I think student athletes should have a higher standard, honestly. They have to do college AND a sport. A kid with an average score in HS in college and a kid with an average score in HS playing a sport in college are going to have very different experiences and resources. If the assumption is "if you want play a sport in college, you need to make sure you can do both, so we expect you to be a bit better" isn't an issue for me. Especially since most of the athletes will be on scholarship and have they education completely paid for, while the other won't likely have anything.

I agree that current standardized tests aren't the best indicators. I think changing them while still having some educational expectation is better than dropping them.