The NCAA has officially adopted new rules regarding the eligibility of student athletes.
The new model gives athletes 5 total years of eligibility starting when they enroll in college or when they turn 19, whichever occurs first, and includes exceptions for pregnancy,
military service, and religious missions. While athletes gain an extra year of eligibility, this seems to get rid of redshirts and any other waivers that allowed players to get multiple extra years. The age limit should get rid of players like USC’s Chad Baker-Mazara, who turned 26 in January, and Miami’s Cam McCormick, who was famously granted a 9th year of eligibility back in 2024. To me, it seems like the main goal of this new model was simply to keep the NCAA from having to decide what players get waivers for extra years, which in turn should keep them out of the courtroom.
While the new rules take effect this year, players who exhausted their eligibility in 2025-26 will not be granted an additional year, so guys like Tre’Von Spillers or Nate Calmese will unfortunately not be suiting up for the Deacs next season. Players who still have eligibility remaining will go by “either the previous rules OR the new age-based model, whichever is most beneficial to the student-athlete.” That should mean that many of Wake’s current students athletes–starting QB Gio Lopez, for example–will be getting an extra year of eligibility.
Overall, I think this is a good change that makes the eligibility rules much clearer, and it should make it easier for the NCAA to restrict their sports to actual college students. Now we just have to wait and see if the NCAA actual enforce it.
