I have been a Blue & Gold Officer - and have helped ‘mentor’ kids looking to go to any service academy. Here are a few factoids....
At USNA - 75% of graduates must be in STEM fields. 25% are ‘liberal arts’...(English, Political Science, Economics, Chinese, Arabic and very few other choices.) BUT -for those ‘non-STEM majors’ - they still must complete 2 years of Calculus and Differential Equations, 1 year of Chemistry, 1 year of calculus based physics, 1 year of electrical engineering and 1 year of naval architecture. Since these non-STEM majors still require this technical stuff - they get a Bachelor of Science Degree...(in English, Poli Sci. etc.) The other academies have similar policies.
I wonder if college football players had to complete the same level of course work as academies ….how many playing would be ruled ineligible? That alone would make the academies far more competitive with other colleges - since at other colleges - there are plenty of soft liberal arts majors that don’t require any science, engineering, or even math approaching calculus.
Several years ago - Keenan Reynolds was permitted to go to the reserves and fulfil his obligation through reserves -while trying out for the NFL. He was drafted, put on waivers, signed with teams, demoted to practice squads, etc....hasn’t played yet. He was drafted for the new XFL that will be starting in 2020. The service academies want the primary focus on service after graduation and commissioning, but will make some certain exceptions....and doing so can help recruit people to the service academy - and to enlist in the service.
Typically - the maximum weight for a future service member is around 245 lbs...and football players are allowed to get up to 280+ during the season. Still not very competitive with college players that are over 300 lbs!
USNA, USAFA and USMA have about 4500 students (including 20% to 30% women) -but all are typically very healthy - so they do have the ability to compete with a college or university that has 10K to 15K students. All students must be involved in either Varsity athletics, Club Sport Athletics, intramural athletics, or approved alternates. (IOW - Not all do varsity...) My son - class of 2008 - did “Drum & Bugle Corps” - which was the marching band and played at all games -home and away - and that counted for the ‘sports requirement.’
USCoast Guard Academy is about 1200 students (1/4th the size...) - so they don’t compete at Division I level - for obvious reasons. The US Merchant Marine Academy - also about 1/4th the size - has some sports teams. IIRC -both of these smaller academies are ‘Division III’.
Cool, thank you.