A report put out Wednesday by The Associated Press stated that the NCAA is going to look into changes to eligibility requirements that would also take into account age when it comes to said eligibility.
Basically, the rules that would change would be that there would be a five-year window once a player turns 19, or graduates high school, whichever comes first. The report also stated that there would be limited exceptions, but they would not involve injuries, for what it’s worth.
In order to prevent
potential lawsuits over eligibility, the NCAA is seeking a limited anti-trust exemption from congress to prevent them from being sued.
If said rules are implemented, one has to think; how would this affect the Mountain West and Pac-12 schools?
For starters, gone are the medical redshirts that could be taken by players. Affecting many players who get injured early in the season. For example, New Mexico’s Tavian Combs would be out of eligibility, as would Boise State’s Ben Ford.
As if roster turnover wasn’t bad enough, this could very well make it worse for MWC and Pac-12 teams considering many transfer after big seasons to bigger programs and bigger NIL deals. Instead of playing a couple of seasons and still have some eligibility, the clock is now ticking on athletes, which means to cash in on their talent, they will want to be somewhere that will pay top dollar quickly. Making more of a separation between the haves and the have nots. And given the latest executive order made by President Trump, athletes would be limited to one transfer during their eligibility.
The idea is obviously to prevent scenarios like Carson Beck, or Tayven Jackson, the bigger names that seem to play an NFL-style length of career, or who change schools faster than the old dial up internet used to run.
Nonetheless, with high turnover rate for the bigger schools, they will come looking for their next top stars at the lower school level. And there won’t be much leverage to limit those transfers from happening either.
Basketball will likely be mostly the same given how many players seek alternate routes after a season or two anyway.
For football, this is just another chapter in the ever-evolving landscape of the sport. And those who will succeed will be the ones who can adjust, just as in previous chapters.
