Report: Big Ten Proposes One-Time Transfer Rule for All Student Athletes

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The Big Ten is looking to shake up the college football landscape with its latest proposal that could give athletes more freedom to transfer.

The conference has proposed legislation which would allow student athletes in every sport to transfer one time without sitting out a year at their new school, according to CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd.

NCAA undergraduate students are not always granted immediate eligibility when they transfer to a new school. 20 sports allow a one-time transfer, but football, men's and women's basketball, ice hockey, and baseball do not.

Currently, only graduate students are allowed to transfer immediately for their remaining year(s) of eligibility. Underclassmen who transfer must sit out one year for an academic year-in-residence at their new university.

"We have five sports that are not allowed to transfer in this day and age. That is something we need to fix," Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said. "We need to give all young people flexibility to transfer once. If they transfer a second time, there is no waiver."

Dodd reports the Big Ten's proposal was "largely unknown in NCAA circles." It is not a current proposal because the NCAA Board of Directors put a moratorium on "transfer-related" proposals in November for the 2019-20 legislative calendar.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg that the Big Ten would like to get it in the legislative cycle.

"We want to force a discussion," Smith said.

The conference proposed the transfers take place within a five-year window, and the earliest this legislation could go into effect is 2021.