gb,
I suspect the university is going to feel that it's not in a position to tell players not to participate in an online community like this, but will definitely want them to limit themselves in terms of scope. Which is all well and good, because as an OSU loyalist, I'm not prepared for anyone (players included) to say anything even potentially damaging to the program. I want them to speak honestly about whatever they want (within reason), even if that means we get an entry one week about how hot some chick he met is.
My intention is not to encourage players necessarily to make use of the forum (although they'll be more than welcome) but rather to make use of tools we'll put in place to allow them to post "articles" or comments to their player profile pages. The stats engine will be able (even by my most conservative visions) to create profile pages with pics, game stats, history, background, etc. on given players, and fields will be included for them to include their own comments, keep a diary, whatever you like. As they do, it would be easy enough to feature their new entry on the front page of the main site. What will be nice for the player, is that once going pro, if they want their own site (
http://www.mauriceclarett.com (edit - at the time of posting this, I didn't realize someone -- not Mo -- had already registered that domain name) for example), we can host it for them and offer existing stats, features and content in-line, or if they host elsewhere we can offer tools for them to still include out content on their site. Hell, I might go as far as to invite sites like
http://www.keithbyars.com over after the fact as well.
Anyway, it's all conceptual right now, but suffice it to say that I'm very excited about the possibilities surrounding current and former player involvement