About everyone in Arkansas plus about ever yone in college football knows Darren McFadden will turn pro after the Razorbacks complete their 2007 season.

The junior Doak Walker Award winning running back from Little Rock doesn’t come from the financially independent means to remain a college star as a senior like Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, the sons of longtime New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning, did their senior years rather than turning pro early.

It’s understood. It’s also understood, that with a Razorback season still to play, why McFadden, last year’s Heisman Trophy runnerup and the 2007 preseason Heisman favorite, would wait until the season’s end before officially declaring his intentions.

Why not enjoy his last Razorback season like he’s so thoroughly enjoyed the last two ? Why not continue as truly a Razorback and a University of Arkansas student instead of casting himself a mercenary marking time until the NFL ?

No scoop there. Just a formality. Let the announcement be a cap not a cloud on the Razorback campaign. And let it come from him. It’s his to make, isn’t it ?

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Apparently not.

ESPN, the network that loves to preface as many of its radio updates as possible with “ according to so-andso of ESPN. com, ” has just dipped another scoop. You can be the judge whether this scoop is up to Baskin Robbins or an artificially flavored washout.

Seems ESPN. com’s Pat Forde got a quote from Mini Muhammed, Darren’s mother, that her son told her, “‘ Mom, I’ll be through in December” which translates to season’s end unless there is a January bowl game.

Forde also quoted her saying, “ Yeah, he’ll be making big bucks. ”

That would seem to qualify more as a “ you think ?, ” than a scoop.

But apparently it doesn’t. Not even to me who deems it no scoop at all. Because I was among those in the late Friday night collective scramble trying to contact McFadden’s mother, and McFadden and Arkansas coach Houston Nutt in reaction to ESPN. com’s breaking news, which of course brought the reaction from Mini Muhammed that any decision or announcement would come from her son and not from her.

That media rolled into a frenzied mountain over this molehill is today’s existing news climate, unfortunately.

Must say, though, that I was proud of a deskman at one of the papers I report to whose paraphrased comment was “ It’s late on deadline, we’re short on space and this really doesn’t seem much of a story. ”

Mark his answer dead on for all the above.

There was conjecture between phone calls Friday night whether Forde confused Muhammed into the quotes or she was confused by his questions or whether she simply blurted the truth.

Darren McFadden, after the Razorbacks’ scrimmage last Saturday night, said, “ I don’t know what was said in the conversation, but I know my mom told me there were some things that were misunderstood. It’s not something I’m thinking about. I’m moving forward right now. ”

Frankly, to me it doesn’t matter what was said or how it was obtained. The real story in this seems the media’s general penchant, and with good reason, to go to parents as sources about their collegiate athletic offspring.

Now no reflection here on Mini Muhammed, she didn’t seek this. She was contacted.

But in general, this generation of parents of collegians, of which I was a part until recently, seems increasingly all too eager to live vicariously through their athletic sons and daughters, to be more like agents than parents, to fight their battles, plead their cases and, reportedly, post on message boards.

Because of that, more media seek them out for quotes and background.

This isn’t a good thing. At least not for the athlete.

College is supposed to be among the rites of passage towards independence, towards students, or in this case studentathletes, taking responsibility for themselves. The inevitable ups and downs they’ll face with their coaches of today will resemble what lays ahead with their bosses in the workplace of tomorrow.

This is the time the parents generally love the most by stepping back.

Perhaps it’s become the time if media calls and asks anything about their son or daughter other than how to contact them, the parents should “ just say no. ”

Even if it’s me on the other end of the line.

Nate Allen covers the Razorbacks for the Northwest Arkansas Times.