Critics say some athletes might skip service - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Critics say some athletes might skip service

A star Naval Academy football player set to graduate almost a year late will enter the fleet under contract to an NFL team, in an arrangement critics called troubling but which academy officials said is completely above board.

Midshipman 1st Class Shun White, a slotback whose four years on the team helped sustain Navy’s gridiron dominance, was signed last year by the New England Patriots as part of a deal to practice with the team in his spare time. There is no agreement in place for him to break his military commitment, but a source said the academy allowed him to reschedule an exam last spring so he could attend a practice.

White’s contract with the Patriots gives the team rights to sign him as soon as he becomes available.

He is one of a handful of top players who have signed such a contract. Athletics Director Chet Gladchuk said contracts binding mids to pro teams are a technicality, to let midshipmen have a relationship with pro players. It does not mean they can play in the big time.

“It’s very clear to everyone on the Yard ... with those that will ask the question, ‘Is there any chance that the secretary of the Navy might release us to play in the NFL?’ The answer is ‘no’ here,” Gladchuk said. “Number one, you’ve got an obligation to go serve; number two, the NFL knows very clearly that as a ... sailor or Marine, there’s no chance at all for them to participate.”

The Patriots allow mids to practice with them mostly as a favor from head coach Bill Belichick, whose father spent years at Annapolis as an assistant football coach, Gladchuk said. But it’s not that simple, two sources told Navy Times: Permitting active-duty officers to have deals with the NFL gives them an incentive not to fulfill their service obligations, they said.

“Bottom line: Slippery. Really slippery,” said a Naval Academy academic source, who was not authorized to talk publicly and asked not to be identified.

March 11, when two NFL teams made overtures toward former Air Force Academy and U.S. Military Academy football players. The Philadelphia Eagles signed Air Force 2nd Lt. Chad Hall to a three-year contract after he was released two years into his four-year service commitment. The Detroit Lions were reportedly close to offering a deal to Army 1st Lt. Caleb Campbell, who was drafted by the Lions in 2008 but barred from playing because of his service obligation.Campbell is the first soldier to be released from his commitment since the Army relaxed its service obligation rule in 2008, an Army spokesman said.A Navy Department regulation put into place by former Navy Secretary Donald

In White’s case, the Naval Academy has gone to extraordinary measures to make possible his relationship with the Patriots, said a second source with knowledge of academy athletics. Officials permitted White to miss an exam to make a Patriots practice last spring, even though he was academically ineligible to graduate, the source said. White, who was not commissioned with his class of 2009 shipmates last May, has been allowed to spend extra months in Annapolis making up his grades.

Naval Academy spokesman Cmdr. Joe Carpenter said privacy regulations mean he could discuss only the most basic details about White’s status. In a written statement, Carpenter said White “is a midshipman from the class of 2009 currently completing professional development training.”

White was one of about 25 midshipmen from the class of '09 who didn't finish on schedule, Carpenter said, either because of injuries, illnesses or academics. But White is the last still in school; all of the others have graduated.

White, through the academy’s athletics department, did not respond to an interview request.

One reason critics worried about relationships between mids and the NFL is the story of former Ensign Kyle Eckel, class of 2005, who plays for the New Orleans Saints.

Eckel was administratively separated from the Navy a year after graduation under circumstances that have never been clear. Eckel, who had a practice deal with the Patriots while on active duty, was signed by the Miami Dolphins in 2006 but did not play that year. He was billed more than $96,000 for his Naval Academy tuition; his 2006 NFL base salary was $275,000.

Two other former midshipmen have had practice deals with the Patriots, athletic department spokesman Scott Strasemeier said. Ensign Eric Kettani and Ensign Tyree Barnes had deals, although the academy blocked Kettani from attending the NFL’s scouting combine. Both are serving in the fleet.

Academy superintendent Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler made that decision, as Carpenter then told The Baltimore Sun, “because it wouldn’t be consistent with current Navy efforts to support active-duty readiness during wartime. His participation could incorrectly imply that the Navy would support him in pursuing a professional football career immediately after graduation.”