<p>I don't get why people are dumping on Leinart and USC still. USC's "ethical oversights" in that respect would have happened at almost any other school except for the few that have exceptionally higher standards. </p>
<p>He actually graduated, for one thing, majoring in sociology, and while it's not exactly engineering, it isn't "general studies" or "sports management." (USC doesn't offer such degrees, unlike many other football schools)</p>
<p>I might also add that in 2003, the year Leinart helped win that split national championship, the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at UCF released a study comparing graduation rates for football players over a long timespan. The conclusion? USC had the highest graduation rate of football players among any team playing in a bowl game that year.</p>
<p>USC is a very respectable school. I'm sure the athletes that go there are retarded. Yes, they value football but I'm sure they value academics also. It makes it a lot harder for athletes that attend academically challenging schools. I go to Georgia Tech and I see athletes here working their asses off on and off the field. One of our best defensive players is about graduate with a mechanical engineering degree. Our star basketball player last season had a 4.0 his first two semesters. While athletes who go to UMiami, UF etc go around getting arrested for carrying weapons and being retarded, there are those who actually work diligently.</p>
<p>Stanford takes star athletes with average academics like many other colleges. </p>
<p>A few years back, one of the star basketball players from D's hs graduating class was accepted to and rec'd a scholarship to Stanford. The hs team competed in the state championship, so the kid was a hot recruit. However, there is NO WAY he would have gotten in to Stanford on academics alone. Out of a public hs class of 900+, he was a B student, nothing special. The class val and others in the top 10, including NMS, who were accepted at other top ranked schools, were turned down at Stanford.</p>
<p>USC student-athlete selected as Rhodes Scholar:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Winner Reed Doucette is a senior at the University of Southern California and was on the basketball team that made it to the NCAA's Sweet Sixteen last season