The response by the NU player sounds reasonable in its concern for the health of the athletes that generate so much money for the university. Some players (especially football) end up with permanent injuries, some that will limit their work options. And there is some unfairness when the football and basketball players generate so much money for the school and NCAA as well as carry other programs like cross country that so few care about. But with the power and greed of the NCAA backed up by the NFL (who love their minor league system in the universities), I doubt this has much chance of going anywhere.
Except they make it sound like someone showed up at their house, put a gun to their head and forced them to play football for 5 years. They still have a choice to play or not. If they really are that concerned about their health, then don't play.
In the end, the schools are making way too much money off of this stuff. I still say a simple solution to try, would be to set a limit at $50 million to maintain "Not for profit" status. I wonder how many people would be willing to still donate 10 or 11 million dollars when there is no tax right off because you are trying to donate to a school who has a $100 million athletic budget. Probably not the final solution, maybe not even a good one. I think it would do some to curtail the crazy money going on for college sports right now.