The NCAA gave the green light Tuesday to the long-discussed rules that change the framework for the clock that determines eligibility for college athletes.<\/p>\n
Simply put, Division I college athletes will now have five years to complete five seasons of eligibility, with no redshirts and no waivers. An athlete\u2019s clock starts with their first college enrollment, or with the academic year that comes after their 19th birthday, whichever comes first.<\/p>\n
Exceptions, or pauses, will be allowed for religious missions, military service and maternity leave.<\/p>\n
Recent years have seen some players appeal for up to a seventh year of college eligibility, based on injuries, pandemic extensions and court rulings involving junior college players and others. In basketball, some men\u2019s programs have also dived into a pool of international prospects who are several years into playing in professional leagues and well beyond their 19th birthdays.<\/p>\n
These trends have turned coaches in some sports away from recruiting high school athletes and toward older, experienced players in the transfer portal and overseas.<\/p>\n
Though NIL and revenue-sharing payments have changed what NCAA sports look like for athletes, the decision is a strong push toward returning Division I sports to a younger group of players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s the NCAA\u2019s way of keeping college sports as amateur as possible with the chaos that is the NIL era,\u201d Dartmouth women\u2019s lacrosse coach Kelsey Fee told the Associated Press.<\/p>\n
Even bigger than shifting the age range of the athlete pool is that the change brings the end of redshirts.<\/p>\n
Aside from various changes to waiver and transfer rules, in general, the previous eligibility format gave an athlete five years to play four seasons. That, in turn, meant many athletes \u201credshirted\u201d one season in which they would train and practice with the team but would not participate in games.<\/p>\n
The biggest impact will come in sports like basketball. Under previous rules, a player who entered just one non-exhibition contest for even one second used one season of eligibility. Now, basketball players and others can play and coaches can use games to develop players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to talk about it as a staff \u2026 there\u2019s going to be different avenues for different players as far as what it looks like,\u201d first-year Weber State men\u2019s basketball head coach Kaleb Canales told the Standard-Examiner. \u201cBut you look at it that you don\u2019t have to redshirt now \u2026 in the past you were afraid of burning a kid\u2019s redshirt year.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Weber State, the Wildcats have 14 players signed or committed and 12 of them are underclassmen. Canales says the best way to develop players is to get them on the court in real games, and now the young Wildcats will have an easier avenue to do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll talk about the pros and cons of it, but with a younger player, does it make sense to get him playing experience even if you have planned a development year?\u201d Canales said. \u201cSo it\u2019s different, and it could open up different ways to play a game and develop your roster.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NCAA\u2019s announcement says athletes who finished their eligibility in the 2025-26 season under the previous rules will not get additional eligibility. For everyone else, schools and athletes can choose whether to apply the previous rules or the new age-based model, whichever is most beneficial to the athlete.<\/p>\n
For Weber State basketball teams, for example, that would mean Canales\u2019 men\u2019s squad could get two years with transfer center Brock Felder, while Jenteal Jackson\u2019s women\u2019s team could add a fifth year for guard Sydney White, forward Paris Lauro and center Nicole Willardson, if it fits in their plans.<\/p>\n
The new model also ends waivers to regain lost eligibility and the complicated processes those waivers have taken over the years. Outside the three detailed exceptions \u2014 pregnancy, active-duty military service or official religious missions \u2014 no waivers will be accessible, not even for injuries.<\/p>\n
Athletes with waiver-triggering circumstances that occurred during or prior to the 2025-26 school year can apply for waivers to reclaim eligibility under the old rules until July 31.<\/p>\n
For athletes who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the exceptions mean that missionary service pauses the start of the five-year eligibility clock.<\/p>\n
It seems fewer effects will be felt in college football. The old model included sport-specific eligibility rules and football allowed a player up to four regular-season games while still maintaining a redshirt. Because postseason games do not count in that formula, an FCS player could play up to eight games in a season and still redshirt.<\/p>\n
The new model would allow continued development of younger players beyond four games and give football coaches easier decisions when it comes to managing injuries.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2026 Ogden Newspapers of Utah, LLC | www.standard.net | 332 Standard Way, Ogden, UT 84404 <\/p>\n
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