Leonard Fournette should have control of his professional destiny

It’s too bad the best running back in college football lacks control over his professional destiny.

LSU Tigers running back Leonard Fournette, one of the most dynamic college running backs in recent memory, will have a big decision to make at the end of this season. Despite his overwhelming talent — he’s made mincemeat of college defenses all season, looking like a man among boys — Fournette, a 20-year-old sophomore, won’t be able to capitalize on his abilities and enter the 2016 NFL Draft, because NFL rules dictate that players must be at least three years removed from high school before they are allowed to suit-up at the professional level.

What Fournette decides to do at the end of this season — whether he elects to return to LSU, petition the NFL, or sit out for a year — is his personal choice. What’s ridiculous is that his choice, his ability to have control over his own professional destiny, is restricted. Maybe Fournette wants to return to Baton Rouge for his junior year. That’s all fine and good. The point is that he shouldn’t have to, as the NFL rules essentially force him to do.

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Few other professional fields hold such an artificial age restriction that blocks young talent from entering the workforce. Can you imagine a tech company turning away some 20-year-old prodigy, someone doing cutting edge computer science at a young age, simply because that person, despite his or her proven aptitude, is deemed too young?

Fournette, who stands at 6-foot-1 and weighs 230 pounds, possess alarming speed for someone his size. The statistics and the highlights don’t lie: Fournette is physically ready to play the the professional level. He has all the requisite gifts needed to be starting NFL running back; he has proven himself to be head and shoulders above college competition. But despite his abilities, despite being clearly more than good enough, the choice to pursue his professional dreams next year is unfairly out of his hands.

A big fish confined to a small pond, Fournette is in an weird position, the absurdity of which is exemplified by this tweet from Bleacher Report’s NFL draft expert Matt Miller:

Miller probably isn’t wrong, and that’s beyond frustrating. If Fournette sits out for his junior season, his love of the game is up for debate. Really? In what world does that make sense (well, besides the inane world of the NFL)? It seems that Fournette choosing to protect his health for a year, avoiding the wear and tear that his body would accrue over the course of another SEC season, would be the sort of forward-thinking decision that demonstrates “love of the game.” By sidelining himself and staying healthy, Fournette would be entering the NFL as an even bigger asset. If Fournette were to skip his junior year, he’d be losing out on guaranteed individual accomplishments — likely an NCAA rushing title; perhaps a Heisman — in favor of long-term career planning. How that doesn’t exemplify a love of the game is anyone’s guess.

All that said, it’s worth repeating that the final decision should be Fournette’s and Fournette’s alone. There’s a section of sports blogosphere reflexively crowing that Fournette should skip his junior year, that Fournette should make a symbolic stand against the NCAA and NFL’s ridiculous regulations. That seems unfair to Fournette, who by all accounts is enjoying the camaraderie of his college team. If Fournette feels another year at LSU will serve him better (and/or make him happier) than making the ground-breaking choice to spend a year on the sidelines, then he should by all means spend another season striking terror in the hearts of SEC defenses. That’s his prerogative. The point isn’t to debate which decision — stay or sit out — has more merit. The point is that he shouldn’t be in this position at all, that he should be able to enter the workforce like any other preternaturally talented near-adult can do in almost any other professional field.

Whatever Fournette elects to do in 2016, he’ll be both supported and criticized. There will be Twitter hot takes and fussy think-pieces and billowing hot air from ESPN’s talking heads.  It’s just a shame that his options are limited for no good reason.

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