Terrelle Pryor Sells Sportsmanship Award...maybe he just needs a paycheck.

One of the highlights of the 2010 college football season was Terrelle Pryor and a few other OSU players getting caught selling stuff and receiving benefits- obviously in violation of NCAA rules and regulations. He and a few of his teammates got caught selling jerseys and championship rings, but two items in particular stand out.

1. A Gold Pants trinket, given to OSU football players BY THE SCHOOL to commemorate each victory over despised rival Michigan. That's a slight to tradition right there, and that's a slap in the face to every player who's earned that trinket and ever player who never did.

2. Pryor's 2008 Sportsmanship Award from the Fiesta Bowl. You can't make this stuff up.

It hasn't really been brought up because of it, but I want to re-pose an issue: should college athletes be getting paid for their on-field services? I think so, maybe now more than ever.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik got paid $600,000 for winning the national championship, yet his players won't see a dollar of that. For athletics to be such an institution where love of the game is preached, these people sure do make a lot of money....extrinsic motivators much?

My point though, is even if Gene Chizik was a coaching genius, nutritional specialist, motivational speaker, and personal trainer, he wasn't the one on the field risking life, limb, and concussion every week. That's what the players do, and to give someone more than half a million dollars while giving the "grunt workers" nothing is a real slight.

Sure, student athletes do get paid in that they get a free six figure education. Whether or not they decide to stay all four years is up to them. However, NCAA athletes are not even allowed to have part time jobs on the side....and thus, this is how situations like Pryor's happen in the first place.

Sure, you have the local pizza joint who probably feeds the players on cue, and a few other town stores may slice a few bucks off the price of something now and then. But what about side money? What about wanting to buy something you want or need, or even having the opportunity to save for something bigger like nicer clothes or a down payment on a car? I'm not saying these players should be making five or six figure salaries, but I will say that the NCAA is committing highway robbery of the highest offense by not giving the players some sort of stipend.

Players can work up to 20 hours part time, but considering that their time is already spoken for the second they sign their letter of intent, where do they find the time? Sure, maybe at a D-II or D-III school, a player may have more lenient coaches who don't have rigorous off-season training. But for Oregon football, Duke basketball, or Michigan hockey, the season never ends. When the season is in full swing, players are practicing, traveling on the road, or doing some other preparation work. Then, there's the off season, where sports are less time consuming, but still time consuming.  If it's not watching tape, it's conditioning. If it's not conditioning, it's some other kind of player meeting. And let's not forget that under all of these coaches and trainers pulling at you from every which way, there's still the obligation to go to class and make the grade.

The system as it is does not work, especially for D-I athletes. That is why the NCAA should pay the players a stipend taken directly from the Athletic Department budget. Considering the bowl games, hosting regional tournament series, ticket sales, TV coverage and more, most of these schools have the means to pay their players. Not every player comes from a family who has the means to fork over spending money every month-  a $500 monthly stipend doesn't equal 20 hours of minimum wage work a week, but it does help pay monthly expenses, like cell phone bills, car insurance, dry cleaning, haircuts, and enough left over to have some fun money to spend with friends.

Don't get me wrong- players do receive get a free education, housing, meals, and in many cases, get to travel all over the country. But an empty wallet in college does suck. Hard. So in the end, the NCAA should pay these kids a stipend- it's pennies compared to what they really make, and they'll take a big step in the right direction towards making college athletics better for the students who build programs to where they are today.