With so much news going on these days about the upcoming 2022 season of the Call of Duty League, it is time to step back and take a look at a different area of the franchise’s esports scene: the College COD League, or CCL. What is notable about the CCL in 2022 is the fact that it will have some pros in it.

When it comes to the collegiate esports tournaments and leagues that exist around the United States, the main purpose of these is usually to offer the amateur players who are current college students the chance to earn some scholarship money, maybe some extra cash, and make a name for themselves.

Ultimately, the goal would be for something like the College COD League to pave the way for the player to then be noticed and have a chance at being in the big leagues come time for their graduation. It is not usually there for the existing pros and known names in the business to dominate the competition.

But it looks like that could be exactly what is going to happen in the upcoming 2022 season of the College COD League if a certain team is anything to go off of. As noted by Jake Lucky over on Twitter, it seems that there are some pro players who will be competing in the CCL next year. 

These are not only just any pro players or semi-pro or even amateurs, but one of them is quite literally a former world champion of Call of Duty. Someone who has been at the peak of the competitive performance for the franchise is now going to be playing in the upcoming College COD League season.

That player is none other than Silly himself. The former 2018 Call of Duty World Champion, and one of the many players dropped from the Los Angeles Guerrillas this year, is making the switch to college esports after a couple of mostly poor-performing years as part of the Call of Duty League. Silly will have the opportunity to have a full ride paid scholarship to Bay State College.

At the Bay State College, Silly will be able to use his expertise in the Call of Duty franchise to have a full ride at the college with apparently no tuition or anything at all required of him in exchange for competing for the college as part of their team for the College COD League 2022 season. 

That’s not the end of it, though, as it does not end with Silly. There is three other noteworthy Call of Duty players who will be joining him at the college to be a part of the same exact team. The other main pro that is known already in the community is Phantomz who will join Silly on the roster. 

Phantomz and Silly will be joined by two other players who are lesser-known as they are amateurs who have been competing in the Challengers division in recent memory. Those two up and comers are Wrecks and Druxy who will have the chance to show their stuff as part of the Bay State College COD team.

What is quite controversial about this situation is not only the fact that both Silly and Phantomz are established pros who have been paid full-time salaries as part of the main Call of Duty League teams but to top it off Silly has already won the crown jewel of the entire esports industry with a championship ring. 

This is quite literally the opposite of what most do and what something like the College COD League should be about, which is propelling new talent up and into the next part of their careers, if they are talented enough. This is also problematic since he effectively has an advantage over the competition with the level of skill and knowledge that they already have. 

That is not to say, of course, that Silly and the rest of the Bay State College team will completely destroy the competition in the College COD League, but it is likely that this will happen. There is always the chance that some hidden gems could be waiting in the wings for their time to shine and outplay them, but it is unlikely at this point.

As for why Silly and the others would opt to go this route, it is likely for a number of reasons. Silly himself made it clear in the response to the tweet from Lucky that he was in college before he won the championship in 2018 and he is going back to finish his degree.

That is an admirable point and one that other players should take note of, as many of the CDL players do not have degrees and, essentially, not much of a future outside of esports without the skills and experience doing other jobs outside of competing. 

That sentiment alone of wanting to finish a degree is an amazing one, but the complicated part is how he is going about it by, what some would say, taking advantage of the CCL. In the end, it is my opinion that it is Silly and Phantomz’s faults for choosing to go this route, but the fact of the matter remains that they are being allowed to. 

From what it seems at least, the College COD League essentially has no problem with a former world champion competing in their amateur league. So long as the league organizers allow it to happen, there is no stopping other pros from doing the same thing once they are unable to find a new spot in the Call of Duty League. In fact, it is already rumored that other top players and Challengers are getting similar collegiate scholarship offers.