Showing my ignorance here but...college athletes are required maintain eligibility by earning course credits and maintaining a set GPA. Do they receive credit for playing football or any other scholarship sport? If not, why not? They spend a ton of time practicing, studying and playing games. If they can get credit for a badminton course shouldn't athletes get credit for football?

The only negative I see is that by giving them credit for football, they only have 2 credit courses left. They probably won't be able to squeeze in the badminton course.