I think the disservice was done to the player who was denied the honor of being an academic All-American because Michigan abandoned what little integrity it has left.
I had to look into what his major was - Bachelors in General Studies. From their website:
https://lsa.umich.edu/lsa/academics/lsa-degrees/bachelor-in-general-studies--b-g-s--.html
"The Bachelor in General Studies (B.G.S.) is a highly interdisciplinary degree that allows students to combine and explore multiple subjects. Students who choose to pursue a B.G.S. work closely with their Newnan Advising Center advisor to create a course plan that feeds their curiosity while meeting the College of LSA’s graduation requirements.
The B.G.S. is unique in that:
- It does not require completion of distribution (Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, etc.).
- It does not require completion of second language proficiency.
- It does not require a major.
- It DOES require 60 credits of coursework elected at the 300-level or above."
Does Penn State have anything similar these days as far as a major that is basically make up whatever you want to study and here's your degree?
I also came across this post from an MSU site from a couple years back detailing how the Bachelors of General Studies is the landing spot for many of their football players -
https://247sports.com/college/michi...mic-fraud-in-their-football-program-47646988/
"Michigan is a good school and I got a good education there," Harbaugh said. "But the athletic department has ways to get borderline guys in and, when they're in, they steer them to courses in sports communications. They're adulated when they're playing, but when they get out, the people who adulated them won't hire them.” Jim Harbaugh 2007
A decade later and Jim Harbaugh is the CEO of Michigan football and has done nothing to change the program’s academic scandal. It is an embarrassment to the University of Michigan, their athletic program, the state of Michigan, and college football in general.
Let's start with the freshmen. Breaking down the 2016 Michigan football roster of 85 scholarship football players, there are 20 true freshmen this fall. All twenty of them have majors undeclared. Michigan gets a pass on that given that the majority of these “student” athletes are three weeks into their rigorous academic future. Interestingly though, a spot check of MSU’s freshmen show only a handful of no preference majors.
The sophomore (high school 2015) class includes another 20 players. These twenty players feature 16 players in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) and all with undeclared majors. Two others are overall undeclared, while two are in the School of Kinesiology, major undeclared. Of the forty players Jim Harbaugh has recruited, not a single one has actually declared a major. Zero for forty.
The third year (high school 2014) class of 15 players is improved, by exactly one “student” athlete. Congratulations to Noah Furbush who is enrolled in Aerospace Engineering. Noah stands out among his Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior peers as the one player in 55 who has declared a major. Congratulations Mr. Furbush, you're at the top of the Delta pledge class.
Restating that in case a UM “Student” athlete is trying to read this: One (1) player out of 55 has declared a major. One!
So surely things must be better amongst the fourth year and fifth year players? Well, not so much. The junior/senior (high school 2013) class includes 18 scholarship players and only seven of them have managed to declare a major. Of the remaining 11 players, eight are undeclared in LSA and three are undeclared in Kinesiology. The seven that actually found a major are in LSA – African Studies (2), LSA -English (1), LSA – Sociology (1), Kinesiology – Sports Mgmt (1), and our old favorite LSA – General Studies (2).
So 61% of Michigan’s fourth year football players have not yet figured out a major? Worse, only eight players out of 73 players from class of 2013+ have declared a major? That is 90%!
That leaves us with the inspiring group of eleven players who are fifth year seniors. All eleven have actually declared a major! That is serious progress. Here is the breakdown:
5 – LSA General Studies
5 – LSA Sociology
1 – LSA Environmental
1 – LSA American Culture
1 – Kinesiology – Sports Management
So let’s review the “General Studies” degree as well as the “LSA – Sociology” degree. There are thirteen Michigan football players combined in these two majors. That represents 65% of the Michigan football team that has declared a major. That is an extremely high number when contrasted versus the just over one percent in those majors across the entire University of Michigan.
FACT: Over two thirds of the Michigan football team with majors are in degrees that account for 1% of the overall student population.
This is incredibly shocking behavior by Michigan and everyone seems to be ignoring it. The one exception of course is the 2007 Jim Harbaugh. Wonder what happened to that man?
