Column: For top talent, opt-outs make sense, and we must accept them

The Peach Bowl got a whole lot less interesting in a short span of time when Heisman finalists Kenny Pickett and Kenneth Walker III announced they’d be sitting out ahead of their projected early picks in the NFL Draft. Suddenly, it was like the pairing of a top-10 Big Ten team and the ACC champion didn’t even have a headline. The media promos felt oddly empty. A game that should have a lot of other elements going for it lost all its luster in one fell swoop.

The matchup between the No. 10 Michigan State Spartans and No. 12 Pittsburgh Panthers was initially one of the highlights of the New Year’s Six, and for good reason. When first announced, as previously alluded to, it featured a Heisman…