No such thing as minimizing injury risk in a brutal sport like football. You're always one play away from potentially ending your career.
And coming back to school to win a championship you aren't assured of is lunacy. He could be in the NFL making life changing money. And you point out the weak schedule as if you're less likely to get injured against sorry teams. Well football doesn't work that way. You have the same injury risk against any opponent. So I'm not really sure of your point in pointing that out.
And very few kids would actually benefit from coming back to school. That's a self serving proclamation that universities and coaches like to push. As if he wouldn't be developed on an NFL roster. As if college is the only place that develops players.
You definitely sound like a fan in your response. I'm not saying it's a negative. You just have no perspective.
Edit: I had to add this. But consider when Tebow came back to school for his senior season. As fans we were all ecstatic. But when you actually examine the decision it was a very poor one. What did it get him? Absolutely nothing! He didn't win a title. He didn't improve as a player. He wasn't better prepared for the pro game. None of that. It was a wasted year of football for him. Sure he got to experience the college life but what's the actual value of that?
The same logic applies in the NFL: one preseason hit or ACL tear and you could never play again. Sure, there will be some guaranteed money, but teams always find a way to negotiate that down with players getting the short end of the stick.
Going by the logic that a RB only has so many "hits" in his career, then it's just a measured risk to stay one more season with a reduced college workload (ie: fewer hits) vs going to the NFL and being expected to carry the full load on a longer season than college. If Etienne falls to the late 2nd round or mid 3rd round (which is a strong possibility with as strong as this draft class is), then he'd be on a smaller contract vs waiting when timing is better.
Never played football beyond hs, but played other sports in college so yes, I see the perspective to cash in when you can (especially if one has a family situation to be mindful of). But that said, you're also failing to acknowledge that the list of guys who left early, fell to a lower draft ranking, and washed out of the "Not For Long" league is far longer than the list of guys who went early and stayed through their 2nd and 3rd contracts. Especially at the skill positions and that's doubly so for RBs who have a short shelf life to begin with.
