NCAA Council Approves Extra Year of Eligibility To All Fall Athletes
The NCAA approved a new proposal on Wednesday that would grant an extra year of eligibility for any fall sport athlete, whether they play or not in the upcoming year. The measure still has to pass the Board of Directors, who meet on Friday, but this seems like a formality.
This is big news for many different programs. For the Pac-12 and Big Ten, and various Group of Six programs, this will hopefully keep players, specifically seniors and grad students, from transferring to a conference playing this fall. For the programs that are playing, this will give player an additional year, regardless if the season happens in any form.
While this is great news for the athletes, which should be the number one priority, there are some questions about this ruling long term. The biggest question of all has to do with roster management. It is expected that the NCAA will add a temporary approval for an increase in scholarships. That means the handful of seniors, who the coaches recruited for their slots, could in theory all return in 2021.
Now to be fair, there certainly will be players who won't take advantage of this offer, so don't just assume you'll get another year of Phil Jurkovec, Zay Flowers or Tyler Vrabel because of this. Players may do everything they desire to do at the college level, and decide to move on to the pros or on to their careers even if they lose a season. But this ruling is certainly a positive for athletes who may feel like they were robbed a season because of the COVID19 virus.
For other conferences this ruling may wedge an even bigger gap between the haves and have nots. SI's Ross Dellenger says that schools who don't have huge athletic budgets may not be able to afford the extra scholarships that will be added to their yearly budget. This may impact a team's ability to recruit, as they may be limited in roster spots.
It is worth watching in the future to see how Boston College players and administration work with this new ruling.
You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top righthand corner of the page. Also be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter:
Facebook- BostonCollegeSI
Twitter - @BostonCollegeSI and AJ Black at @AJBlack_BC.
Photo Courtesy of BC Athletics