College Football & Academics

Over the past week there have been a few articles that really caught my eye concerning academics and NCAA football. The first came from the Atlanta Journal last week: ACC tops SEC in academics. The second really bad news article also came out of the AJC: Branden Smith's academic "issues".

Both articles, mainly the second, got me to thinking about something that has really bugged me ever since I graduated from UGA. Why do so many athletes take the amazing education opportunity they are getting via scholarships for granted? I know for a FACT they are given every kind of support system you can imagine to succeed in the classroom (tutors, note takers, etc.) I could probably write a 10,000 word essay on my thoughts, but I am curious to hear some other opinions. What do you think?