Rules of the game | Unpaid professionals | Stretched thin | Time, money and resources | Choosing a major

Despite the extra help Athletics provides its student athletes, common occurrences for college students, such as choosing a major, are influenced by their lives as athletes.

Glenn Quick, an academic and career counselor for KU football and baseball players, said he always tries to be honest with his student athletes about the reality of balancing school with sports — and sometimes the truth is brutal.

The hardest part of his job is telling them their desired major may not be a realistic goal if they want to continue competing in college athletics.

“One of our balancing acts as a staff is to ensure that they’re making academic progress toward graduation,” Quick said. “But we also have to be responsible for watching their academic eligibility as it applies to athletics. So if you have an individual pursuing a degree plan in which they’re not going to be eligible, you’ve got to spell that out.”

The decision, then, is between sacrificing a more difficult major that could better benefit the student, or losing eligibility and a scholarship that would pay for four years of college.

Of the 76 student athletes on the football and men’s and women’s basketball teams who have declared a major, about 20 percent have declared majors in either communications studies or African and African-American studies. Less than half — about 40 percent — have committed to majors that require admittance to professional schools such as the School of Engineering or the School of Business.

Darrell Stuckey, who graduated with a degree in communications studies, said most athletes don’t necessarily choose majors simply because they are “easy.” However, staying eligible is always a concern.

To stay eligible, student athletes must complete 40 percent of their major’s degree requirements by the time they enter their third year of study, 60 percent by their fourth year and 80 percent entering their fifth year. If student athletes were to change their majors, credits might not transfer and they could be left without the appropriate percentage of their degrees completed and risk losing eligibility.

“We can’t change our major once or twice like a normal student can,” Stuckey said.

For that reason, Stuckey said many athletes tend to migrate toward majors requiring classes that can be applied to many different degrees in case they choose to change majors. A communications major, for example, must take many of the same classes as a student in African and African American studies because they are both in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

When Stuckey first arrived at the University he was more interested in drafting and architecture but knew the math requirements of that degree would hold him back. Instead, he focused on becoming a motivational speaker.

“The time constraint between architecture and football was not in favor for me at all,” he said. “So I took a look at myself and, well, I love public speaking and you always need to be able to communicate with people.”

Stuckey began working as a motivational speaker while he was at the University, but has since been drafted to play for the San Diego Chargers in the NFL.

Marcus Morris said he hopes to walk down the hill in May 2012 with a degree, probably in African and African-American studies or communications studies.

But when his basketball career ends — whether that will be after college or the NBA, he’s not sure — what he really wants to do is go into business or broadcasting.

However, basketball doesn’t leave him enough time to take harder classes in the School of Business and still manage to stay eligible under NCAA rules. Instead, he’s taking a communications studies class this semester that he hopes might help him become a sports analyst or a commentator.

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For about two minutes every day Marcus Morris wishes he didn’t play basketball.

For two minutes, he wishes he could be like every other student on campus so he could skip a class once in a while without alerting the “watchers” who are paid for the sole purpose of making sure he’s there.

For two minutes, he wishes he didn’t have to be aware of his every move, always careful not to give off a bad impression to fans, critics or the media.

“I can’t do certain things that normal college students can do because the spotlight is on us more. I’ve got to be almost a perfect student, almost a perfect athlete,” he said. “I love playing basketball, I love being here, but sometimes you just want to have that space sometimes. You just want to feel normal.”

Standing 6-foot-8, Morris fits in with the other players on the court. But on Jayhawk Boulevard he towers over the other students as he makes his way toward class.

He tries not to let it bother him, but he knows everyone watches, amazed by his size. But they know him only for his basketball skills, for his persona on the court.

As he walks to campus he’s trying to be a student. Normal. He’s trying to leave behind the pseudo-celebrity status.

For two minutes, he wishes he didn’t have to worry about all of these things. But then the feeling goes away and he returns his focus to basketball and school. He will attend basketball practices, eventually walk down the hill, and he will hope, like every other student on campus, that what he gained here will help him to be successful.

Rules of the game | Unpaid professionals | Stretched thin | Time, money and resources | Choosing a major

— Edited by Sarah Kelly