According to article in Strib, Cashman said he's skipping game in part because of concerns over injury. He has had (I believe) three procedures on his shoulder, and played with a brace this year. He said he wants to get some medical tests done to see what kind of shape the shoulder is in, so he knows before the combine.
On the larger question of skipping bowl games, one could argue that a player who accepts a full-ride scholarship owes that school something - including playing in games when healthy. At some point, some lawyer is going to get this into court, to try and determine what exactly a scholarship means for both the player and the school - what is the school obligated to do for the player, and what the player is obligated to do for the school? I could see a school arguing that a healthy player who skips a bowl game should have to reimburse the school for some pro-rated portion of his scholarship. Not saying it's likely to happen. but there have been crazier court cases filed.
And, let's take it another step: if a player is going to sit out a bowl game, what is stopping a player from announcing that he will not play in non-conference games, or games against unrated opponents? the proverbial slippery slope is out there somewhere.
