President Donald Trump has signed a presidential memorandum that orders the Pentagon to create a new policy that will allow athletes from the nation's service academies to play professional sports immediately following graduation. The memorandum states that athletes from the service academies, as well as the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), should be allowed to defer their military service obligations due to the "short window of time" the graduates have to "take advantage of their athletic talents" while playing professional sports.
The defense secretary has 120 days to develop a plan to allow this to happen.
The President's decision goes against a decision he made in 2017. Shortly after being elected, President Trump rescinded a policy from President Obama's term that allowed service academy graduates to go directly to the pros upon graduation. At the time, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis said Trump had rescinded the previous rule because the service academies "exist to develop future officers" and that graduates should fulfill their obligations for duty.
President Trump said in May 2019 that he was considering making this change while he was presenting the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy to the Army football team while it was visiting the White House.
The 2019 NFL Draft saw Air Force long-snapper Austin Cutting drafted in the seventh round by the Minnesota Vikings. The last player drafted from Navy was Keenan Reynolds by the Baltimore Ravens in 2016, and the last player from Army to be drafted was defensive back Caleb Campbell in 2008.
The last basketball players from each of the service academies were drafted in 1978 (Air Force's Tom Schneeberger and Army's Gary Winston), and of course, Navy's David Robinson was the first overall selection by San Antonio in 1987.
