Imagine your favorite college athlete having the ability to star on your team for more than four years — this could be the case sooner rather than later.  

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is discussing the idea of giving student-athletes across all divisions an extra year of eligibility. This proposed rule change could potentially eliminate the option for athletes to redshirt and to get waivers from the NCAA for an extra year. The NCAA would give each student-athlete only five years to compete in their respective sport while attending school as well.  

Currently athletes have five years to compete in four seasons of their sport. They can utilize that extra year to redshirt and develop as a player, recover from an injury or simply focus on their schoolwork. What they cannot do with this extra year is participate in their sport, unless otherwise specified by the NCAA.  

There have been extreme cases where athletes take advantage of the waivers and redshirts. College football tight end, Cam McCormick, played nine years of football for the Oregon Ducks and Miami Hurricanes from 2016-2024. He suffered multiple season-ending injuries and was able to get an extra year from COVID-19. He appealed to the NCAA to get each year back from which he was injured, and they kept giving him an extra year of eligibility. 

McCormick was able to take advantage of the rules set in place right now, but with the new proposed rule, there’s a chance that no other athlete would be able to accomplish what he accomplished.  

COVID was also an extreme circumstance where the NCAA had to grant each student-athlete an extra year of eligibility because it had wiped away virtually every sport that would have a season in 2020. This did, however, give us a little preview of how this new rule might be utilized by athletes. A lot of athletes did end up using that extra year to their advantage, which is the reason this rule is being proposed. 

Ashland Athletic Director, Al King, thinks that ever since COVID, it is more likely that the NCAA will pass this rule, but he brought up a good point in saying, “the difference would be in COVID, this happened because kids had something taken away from them and you had to do something to make it fair.” 

Fifth-year Ashland heptathlon and decathlon athlete, Wyatt Cory, says “Covid created an interesting dynamic in college sports where athletes have been able to now argue and get waivers for not just fifth but also sixth years of eligibility on different technicalities.” 

There are many pros and cons to whether this new rule should pass. The pros consist of giving athletes an opportunity to start their master’s degree during that fifth year, being able to enjoy another year of a sport they love and an opportunity to take advantage of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals. 

Cory, says “[t]he positives have been being able to start my master’s and being able to learn more about the sport which is important for me specifically because I want to coach college track and field after this year.”  

Cory is utilizing his fifth year to get a jump start on his future by taking advantage of starting his master’s degree and because he is competing in a sport that he enjoys, he can continue to learn more about it from his experience and his coaches.  

The NIL is pretty new territory for student-athletes and the NCAA as it was just implemented within the last four years. For a lot of smaller schools, especially a Division II school like Ashland, NIL deals don’t have as much of an impact as schools that are in higher divisions. King says “well, they’re doing division I, but all that hasn’t come down to division II.” 

For student-athletes attending larger schools that can offer NIL deals, this could cause them to use that extra year of eligibility. 

Although, there are negatives to these proposed rules. One con is that coaches could have an issue with bringing in new talent since there will be experienced athletes on their team already. 

Cory thinks, “coaches will likely recruit less as they’ll be able to for sure have these athletes for a fifth year if they choose to do so and this will take away scholarship opportunities and potential roster spots.” 

Cory also brought up the fact that this could also shift the mindset of student-athletes in terms of their studies. He explains, “by implementing this rule change, we’re going to see more people put academic second to their athletics which is not the point of college sports, in my opinion.” 

While student-athletes were recruited to play a sport for their school, the most important reason that they are there is to further their education. So, while some people would utilize this extra year to start their master’s or finish their undergrad, some student-athletes would just take advantage of their sport and only be at school to compete. 

The NCAA is still in very early talks about this proposed rule change, but it has gotten more and more real in the last couple months. Some people are against, and some are for this rule change, but the NCAA will have to look at each and every point of view to make their final decision.