Spring Athletes Granted Another Year


If they keep the same cap on the number of slots, this means a lot of schools won't have roster room for incoming recruits.
 


If they keep the same cap on the number of slots, this means a lot of schools won't have roster room for incoming recruits.
This is gonna be the hard part.

How do you do it on the schools' end. The athlete's end is easy, just extend their eligibility clocks a year.

The simplest would just be to look at the average number of "last year of eligibility" players on the teams, and increase max roster sizes by that number for everyone, for one year.

You could do something similar for scholarships, potentially, but might be a harder sell. More room for people to cheat/game the system?
 

This is gonna be the hard part.

How do you do it on the schools' end. The athlete's end is easy, just extend their eligibility clocks a year.

The simplest would just be to look at the average number of "last year of eligibility" players on the teams, and increase max roster sizes by that number for everyone, for one year.

You could do something similar for scholarships, potentially, but might be a harder sell. More room for people to cheat/game the system?
My understanding is that returning seniors will not be counted against scholarship or roster size. But, that might just kick the can down the road for year.
 


Schools might complain that gives a bunch of extra scholarships to teams that had lots of seniors.

What about a senior that didn’t have a scholarship? Now he can get one for free without costing one to the team? Etc

You can make the arguments one way or another.
 

Schools might complain that gives a bunch of extra scholarships to teams that had lots of seniors.

What about a senior that didn’t have a scholarship? Now he can get one for free without costing one to the team? Etc

You can make the arguments one way or another.
That's not the way I understand it. If you have a senior class that has 3 scholarships, your freshman class can have three scholarships. Not sure how it works if a scholarship player does not return. My guess is that the team could use the money for a returning senior that was less than full scholarship.
 


That's not the way I understand it. If you have a senior class that has 3 scholarships, your freshman class can have three scholarships. Not sure how it works if a scholarship player does not return. My guess is that the team could use the money for a returning senior that was less than full scholarship.
It is far easier if you just say that the returning seniors' scholarships don't count towards the total. Using the softball team for example. They have 12 scholarships total. They can have their normal 12 for the incoming frosh and the returning frosh through juniors. That number can add up to 12. If you have 4 returning seniors using 2.5 scholarships, that 2.5 does not count towards the 12 total. You also can't give full scholarships to all the returning seniors. They get whatever they were getting before. If a senior on 10% scholarship returns, you can't give her the half scholarship of a different senior who chose to leave.
 



You also can't give full scholarships to all the returning seniors. They get whatever they were getting before. If a senior on 10% scholarship returns, you can't give her the half scholarship of a different senior who chose to leave.
This would be a key aspect. Although you could argue that if they weren't good enough to earn a full before this happened, what harm does giving them a full do.

Another key thing: you pretty much have to give all spring sports players an extra year on their eligibility clocks, or else you're stealing a season away from the Fresh-Juniors, particularly those who have already used a redshirt.

But the point is: that means we're going to have four years of extended rosters. Since every year a new set of freshmen are coming in, but the Fresh-Junior classes now will all get that extra year.
 

This would be a key aspect. Although you could argue that if they weren't good enough to earn a full before this happened, what harm does giving them a full do.

Another key thing: you pretty much have to give all spring sports players an extra year on their eligibility clocks, or else you're stealing a season away from the Fresh-Juniors, particularly those who have already used a redshirt.

But the point is: that means we're going to have four years of extended rosters. Since every year a new set of freshmen are coming in, but the Fresh-Junior classes now will all get that extra year.
They don't have to give anyone anything. If they do a one year deal for the seniors only it will take care of itself after one year.
 

That won’t fly, in my opinion.

Why should it be that a redshirt junior who was supposed to have this spring and next spring, now only gets to have next spring, while a redshirt senior is getting an extra year?
 

They don't have to give anyone anything. If they do a one year deal for the seniors only it will take care of itself after one year.

The NCAA has already stated that all current spring sport athletes get an extra year of eligibility. The financial aid and transfer issues are still up in the air.
 



The NCAA has already stated that all current spring sport athletes get an extra year of eligibility. The financial aid and transfer issues are still up in the air.

So they will figure it out. Again, they don't HAVE to give any athlete anything above the current status quo. The Olympics get boycotted and athletes don't get to compete. Athletes get hurt. Stuff happens. Don't honor any scholarships after your original eligibility is up. Make them all walk on if they want the additional year. Or give 2 additional for softball and baseball for the next five years. I think the only way to make it fair is to put an equal cap on scholarships or have no scholarships for the additional year.
 

So they will figure it out. Again, they don't HAVE to give any athlete anything above the current status quo. The Olympics get boycotted and athletes don't get to compete. Athletes get hurt. Stuff happens. Don't honor any scholarships after your original eligibility is up. Make them all walk on if they want the additional year. Or give 2 additional for softball and baseball for the next five years. I think the only way to make it fair is to put an equal cap on scholarships or have no scholarships for the additional year.
All of these ideas are on the table, I'm sure.

But regardless, they have to do something for five years. As all of the current five classes (fresh to redshirt seniors) get an extra year, so it will take five years to filter them off the top (the 6th year players). Consider a hypothetical, where every true freshman takes a redshirt year, so their second year in the program (out of five) I just call them "R fresh". Starts in 2021, then 2025 is the last year where you need the exemption, 2026 back to normal.

2021:
True fresh
Fresh +1
R fresh +1
Soph + 1
Junior + 1
Senior + 1

2022:
True fresh
True R fresh
Fresh +1
R fresh +1
Soph + 1
Junior + 1

2023:
True fresh
True R fresh
True Soph
Fresh +1
R fresh +1
Soph + 1

2024:
True fresh
True R fresh
True Soph
True Junior
Fresh +1
R fresh +1

2025:
True fresh
True R fresh
True Soph
True Junior
True Senior
Fresh +1

2026:
True fresh
True R fresh
True Soph
True Junior
True Senior
 




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