5 Years of Eligibility?

[inudesu]

Won't they likely raise the scholarship limit above 85, because they'll need to fill an extra (5th) class? Of course, that will in turn leave fewer quality recruits available for the G5's to recruit. The P5's will be one-step closer to going back to stockpiling athletes like they did before the 85 limit was imposed.

Nobody know. This whole discussion just came from an off-the-cuff suggestion (actually I think it's probably the kind of thing ADs and coaches chat about just like us message board squirrels).

But as I said above, while the Alabamas and Texases of the world might be in favor of also raising scholarship limits (just like they'd always be open to that idea), the Mississippi States and Baylors and Kansases of the world (along with every G5 school) would be hard against it. Not only would it theoretically reduce our talent pool (although as HT says, the chance to play might out-weigh some of that) each of those scholarships would actually "cost" the school twice as much because they'd have to balance them with scholarships for women (which at this point for most schools would also mean adding a sport).

They could just reduce the yearly limit, or even leave it the same and let the schools deal with balancing the numbers.

[Rooster]

A similar subject has been on sports talk radio all day today...Big 10(I think) is looking at making kids redshirt...if that is the case, I think some of those kids will not go to those schools. I think it is good the way it is now. A kid has 5 years to play 4...

[Wade_Antley]

Yeah, I saw that. The Big 10 is looking at making it mandatory that freshmen would not be allowed to play football and MBB. In a way that would help G5 schools because there's something that we can offer, play right away. But I'm sure there is going to be some evil twist to it that hasn't come out yet.

[Houston Techsan]

I think it was 1972 that the NCAA let freshmen play varsity sports - at least in the University Division. Prior to that it was up to the individual conferences. The old GSC let freshmen play but they couldn't play, at least in the regional basketball tournament even for the small college division. So it's been over forty years. I don't even think they got an extra year if they red shirted. In other words all they got was three years of eligibility. The reasoning was that they had to pass college courses one whole year to be academically eligible. This did mitigate the "stock piling" somewhat since most "small college" conferences allowed freshmen to play right away. The freshmen from the small colleges could play in regular season games against the "university division" colleges. Terry Bradshaw played as a freshmen against Alabama for at least a few plays.

[RealityCheck]

Did the guy who proposed this give a new number on roster limits or scholarship limits? Roster and 'ship limits would likely change. One advantage for the schools is that it would simplify things.

One of the old school guys can help, but before the current rules freshman were not allowed to play (I think) and that was not too long ago...back in the late 70s maybe?

There has been no freshman ineligibility since Tech joined Division I. And the scholarship limits for football were 25/95 before they were dropped to the current 25/85.

[PawDawg]

There has been no freshman ineligibility since Tech joined Division I. And the scholarship limits for football were 25/95 before they were dropped to the current 25/85.

Must have been an SEC thing. I have a friend who played for lsu and they had a freshman team in 1978ish. Not sure how all that worked except I've heard him say he got hurt playing against Rice in a freshman game.

[techman05]

Yeah, I saw that. The Big 10 is looking at making it mandatory that freshmen would not be allowed to play football and MBB. In a way that would help G5 schools because there's something that we can offer, play right away. But I'm sure there is going to be some evil twist to it that hasn't come out yet.

Probably something like....."If you redshirt for us, your freshman stipend will be increased by $5,000(just because we print money and can do that)."