Roanoke College linebackers Connor Cox (40) and Austin Fisher (20) watch from the sidelines. In fact, it’s the first day of practice for a Roanoke College varsity football team since 1942, when the college dropped football in the midst of World War II. Yet research consistently finds that while enrollment may spike initially, adding football does not produce long-term enrollment gains. A looming ‘demographic cliff’: Fewer college students and ultimately fewer graduates The long-predicted downturn in the number of 18-year-olds is almost here. Davis said the individual attention he could get from professors is what attracted him to Roanoke College.