High school phenom Jermey Tyler has decided to forgo his senior year to play professional basketball in Europe. He is expected to enter the NBA draft in two years when eligble.

The 17 year old Tyler is regarded as the top prospect in his class. At 6′11″, the junior center towers over his competition. But despite verbally committing to Louisville, Tyler is looking for tougher competition.

“Nowadays people look to college for more off-the-court stuff versus being in the gym and getting better,” Tyler told the New York Times. “If you’re really focused on getting better, you go play pro somewhere. Pro guys will get you way better than playing against college guys.”

Tyler will become the first player born in the United States to leave high school early to play professional basketball overseas. Last year, point guard Brandon Jennings of Oak Hill Academy became the first player to skip college to play professional basketball in Europe.

Forgoing an essential education is a controversial topic. Conventional wisdom says if you are good enough to go where the money is. Nobody should be able to prevent you from making a living. And we see this all the time among child stars.

However, among athletes in the United States this is unfamiliar territory. There are too many stories of players not entering college to play among the pros and turning into complete busts. One of the lead examples is Kwame Brown, who was the first high school prospect to be selected with the number one pick. He never lived up to his expectations.

In 2006, the NBA decided that high school players cannot gain draft eligibilty until one year after their graduating class has finished high school. This has enabled players to face tougher competition and get a taste of college education. Though some people will complain if a player is good enough they should be able to enter the draft and make the money, this decision has ultimately helped more players than it has hurt.

But Jeremy Tyler is in a completely different position. He is still willing to face more difficult competition. The first problem is that this competition is completely different. The European game is more finesse than the NBA and built upon ball movement and fast break. Though there have been an increasing number of international players in the NBA, often times they don’t always translate well.

More importantly for Tyler  is that he is giving up an education and trading in a great deal of his life for a giant risk. As talented as he is, there is no guarantee that Tyler will be successful on the next level. If he is, then good for him. But if not, he doesn’t have much to fall back on. He’ll have to go back to school, because without a high school degree there is no chance of landing any type of career.

He’s also willing to leave friends and loved ones behind to concentrate on basketball. He’ll be missing out on his senior year of high school and bits of college. This is arguably some of the best times in anybody’s lives. But it is something he will never experience. You don’t want to wish that on anybody.

Here’s hoping that Jeremy Tyler can succeed in Europe and go on to be an All-Star in the NBA. Because if that doesn’t work, his life will be set back a couple years. Best of luck to him, but don’t say he wasn’t warned.