Seeing some of this discussion makes me wonder if this unfairly punishes the Service Academies. I will be honest I am not 100% sure how the football/basketball players are recruited or treated at SAs, but I do know the Olympic and other minor sports are often extracurriculars (non scholly) for students who “Enlist” in the SA.
I have a good friend who went to West Point who was on the boxing team his Jr/Sr year. The deal at West Point is you sign up and get paid a nominal amount to attend. School is covered so long as you complete and then spend 5 years on active duty. He had the option to leave or not complete his service, but if he did he would have owed the US Government a STUPID amount of money for his education. I assume since “scholarships” don’t exist at SAs a transfer would have to pay back the Government for how much time they spent there, meaning it’s going to be EVEN HARDER to get kids to commit to SAs.
Apply that to this discussion however (if at all) y’all see fit.