Clemson athletics should be doing more during this unprecedented time

Clemson athletics has the ability to more than it is during this global pandemic. Should they be leading the way?

The unlimited meal is a great benefit that every NCAA athlete gets to take advantage of and that has not always been the case. Just 10 years ago, schools were hand-tied when it came to how much food a program could offer a student-athlete.

Things have changed a lot of over the last decade and given what we are facing now, the NCAA should still be evolving and Clemson athletics should be leading the charge.

We know all about how much programs like Clemson, Alabama, and UGA provide for their players. If you add up everything that they receive over the course of four years, their scholarship is estimated to be worth nearly two million dollars.

But what are they doing right now to help these athletes?

Not every athlete, a matter of fact, most athletes do not come from well to do homes. Most struggled in high school just to eat properly and with the evolution of Kinesiology, we understand now how important food is to an athlete.

This is why programs like Clemson, Alabama, and UGA all employ cooks for their athletic teams. These personal chefs ensure that athletes are taking in the correct food in order to fuel their days.

While programs should not be sending personal chefs to athlete’s houses, they should be sending food in order to make that these athletes are able to maintain a level of performance even in the middle of unprecedented times.

With more than 15 percent of working Americans out of work and filing for unemployment, expecting parents to fill that void in a time like this is simply unrealistic. When a school accepts a student athlete’s letter of intent, they are taking responsibility for the health of that student for the next year, and right now should be no different.

With all the resources that Clemson athletics has, they should be petitioning the NCAA to take care of these athletes even though they are spread from coast to coast. It is their responsibility and their duty to do so.