Will NCAA’s proposed 5-for-5 rule help or hurt Boise State football?

Redshirt year could be eliminated in college sports

Boise State running back Sire Gaines redshirted as a true freshman. | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

Head coach Spencer Danielson regularly calls Boise State a developmental program. 

Over the last two-plus decades, few colleges have done a better job of taking unheralded prospects and molding them into stars. 

“I believe we develop people better than anywhere else in the country,” Danielson said in the lead-up to the 2025 season in which the Broncos captured a third straight Mountain West title. “That’s our one thing. There’s maybe something else that someone else is better at than us, absolutely. But that’s the thing that we believe in.”

One development tool the Broncos have leaned on over the years is the redshirt season. College athletes are currently allowed four seasons of competition in five years of eligibility, with a growing list of exceptions. 

Seventeen players on Boise State’s 2026 spring roster redshirted with the team last season. 

The redshirt year could be going away in the near future. 

On Monday, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors told the Division I Cabinet to advance a new age-based eligibility model that would grant athletes five years to play five seasons. The new rule, which has been dubbed 5-for-5, would start an athlete’s eligibility clock based on their high school graduation date or 19th birthday, whichever comes first. 

The Division I cabinet previously stated that the new rules would include exceptions for maternity leave, military service or religious missions. Numerous athletes have competed for Boise State after serving a Latter-day Saints mission.

NCAA president Charlie Baker told ESPN on Monday that he is optimistic the new rules will pass. The proposal could be voted on by the Division I Cabinet as early as May 22. 

Baker also told ESPN that the proposed rule change is not expected to include players who exhausted their eligibility by the end of the 2025-26 athletics season. 

An example of this would be former Boise State men’s basketball player Javan Buchanan, who entered the transfer portal earlier this month and signed with West Virginia. Buchanan spent two seasons at NAIA Indiana Wesleyan and two seasons at Boise State. 

The proposed rule change could have positive and negative effects on Boise State football. 

On the positive side, the Broncos would have the ability to incorporate more game experience on special teams and in blowouts for developmental prospects. Instead of being limited to four regular-season games to preserve a redshirt, first-year freshmen could now be used as needed.

The rule change could also negatively impact the program’s depth as more athletes may search for early playing time at lower levels. 

The Broncos will always be a developmental program under Danielson, but the team’s recruiting strategy could change if the 5-for-5 passes.