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- Jan 26, 2022
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I was thinking about all of these eligibility cases we’re starting to see, and I think there could actually be a pretty simple solution.
Right now, the basic rule is five years to play four. I think college football should move to a system where a player can actually play five seasons, but the fifth year has to be earned. Here’s how I would do it.
To qualify for your fifth season, you have to have already earned your college degree. If you haven’t graduated, nothing changes for you. You still have five years to play four.
That immediately puts an academic incentive back into college football. Want that extra year of eligibility? Finish your degree.
But I would add another requirement: you only get that fifth season automatically if you stayed with the school that originally gave you your scholarship.
I look at it somewhat like the NBA, where the team that drafted a player has certain advantages when it comes to what they can offer him. College football could do something similar with eligibility.
Stay with your original program, earn your degree, and you unlock a fifth season.
If you voluntarily enter the transfer portal and leave for another school, you can still transfer and play, but you give up that fifth-year benefit. You go back to the normal five-years-to-play-four system.
There would obviously need to be an exception for players who are basically processed out. We all know there are situations where a coaching staff tells a player that he probably isn’t going to play and should find another program. If the original school signs a waiver acknowledging that it initiated or recommended the move, the new school retains his Bird rights and can still give him that fifth year.
The one area I’m not sure about is players who are dismissed from a program because of disciplinary or behavioral issues. I’m curious what everyone thinks about that. Should being dismissed cost you the fifth year, or should you still be able to earn it somewhere else? I’m on the fence about that because I don’t think it’s fair for someone to lose their fifth year because they missed a meeting, were late to something, or violated some other relatively minor team rule. Different schools and coaches have different standards, so I don’t think something like that should automatically cost a player an entire year of eligibility. I’m talking more about situations that are serious in nature. That’s where I’m not sure how the rule should work.
Then there is the NFL situation.
If a player leaves early for the NFL but doesn’t make a roster or practice squad and still has college eligibility remaining, I think there should be a path back to college football.
If he already earned his degree before leaving, I’d basically treat him like a free agent. Let him return and choose any school willing to take him for his remaining eligibility.
If he left for the NFL without earning his degree, he can still come back, but he has to return to his original school if he wants to continue playing and finish his degree.
To me, that creates incentives that college football badly needs right now. You want maximum eligibility? Graduate.
You want the freedom to transfer? You still have it, but there is a benefit to staying loyal to the program that originally recruited and developed you.
You leave early for the NFL and it doesn’t work out? You aren’t necessarily done with college football, but graduating before you leave gives you considerably more options if you come back.
I think something along those lines would make a lot more sense than continuing to pile exceptions and court rulings on top of the current five-to-play-four system.
What do you guys think? Would something like this work?
Right now, the basic rule is five years to play four. I think college football should move to a system where a player can actually play five seasons, but the fifth year has to be earned. Here’s how I would do it.
To qualify for your fifth season, you have to have already earned your college degree. If you haven’t graduated, nothing changes for you. You still have five years to play four.
That immediately puts an academic incentive back into college football. Want that extra year of eligibility? Finish your degree.
But I would add another requirement: you only get that fifth season automatically if you stayed with the school that originally gave you your scholarship.
I look at it somewhat like the NBA, where the team that drafted a player has certain advantages when it comes to what they can offer him. College football could do something similar with eligibility.
Stay with your original program, earn your degree, and you unlock a fifth season.
If you voluntarily enter the transfer portal and leave for another school, you can still transfer and play, but you give up that fifth-year benefit. You go back to the normal five-years-to-play-four system.
There would obviously need to be an exception for players who are basically processed out. We all know there are situations where a coaching staff tells a player that he probably isn’t going to play and should find another program. If the original school signs a waiver acknowledging that it initiated or recommended the move, the new school retains his Bird rights and can still give him that fifth year.
The one area I’m not sure about is players who are dismissed from a program because of disciplinary or behavioral issues. I’m curious what everyone thinks about that. Should being dismissed cost you the fifth year, or should you still be able to earn it somewhere else? I’m on the fence about that because I don’t think it’s fair for someone to lose their fifth year because they missed a meeting, were late to something, or violated some other relatively minor team rule. Different schools and coaches have different standards, so I don’t think something like that should automatically cost a player an entire year of eligibility. I’m talking more about situations that are serious in nature. That’s where I’m not sure how the rule should work.
Then there is the NFL situation.
If a player leaves early for the NFL but doesn’t make a roster or practice squad and still has college eligibility remaining, I think there should be a path back to college football.
If he already earned his degree before leaving, I’d basically treat him like a free agent. Let him return and choose any school willing to take him for his remaining eligibility.
If he left for the NFL without earning his degree, he can still come back, but he has to return to his original school if he wants to continue playing and finish his degree.
To me, that creates incentives that college football badly needs right now. You want maximum eligibility? Graduate.
You want the freedom to transfer? You still have it, but there is a benefit to staying loyal to the program that originally recruited and developed you.
You leave early for the NFL and it doesn’t work out? You aren’t necessarily done with college football, but graduating before you leave gives you considerably more options if you come back.
I think something along those lines would make a lot more sense than continuing to pile exceptions and court rulings on top of the current five-to-play-four system.
What do you guys think? Would something like this work?
