Steroids In College Sports

For years, the use of performance-enhancing drugs has haunted all levels of sport, baseball taking the majority of the publicity. Many have lost sight of the fact that baseball players are not the only athletes that face this life threatening addiction. Due to the amount of padding they have to wear, football players can easily disguise their size therefore keeping them from receiving scrutiny from the public. This has allowed more and more players to look to PEDs in order to gain an edge over their opponents. The issue spans to not only the professional level, but the high school and collegiate divisions as well. Because the National Football League sits on a higher platform, they bring in an exceptional amount of money compared to that

Many people tend to overlook the size of players at major universities until they reach the professional level; however former athletes will admit that they have had teammates who used performance enhancing drugs. Kicked off the Ole Miss football team in 2008, Jared Foster believes that the NCAA may have a serious issue to deal with. The former quarterback pleaded guilty to supplying a man with anabolic steroids and was quoted as saying, “Everybody around me was doing it.” Playing in the Southeastern Conference, Ole Miss always finds themselves at or near the top of many college football rankings each season (Apuzzo). Of course, if this former juice junky claims that everyone on his team used anabolic steroids, how many other collegiate teams have multiple drug abusers? Some say the size of players has become somewhat concerning. An investigation by the Associated Press studied the weight gain of over 4,700 Division 1 football players. This studied showed that many players had put on over twenty pounds in one year. In about 100 of those cases, players added up to eighty pounds over first year of collegiate ball (Gillum). While some players may gain small amounts of fat, many put on lean muscle in that time span (Apuzzo). According to the director of laboratory for Elite Athlete Performance Dan Banardot, diet and exercise alone cannot possibly lead to lean muscle

Every year the size of players ascends and these abusers continue to get away with little to no punishment. Highly sought after high school recruits turn to these to put on size before their first season of college football and collegiate players use them to prep for their possible future in the NFL. Due to the lack of testing, the upside for student-athletes to juice has almost become greater than the latter. Particularly in high school, the chance of a player actually getting busted does not deter them from cheating and trying to pack on excessive amounts of muscle. Every year parents lose kids that have thought they needed steroids to get bigger or improve their image. This does not end once the player goes off to the next level either. Major college programs produce soft policies that allow their athletes to get away with steroid abuse; however some do punish them. Athletes at numerous institutes face few consequences by deciding to use a growth hormone to gain an edge over their opponents. Many begin using performance enhancers at the collegiate level and often increase use once they make it to the league. In the NFL, many may argue that the problem has gotten worse considering the increase in weight of players. The league has tried to strengthen their policy, but the statistics show it has not made a significant difference in drug use. Experts