The NCAA is proposing significant changes to its eligibility rules for student-athletes, according to a report from Ross Dellenger of Yahoo.
An NCAA committee is set to meet next week to discuss new eligibility rules for college athletics, that would include an age-based standard allowing athletes five full years of eligibility from the time of their 19th birthday or their high school graduation, whichever is earliest.
In addition, there would not be any waivers, redshirts or exceptions to the new rules except for a very small handful of circumstances (such as maternity leave, military service or religious missions).
While the NCAA is meeting on the matter next week, it is unclear how long the approval process may take. However, there is a possibility that with swift approval, implementation could begin as soon as this fall.
The NCAA proposal pushes forward Trump’s executive order with substance
President Donald Trump’s executive order signed on Friday, April 3, highlighted a high-level proposal for a “five-year participation window” for student-athletes to go along with a call for more structured transfer rules.
Dellenger noted that the NCAA’s work on the proposed participation changes predated Trump’s executive order. Even so, a passing of the proposal would largely align to what the presidential administration proposed conceptually.
How does the NCAA proposal differ from current eligibility requirements?
Currently, NCAA rules dictate that athletes are allowed four playing seasons over a five-year calendar, with the option to regain another year of play through a redshirt or waiver request. The waiver request process of late has been a mess, with athletes suing the NCAA over eligibility rules in an attempt to gain additional years of play.
The new proposal would eliminate an athlete’s ability to regain additional years through redshirts and waivers, which in theory, may make it easier for the courts to rule in favor of the NCAA if they did continue to get sued over eligibility rules. The new proposal is pretty black-and-white: you have five years to play from the time you turn 19 or the time you graduate high school, whichever comes first.
This could affect eligibility decisions that parents and student-athletes are making at the prep level. As Jonathan Givony of Draft Express points out, where are many cases where families in the United States are making the decision in the ninth grade to have athletes reclassify down to arrive at college later. This allows for cases where some American freshman will turn 20 years old before even playing a single college game. Under the new proposal, these 20 year old freshmen would only have four years of eligibility left instead of five, if the clock starts at their 19th birthday.
Whether or not the NCAA proposal garners the support needed from the power conference heads remains to be seen.
How would new eligibility rules impact some recent lawsuits?
The new rules would make it nearly impossible for players like Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss, Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar or Virginia QB Chandler Morris to earn additional years of eligibility. Of that trio, all of which sought court rulings in their favor for one more year of play, only Chambliss won—he’ll be suiting up once again for the Rebels this fall.
On the basketball side, it would likely do away with most of the silliness involved with Baylor’s James Nnaji, who was selected in the 2023 NBA draft, to come back to college to try to play once the attempt to play professionally all but simmers out. Ditto for Alabama’s Charles Bediako, who played in the NBA G League after going undrafted that same year.
The new rules would largely do away with the post-grad grey area that has attempted to be exploited by the athletes, and would also do away with six and seven years worth of eligibility that come by way of redshirts (medically or otherwise).
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NCAA Proposing Major Eligibility Changes to College Athletics on Heels of Presidential Executive Order.
