Cal Sports: Spring-Sport Athletes Will Get Another Year; Winter Athletes Will Not
Cal athletes in spring sports will be granted an extra season of eligibility as a result of an NCAA Division I Council vote taken on Monday, multiple media outlets, including CBS Sports, reported.
Will baseball players like outfielder Brandon McIlwain, who is a redshirt junior, make use the extra year at Cal. The former Cal quarterback was taken in the Major League Baseball draft last June and considered turning pro then, but came back. He was hitting just .200 in 16 games this year before the season was halted, and he might like to improve that number in a subsequent season or two even if he is taken in the June draft this year.
He began his college career in January of 2016 at South Carolina, so he could stretch out his college life for a long time. And what courses would he take if he does decide to return for two more seasons?
(Click here to read the entire NCAA release on Monday's decision.)
The options are also there for McIlwain's teammates Darren Baker and Quentin Selma, both of whom are juniors and could get drafted this June but can come back for two more seasons at Cal. Will senior outfielder Max Flower return for another season?
Will Cal softball star Makena Smith, a sophomore hitting .481, take advantage of the extra year? None of the Bears' starters is a senior, so the ruling won't have a major effect on next year's softball team. But senior utility player Jordan Fines would have the option to return.
Will Cal shot-putter McKay Johnson, a redshirt junior who was an All-American last year, opt to come back to Cal for two more seasons? Will senior sprinter Zion Corrales Nelson or senior hurdler Jasher Foster come back for another season?
And Cal athletes in tennis, rowing, rugby, beach volleyball, golf, women's water polo and women's lacrosse will have similar opportunities to have another year of eligibility.
The extra year of eligibility applies to athletes in all class years, but it is particularly signficant for seniors, because their college athletic careers are not necessarily over now.
It is unclear when senior athletes would have to decide whether they want to return.
There was talk that winter-sports athletes might be given an additional year of eligibility as well, but that will not be the case. That means the Cal careers of basketball players Paris Austin and Jaelyn Brown are over.
Although this ruling could be a major benefit for athletes whose spring season was cut short or eliminated because of the novel coronavirus, it could be a financial and logistial hardship for Cal and other colleges.
Sports Illustrated writers Pat Forde and Shawn Krest discuss the potential problems in the video above.
The No. 1 issue is how programs would fund additional, unexpected scholarships. In response, the council modified financial-aid rules for institutions and expanded rosters so schools could accommodate the additional scholarship athletes without forcing out other athletes or incoming freshmen. Seniors who return would not count against scholarship limits or roster limits.
Few spring sports programs offer full scholarships to all its prominent athletes, as football and basketball do. A Division I baseball program can offer no more than 11.7 scholarships, while softball has a limit of 12 scholarships. Eighteen scholarships are permitted for women's track and field and 12.6 are allowed for men's track and field.
Monday's ruling also stated that colleges won't have to offer the same level of scholarship to returning senior athletes that those athletes had in 2019-20, as an NPR report pointed out.
It would be a difficult conversation to have with a returning senior athlete if the school decides to reduce the amount of his or her scholarship.
It remains unclear what the academic requirements would be for a graduating senior who wants to return for another year, according to the NPR report.