As the hype of the NFL draft begins to simmer, the buildup for the NBA draft in June is starting to heat up.

But the NBA and NFL need to take a serious look at their qualifications for college student-athletes to enter each respective draft.

As it stands now, to enter the NBA draft a student-athlete must be 19 years old and announce draft intentions a year from the graduation date of his senior class.

In order to enter the NFL draft, a student-athlete must be three years out of high school.

A student-athlete is allowed to remove his or her name from the draft-eligibility list if he or she has not already hired an agent, or has previously entered the draft.

Soon, those who are eligible to enter the draft will have to make a decision that will undoubtedly change the direction of their lives forever.

These rules are ruining people’s lives. Take high school basketball player Jeremy Tyler, for example.

Tyler, a junior at San Diego High School, was going to be a top-college recruit when the head coach of the basketball team, who was also the head coach of Tyler’s Amateur Athletic Union team, was fired.

Tyler’s coach was his mentor and would keep him out of trouble. Now, he has dropped out of high school and is going to play basketball professionally overseas.

Lottomatica Roma point guard Brandon Jennings was the first kid to try this last year. Jennings was the top high school recruit, when the draft standards changed. Prior to the draft revision in 2006, an athlete only had to graduate high school.

Now, Jennings is struggling to adapt to the international game in Italy. It’s the old adage: Out of sight, out of mind.

If Jennings had been allowed to enter the draft directly out of high school, most NBA scouts and draft experts feel he would have undoubtedly been the first pick in the 2008 NBA draft.

Now, most draft experts have no idea where Jennings will land in the 2009 draft.

These sad stories have happened in the NFL as well.

In 2004, Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams tried to enter the NFL draft after only a year of college football.

A judge originally ruled that since the two players were legally adults and the NFL did not have the right to prevent the two from earning a living by entering the draft. The decision was later reversed by the United States Court of Appeals.

After being denied access to the NFL, the NCAA ruled the two student-athletes were not allowed to return to college as an athlete because of the contacts they may have had with agents during the short period they were eligible for the draft.

Ever since, Clarett’s life has been a train wreck. He is now serving a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for robbery, carrying a concealed weapon without a license and resisting arrest.

Williams was drafted in the first round of the 2005 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions but has never matched the success he had in college and has played for three teams in his four seasons in the NFL.

These draft standards are a joke. Ohio State freshman center B.J. Mullens was a great high school recruit but played sparingly for the Buckeyes.

Mullens has entered the NBA draft and is projected to be a first round pick. Mullens’ case is a great example of why these draft standards are ridiculous.

He barely played a minute at Ohio State and is now going to get drafted because scouts remember what he did in high school.

His scholarship and spot on the team could have been used for somebody who actually wanted to be a Buckeye.

Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel never started a game at Southern California, but the New England Patriots knew how talented he was from his high school film and took a chance on him.

Cassel had one good year filling in for Tom Brady and now has signed a lucrative contract with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Cassel used his time with the Trojans as a sort of minor league camp to make it to the NFL.

These student-athletes are going to schools to sit on the bench for one to three years in their respective sport, wasting their time and counting the days until draft day.

These student-athletes are more than likely not going to classes. They are treating these universities as the minor leagues for the NBA and NFL.

These student-athletes are adults. They deserve the right to earn a living any way they want like any other 18-year-old.

Granted, the standards are good for preventing NBA and NFL scouts from visiting junior high school students, but there is nothing illegal about them wanting to meet with someone who is 18 years old.

Some people may argue the draft standards are for the protection of the student-athletes. That might be true but the commissioners of the NBA and the NFL are not there to be their parents.

For every Kwame Brown in the NBA there is a LeBron James and Kevin Garnett.

For every Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams in the NFL there is a Larry Fitzgerald and Amobi Okoye.

It may be excruciating to see some of these student-athletes make the wrong decision to enter the draft or not, but it is their decision to make.

The draft standards are ruining people’s lives. Chances are Jennings and Tyler do not want to live in Europe but they are forced to anyway.

They are away from their friends, family and everything else in the world that is familiar to them.

If somebody does not want to go to college they should not have to.

The NBA and NFL may think they are helping these student-athletes.

In actuality, the leagues are doing a disservice to these young people.

Andrew Hazard can be reached at [email protected]