Is it common for the Div 1 athletes to pursue commissions?
What about football players who need to report in for practice mid summer? What do they do about required military training such as LDAC for AROTC or cruises for NROTC?
I have tried to pull the class profiles for the football teams but that stat is hard to find. I specifically want to know if a football player can earn a commission and degree at the SMCs.
Banjoppd/Kinnem: Yes Division I Scholarship Athletes do commission and many do well. You will find that athletes in general have more support and mentoring from their coaches and team mates to help them through - even difficult majors like engineering. At The Citadel many of the athletes decide to seek commissions whether active duty or in the National Guard and/or Reserves. I am posting a recent press release by a local engineering firm about one of The Citadel Football players (I have struck his name due to this forum's rules - but I can tell you this individual was a major contributor to The Citadel's Conference winning team this year. And - Kinnmen if you don't mind some mild ribbing - to our once in every 25 year victory over South Carolina this year
"Cadet 1st Class XXXXX XXXXX of The Citadel happily gives the thumbs up as he accepts his internship with XXXX for 2016! XXXX is an Electrical Engineering major who will be commissioned as a 2nd LT in the South Carolina National Guard upon graduation. As a cadet, he is a member of Tau Beta Pi (SC Gamma), President of the National Society of Black Engineers Citadel Student Chapter, a Dean's List student (every semester), has been a Gold Star student twice (GPA of 3.7 or above), a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and part of The Citadel's 2015 Southern Conference Championship football team. Welcome to XXXX XXXXX!"