(07-07-2017 03:03 PM)Volkmar Wrote:  As a final retort, I invite you to look at the numbers in black & white, offered by the link. There are 1,122,024 kids who play HS football, and there are 90,136 who play college football (which again represents D1, D2, D3, NAIA, NJCAA, and "Other" combined). In other words, there are about 12.4 high school football players for every college football player, meaning there's NO WAY nearly any HS football player can play D3. At a 12:1 ratio, only the best of the HS players could make the cut.

There's a clear distinction between scholarship athletics and non-scholarship athletics. While the former is an easy to sell commodity, the latter requires folks to buy in to paying to play (very hard sell). If you want to discuss the low ratio of athletes who get their college paid for through athletics, you won't get any argument from me.

But the D3 numbers only tell you how many accepted the opportunity to play in college. It doesnt calculate at all how many declined that opportunity. I, like many others, decided attending a bigger state college (at the fraction of the cost) was much better fit than extending an average athletic career at a small private school like Randolph Macon or Shenandoah.