While there is no current proposal for granting athletes five seasons of competition over five years, it is something that is intriguing for a number of reasons for all involved.
The concept would allow athletes to play five seasons of competition while potentially eliminating redshirts, waivers, and other exceptions for additional seasons.
Any potential formal proposal and what all that would include isn’t likely to come until the approval of the House Settlement, but it is at least something that has at least gotten some traction among college sports leaders as a possibility according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.
And it’s something that college coaches are at least aware of given the continuously changing climate.
“It’s certainly out there. I think there is some traction to it. How much? I don’t know for sure,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “I think like everything right now with what’s going on in the NCAA there’s so many lawsuits coming from everywhere.”
DeVries admits that it wouldn’t surprise him if the model eventually ends up in that direction but it’s not there yet and he simply focuses on whatever rules they put in front of him.
“I don’t have the answers,” DeVries said.
The discussion on the issue has long been out there, but with the junior college injunction that allowed all athletes who played at least one season at that level and their eligibility was set to expire was granted another year has only put things to the forefront.
There have been many legal challenges in recent years and cleaning it have five years over a five-year span could help prevent those court challenges in the future.
The junior college ruling itself could eventually lead to some changes if that is extended further and is just something else that college coaches will need to adjust to if that’s the case.
“Do more people now want to attend junior colleges just because they can play there for two years and not lose any eligibility where maybe before they were going the prep school route? I don't know how it plays out. But certainly, for a lot of those kids now, there's two extra years of opportunity,” DeVries said.
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