top prospects announcing that they will be coming to a University. But the athletics department must consider the wider squad.
Early Starts
At Boise State, each squad member on the football team will be at the training facility by 6am each morning. Once in, they will participate in a series of meetings and workouts. Each member of the team will receive a personalised workout plan to follow and support.
In addition each college-athlete will receive a personalised diet plan which they are expected to follow. No one is monitoring every meal but clearly the results will be seen on the playing field.
These team sessions finish up at 11.30 am and the players will have some lunch and then settle down to focus on their studies.
University works slightly differently in the US to the UK, where the focus is on achieving a certain grade point average (GPA) across various modules.
For most college athletes, especially higher profile ones, most of their work can be completed online. This gives them the opportunity to also get ahead of some of the studying in the early Summer, especially if they are new on campus.
The rest of their day is their own to be college kids, within the boundaries of making sure they are ready of 6.30am the next day…
I personally did not appreciate the emphasis that was placed on the academic side of things. It is clear that this underpins everything that happens on campus. Should one of the athletes be struggling to keep the GPA above the minimum baseline, academic advisors are on hand to offer support. This will include one-on-one sessions to make sure everything is going as it should.
What happens after the season ends?
A college football season is very intense, running from late-August to mid-January for the playoffs. By what happens when the season ends? How do the players keep themselves in shape?
The January and February schedule is slightly different with workouts taking place between 8-10am. There are no team meetings during this period so the focus is all on strength and conditioning.
From March and April, Spring Practice starts and this will consist of 10 practices split at around 2/3 a week. In UK terms we might consider this early pre-season where the football staff start getting a feel for what their rosters may look like. This period will normally build/conclude with some intra-group scrimmage work.
From there on the students will have a month off without football. This will include finishing off the semester or even graduating from an academic point of view. During this time the strength and conditional coaches make sure everyone is keeping things ticking over.
June and July will look pretty similar to January and February and some of the players may choose to get ahead of the game academically with some Summer courses. At this point, new starters from high school will normally join, assuming they didn’t graduate early to start in January.
When August and the new season arrives, we go back to the original schedule and it all starts again.
Cohesiveness is key
Whether a college-athlete is playing football for the final time in their lives or is destined to play in the NFL, it is clear that everyone in the locker room has a common goal…maximise their experience over the course of a season.
At Boise State they work hard on team spirit and togetherness which starts from the captains all the way down the team. Groups of athletes will often share a house with each other on campus which helps with the cohesiveness.
The environment that has been created at Boise State is likely reflected in the fact that the Broncos have seen minimal loss of players (in particular starters) in recent times, through the transfer portal.
It is clear that for all involved, their college years are seen as fleeting, special and every moment must be taken advantage of. All of which leads to the great entertainment they provide us with on a Saturday.
My sincere thanks to David Dietrich at Boise State Athletics Department for his help with this blog post.
