NCAA Grants Extra Year of Eligibility for Spring Student-Athletes
The NCAA Division 1 Council voted on Monday to grant spring sport student-athletes who had their seasons cut short by the outbreak of COVID-19, another year of eligibility.
Teams will be able to carry more scholarship players on their rosters in addition to the recruits that were already coming in. Sports included in this vote are softball, baseball, track and field, golf and tennis.
Scholarship athletes would have exhausted their eligibility in the 2019-2020 year will now be awarded financial aid in 2020-2021 if they decide to come back through the NCAA's Student Assistance Fund.
It will be up to each Divison 1 school on how much money they grant to each additional roster spot.
“The Council’s decision gives individual schools the flexibility to make decisions at a campus level,” Council chair M. Grace Calhoun said. “The Board of Governors encouraged conferences and schools to take action in the best interest of student-athletes and their communities, and now schools have the opportunity to do that.”
The sport of baseball will see its roster limit increased as well.
Winter sports like basketball, gymnastics, among others, are not included in this decision as most teams had already completed their regular seasons at that point.
Last week, University of Alabama coach Patrick Murphy told the media that all seven of his seniors had expressed interest in returning for another season in Tuscaloosa.
Now, they have their chance.
Listed below are the Crimson Tide seniors of spring sports who can now opt to return:
Baseball - Brett Auerbach, Kyle Cameron, Casey Cobb, William Freeman, Johnny Hawk, Justin King, Walker McCleney, Dylan Oliver, Kolby Robinson
Softball - Elissa Brown, Taylor Clark, Sarah Cornell, Krystal Goodman, Bailey Hemphill, Claire Jenkins, Alexis Mack
Rowing - Elle Anderson, Sydney Boles, Makena Clark, Peyton Cowell, Gaby Crawford, Olivia DeGroot, Kylie Diffley, Samantha Gafford, Sarah Giuliani, Keilani Hamann, Hailey Higgins, Gabrielle Krieger, Carley McCoin, Arielle Schafer, Rebekah Stewart, Ariana Sweany, Katie Toth
Men’s track & field - Henry Barrett, Robert Dunning, Alize Ford, Stephan Holcombe, Michael Wiggins
Women’s track & field - Katie Funcheon, Leah Hanle, D'Jai Baker, Kristoni Barnes, Symone Darius, Abigail Kwarteng, Natassha McDonald, Takyera Roberson, Avery Stuchell
Men’s tennis - Alexey Nesterov, Edson Ortiz, Zhe Zhou
Women’s tennis - Alba Cortina Pou, Luca Fabian, Jacqueline Pelletier, Ann Selim
Men’s golf - Jake DeZoort
Women’s golf - Kenzie Wright
