Business decisions

Ohio State is out a star defensive end, and that is as it should be here in the age of commerce in college athletics. It is a business, college football and basketball at the Ohio State level. And that is as true for the workforce as it is for the corporate structures that don't pay that workforce.

Which is to say, Nick Bosa has left school. And if that was a hard choice, perhaps, it was also the only choice to be made.

The reigning Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year is also a future high-end NFL draft pick, and while college football is fun and all, it's essentially an unpaid internship. Pro football, on the other hand, is a paying job -- and for prospects like Nick Bosa, a job that will pay him handsomely. Balanced against free room and board and college tuition in return for feeding the multi-billion-dollar industry that is college football, it's a pretty simple business decision.

If you're going to be a commodity -- and make no mistake, that's what you are in corporate college athletics -- you protect your value as a commodity. That is, after all, what your school does.

And so when Bosa went down with a core muscle injury against TCU on Sept. 15, his path was pretty much set. As his father, John, pointed out to SI.com this week, it was a simple exercise in logistics: Injuries like Bosa's generally require 12 weeks to rehab. Twelve weeks would put his return, realistically, at mid-December, long after the end of the season.

Oh, he could have played in Ohio State's bowl game, perhaps. Or in the playoff if the Buckeyes wind up there, which they are on track to do. But all that would have meant to a guy entering next April's NFL draft is another chance or two to get hurt again. And getting hurt again would surely diminish his value in the NFL marketplace.

The risk, in other words, was not worth the reward. Which would be negligible when balanced against Bosa's projected future earnings as a pro.

And, yes, all this sounds depressingly cold-blooded. It is not the way we like to think of athletics, and particularly college athletics.  There is no sis-boom-bah in it, no boola-boola, let's win one for the dear old alma mater. Whatever happened to loyalty to your school?

I don't know. Perhaps it went away when loyalty to your school became synonymous with loyalty to its apparel deals. If you're gonna make your student-athletes billboards for Nike, after all, why wouldn't those student-athletes, as soon as possible, want to get paid by Nike for doing it?

And why would they risk that by playing in more games than absolutely necessary?

And so more and more we see college athletes in Bosa's position making Bosa's decision. Yes, it is cold-blooded and unsentimental. But then, so is college football -- and pro football, certainly.

And you know what?

In 2018, almost everyone understands that. Which is why there's been almost no criticism of  Bosa for his decision.

Sign of the times.