Last summer, the Department of Defense changed its rules to allow graduates going into professional sports to fulfill their requirements in the reserves rather than active duty. Now, the DoD has changed its mind. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis signed an order to rescind the pro sports policy, meaning that athletes will be required to fulfill their active duty requirement before joining a professional sports team (link via Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post). 
This year, the rule change burned Air Force wide receiver Jalen Robinette. Robinette had a chance of being taken in the late rounds on Saturday, but the Air Force disclosed just prior to the draft that its athletes would have to serve in active duty. The rule change does not apply retroactively to Ravens wide receiver Keenan Reynolds, however (Twitter link via PFT).
The DoD’s flip-flop may hurt the ability of the service academies to recruit high-level football players going forward.
That last sentence is ludicrous. It’s about serving our country, not about ‘serving’ the sports world.
Not ludicrous at all.
The article must’ve been edited because I don’t see that line, but yes I agree. If you go to a service academy you know exactly what is expected of you when you graduate. sports are just an activity you can participate in, but service comes first.
The players knew going into the service academies might prohibit them from playing pro sports, since the waiver is not guaranteed. All this does is set it in stone.
That being said, that last sentence is 100% accurate and a fair statement to make. You can love your country and feel a sense of duty to serve, but also want to be a pro athlete, too. Knowing that you’ll have to delay that pursuit and potentially lose the opportunity to be a pro athlete could negatively impact the ability of the service academies to recruit that type of student-athlete.
it has always affected the academy, which is why trump was 100% correct when he said its not the best football you will see. The players are well disciplined, coached, and are in great shape, but the top talent has always gone elsewhere.
The DoD’s flip-flop may hurt the ability of the service academies to recruit high-level football players going forward.
Yes, you are absolutely correct!!!
If some people around here would like to talk about flip flopping the last Admin…..SMH
I can only imagine what Roger Staubach thought when this first happened!!!!
Can’t say it doesn’t make sense.