Different kind of article. Talking about how Edsall keep his kids straight with academics. Not something people talk about but it is a great story. Andre Dixon gonna graduate and will get a chance to play in the NFL. It also talks about odds of making into the NFL. UCONN leads the Big East in graduation rate for football players and is one of the top school in the country graduating football players.

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-foot...701.column

Quote:Courant.com
UConn Football
Edsall Keeps Priorities Straight
Jeff Jacobs

December 22, 2009

STORRS

Andre Dixon's college football career isn't quite over, but the final stats on his academic career at UConn are complete. He has finished exams. The degree in sociology is complete. He must wait until May to put on his cap and gown, but it is a return trip to campus and a processional walk he plans to make.

Is his family proud? "You don't even have to ask that question," Dixon said, smiling from under his dreadlocks. "You know it."

Dixon is an NFL prospect. After the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., on Jan. 2, the senior running back will get a shot somewhere at a pro career. He won't be delivering pizzas. The hard truth is more than 90 percent of Division I college players never play a down in the NFL, yet 100 percent will have to play through the ups and downs of the rest of their lives.

ESPN recently gathered some fascinating numbers. From the 2000 Oklahoma national champions, nine of 85 scholarship players (11 percent) went on to the NFL — and only two played for at least five years. The 2001 Miami and 2002 Ohio State national champs and the powerhouses at USC from 2002 to 2004 did better, yet two-thirds still never played an NFL down.

These are the numbers high school seniors with stars in their eyes and scholarship offers in their hands should be examining. These are the numbers everyone from college presidents to sports columnists should be shouting.

People occasionally ask me which of my columns has brought the most anxiety from readers. They expect the answer to be the fallout from Nykesha Sales' basket, some hammer job on Whalers owner Pete Karmanos or a run-in with Jim Calhoun. They are surprised by the answer that it was my support of UConn moving to major college football. I received many letters from around the country, including correspondence from academics, assuring me it would be the worst thing that would ever happen to Connecticut.

Beyond the dire predictions of horrible attendance and won-lost records that would waste $100 million in taxpayer money needed to build a stadium, I grew afraid I was advocating a sport where players would mock education.

"We are not a football factory," coach Randy Edsall said Monday. "When we recruit, I try to tell them they're making a four- or five-year investment for the next 45 years of their lives. Getting your degree is the most important thing you can do when you come here."

There is a ledger now, proof his words aren't lip service. Last week, UConn was honored by the American Football Coaches Association. It is one of 11 programs among 120 nationally that graduated at least 90 percent of the freshman class enrolling in 2002. One year might be lucky, right? Well, the AFCA has honored UConn three years in a row — all bowl seasons — and five of the past seven.

"We take a great deal of pride in it," Edsall said.

The message is fairly clear. You can earn diplomas and bowl bids at the same time. Randy graduates his boys.

I've called Edsall "Tom Coughlin With A Smile." Some take it as a disparaging joke. It's much more a statement of fact. Heck, I'd bet Edsall would take it as a compliment. It's a way of calling him a good-natured control freak.

Edsall blueprints the academic counseling program the way he would go through the depth chart. Bruce Cohen is the director; Ellen Rennie, Mansour Ndiaye and Kelli Kozaryn support football. From the football staff, Edsall is the one who directly heads up academics.

"I meet with Ellen every Monday," Edsall said. "We go over all the kids. I get a printout. On Tuesday, I give it to the coaches. I'll bring kids in and say, 'Hey, what's going here?' They're getting it from their academic counselors, me, their position coach, their recruiting coach."

"The academic support is unreal," Dixon said. "You can't lie to them. They're speaking to professors. They're checking grades. Randy Edsall, he doesn't cut corners. If you make sure your guys are a certain way on the field, you'll make sure they're a certain way off the field."

There's also a program in place, headed by Andy Blaylock. The players meet people in the business community, where they can network, intern and job interview. This doesn't make Edsall's program Duke or Notre Dame or Northwestern, but it does put the Huskies on the elite 90 percent graduation list with those schools.

"It's a culture," Edsall said. "And we hold them responsible."

And when they fail to live up to that responsibility?

"We withhold something that's very important to them," Edsall said.

Football. Dixon assures that guys are held out of practice. Edsall said toward the end of the semester he demoted a player from the two-deep to the scout team for academic reasons. When he gets it right, he'll be back.

Look, this is not a game of absolutes. This is about percentages. When you put 100 virile young men together, there will be problems. It's called life. And we've never hesitated to point at the program's shortcomings. Sometimes life is messy. Sometimes, as with Jasper Howard, it can be tragic.

We're not trying to say UConn is Stanford or Notre Dame, where the academic/ athletic elite flock. Nor are we trying to say UConn is Florida, where the football elite flock.

"We have a very well-rounded program," Edsall said. "The parents respect that tremendously.

"My whole thing is don't deviate from that. Don't compromise your values."

Dixon had a couple of substantial off-field problems while at UConn. On the field, after an outstanding sophomore year, he was dropped behind Donald Brown as a junior. For a time, it looked like he was a goner. Instead, Edsall stuck with him, and Dixon stuck with the program. Now, he's going for 1,000 yards rushing against South Carolina with the full knowledge a diploma is his.

And you don't have to ask if his family is proud.