The NCAA Wants You To Think This Is A Day In The Life Of A Student-Athlete

No offense to the poor sap who had to pretend to be the average unpaid NCAA worker for this 30-second spot—was he paid for this?—but what a shameless piece of propaganda. At no point did this everyday student-athlete grimace after looking at his account balance, get shoved and yelled at by a short-tempered coach, or hoard dining hall food in his coat. The dude didn’t even eat at any point in the video.

Do the youths just hang out in the middle of a library? Is that a thing that any college student does?

Because the NCAA shared this dishonest ad on Twitter, a bunch of actual student-athletes, current and former, were able to weigh in. Among them: Former Texas basketball player Myles Turner, ex-Maryland receiver Torrey Smith, former North Carolina lineman R.J. Prince, Kentucky Wildcats running back Benny Snell, former Boise State RB Jay Ajayi, ex-Clemson linebacker Ricky Sapp, former Ohio State defensive lineman Jalyn Holmes, ex-Illinois State lineman Shelby Harris, former Auburn linebacker Corey Lemonier, and Notre Dame safety Devin Studstill. A lot of them kept their responses to GIFs, but the consensus seemed to be that this was horseshit.

Former Virginia football player Eli Harold went into a little more detail:

As did Georgetown track athlete Cody Cooper:

Texas track athlete Ashley Spencer:

One time, the NCAA couldn’t punish a football player who had sold his memorabilia for money, since he was going pro, so it made sure the NFL punished him instead.