President Trump Reverses Policy, Allows Service Academy Athletes to Go Pro After Graduation

In a reversal of a 2017 policy, President Trump directed Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to create a policy that will grant service academy athletes the ability to play professionally after graduation.
Seeing the bright and beautiful faces of the Army football team again must’ve made him have a change of heart. That annual White House visit sure is something special.
The most recent White House visit is when he said he’d look into doing so, and now the President signed a memo saying that Esper has 120 days to create a bill that is consistent with the athlete’s service commitment.
“Highly talented cadets and midshipmen who receive the extraordinary benefits of an education from an Academy or through a ROTC program at taxpayer expense should be able to both take advantage of the short window of time during which playing professional sports is realistically possible, while also honoring the commitment they have made to our Armed Forces and our country.”, said Press Secretary Sanders in an official statement.
The current Pentagon policy requires athletes to receive a waiver to play after 2 years of active duty. This was put in place by then Defense Secretary James Mattis, who did it to counteract a 2016 policy that let athletes bypass service altogether.
“Once implemented, the President’s policy will empower our cherished Academies to compete even better in sporting activities against other colleges and universities, benefitting student-athletes and the Armed Forces. The President wants our military to be strong in all respects, even in athletics.”, says Sanders.
Whether or not former Army players James Nachtigal and Darnell Woolfolk will be grandfathered in is still unknown.