I know NOTHING when it comes to the nfl drafting ARMY and NAVY guys.
Have they made exceptions to let them play in the pros in the past?
I hate to sound INCREDIBLY unpatriotic but are ARMY and NAVY colleges? A number of colleges?
Yeah it’s embarrassing but better to know at 51 than never know
I have a better recollection that there was a guy who played basketball at Navy and was given a pass on his service. His nickname on the court was "Admiral Robinson"
Obviously the military academies recruit a different kind of "student athlete" than regular universities. A few years ago, Air Force came to Norman to play my team. Before the game, the network had former coach Switzer on for a casual interview about Air Force coming to play, and he jokingly/truthfully said something about they would surely have a higher aggregate GPA than our guys. Air Force played really a pretty good game that day. In the post-game interview, Coach Stoops said "They're a tough bunch, we're proud of 'em."
The point being that the academy teams don't turn out many NFL players, but they do have athletes who are smart, disciplined, and coachable even if they aren't NFL prospects. So almost all fans of college football like and support the service academies. They serve as a good example for all the regular schools that play football, if you know what I mean. (Oh yeah... Army came to Norman last year and just almost beat us. After the game, the Athletic Department cleanup crew went to the visiting locker room to clean up, as always, and... they found the place spotless. The Army team had cleaned the place up themselves before they left...)
We have three military academies that play football, etc: US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, US Military Academy (Army) at West Point, New York, and US Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, CO.
Footnote, the Marines don't have an academy of their own because they are organized as part of the Navy, and they get Academy-trained officers from the Naval Academy.
All the military academies are four-year colleges that incorporate serious military training with serious academics. They are not party schools... They make them do stuff with a lack of sleep, missing meals, heavy, serious academic load too... and still some guys find time to play football and other sports.
BTW Others are involved in music and probably other activities which is fine and good, which takes time but frankly is not physically demanding on top of military training like athletes deal with. OTOH one would have to suppose that athletes would be excused from certain activities that everyone else has to do while they're at football practice.
So it's cool. We're all fans of the service academies whether we know it yet or not. :)
I believe the US Coast Guard is organized as part of the Treasury Department IN PEACETIME and is therefore more of a Federal law enforcement agency. I also believe, I don't recall where I heard this, that in time of war the Coast Guard becomes part of the Navy.
This might be why we never hear of the Coast Guard academy in the same way that we hear about the other service academies.
Also, from a quick look at the website, Coast Guard's sports teams play in a different league than the NCAA. Something called MEWMAC or some such thing. Never heard of it myself. I'm sure someone will help us both out with this before too long.
That's not an unpatriotic question to ask. Both are 4 year colleges at minimum.
Army = West Point
Navy = Annapolis
Neither offer majors in racial sexist basket weaving BS. Just to apply, you have to be top tier in High School Even then, most need a recommendation from a Congressman or an Alumni. They are 2 of the best colleges in the country. Even if a person washes out of the military for medical reasons, just graduating from either is a gold ticket on their resume. That includes Air Force and Coast Guard graduates.