It looks like five to play five is set to happen. <\/p>\n
[Sign up for Inside Texas TODAY for $1 and get the BEST Longhorns coverage!]<\/a><\/p>\n This week per release<\/a>, the NCAA Board of Directors for Division I \u201cdirected the Division I Cabinet to advance an age-based eligibility concept that, if adopted in its current form, would permit student-athletes up to five years of eligibility beginning the regular academic year after they turn 19 or graduate from high school, whichever happens earlier. Under that model, Division I student-athletes would no longer be limited to only four seasons of competition within their five-year eligibility window.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe time is now to reform the period of eligibility rules to provide Division I student-athletes and our schools clear and consistent standards that align with current college athletes\u2019 experiences,\u201d said Virginia Tech president and chairman of the NCAA Board of Directors Tim Sands. \u201cThe board fully supports student-athletes receiving the unprecedented financial benefits now available to them and emphasized these changes would protect opportunities for high school student-athletes to access the benefits only college sports can provide, while delivering predictable outcomes for student-athletes and our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the release, \u201cnew rules are not expected to retroactively apply to student-athletes whose eligibility is or will be completed by the spring of 2026.\u201d <\/p>\n That bit of insight does provide clarity for coaches and athletes for all sports in the NCAA, though its impact on football is especially noteworthy.<\/p>\n Currently, football student-athletes have five years to play four seasons. However, they can play in up to four regular season games during one of those seasons without burning through a year of eligibility. Postseason games such as conference title games, bowl games, and College Football Playoff matchups do not count toward that four game total. That\u2019s why, for example, Kaliq Lockett<\/a> enters the 2026 season as a redshirt freshman. He played in four games during the 2025 regular season, and his fifth appearance was in his two-catch, 35-yard, one-touchdown performance in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl against Michigan.<\/p>\n Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian<\/a> has long been for five to play five. He believes, especially in the era of NIL, that it creates clarity for all involved and that it prevents coaches and players alike from needing to make difficult decisions about whether or not to burn through a redshirt. <\/p>\n