MidAtlanticDad posted:K9 posted:How about something much simpler: early maturity. Some kids simply reach their peak much earlier, gather attention and accolades, commit to big time places and get passed by by kids who are still developing. When I was in high school/college Notre Dame football used to get all the HS All Americans but they sucked on the field. Their problem was that they chased the kids who peaked at 16 and missed out on the kids who developed later.
Funny, I interpreted your first sentence in an entirely different way. Sometimes kids make a very mature decision about where sports fit into their college plan. A serious college student may make the very mature decision that they can't have everything, and college sports is not the best use of their time for achieving their goals. Sports can get in the way of a preferred major, optimum grades, earning money, study abroad, etc.
That is a good point. A number of the most successful people from my college class were recruited athletes who saw the writing on the wall and dropped sports "early". They focused on academics and set themselves up for adulthood.