San Diego State Football: Linebacker Jake Fely's sixth year of eligibility will go long way to help SDSU's future defense

San Diego State football fans all shuddered together when their defensive leader limped off the field with a broken foot last September 28 at New Mexico State University. Jake Fely, a pre-season first team All-Mountain West linebacker selection, was forced to watch his teammates play the final nine games of the 2013-14 season from the sideline.

But according to GoAztecs.com, the NCAA approved Fely's appeal for a sixth-year waver request on Thursday. In other words, Fely's shortened 2013-14 season will be treated as a medical-redshirt season and he will enter the 2014-15 season as a redshirt-junior.

Fely was already going to play next season, so the NCAA's decision will have little impact on 2014-15 (except for that fact that Fely can play relaxed knowing he still has two years left at SDSU). The NCAA's decision does, however, go a long way to prevent a drop-off in defensive efficiency in the 2015-16 season--especially at the middle linebacker position. The Aztecs will primarily play four middle linebackers this year--Jake Fely, Cody Galea, Derek Largent and Josh Gavert--three of which are seniors. But SDSU has no upperclassmen MLBs with any letters behind these four on the 2013-14 depth chart. That means that, if Fely hadn't received his sixth year, the Aztecs would have started a completely new and inexperienced MLB core in 2015-16--not a good thing for a position so vital to Rocky Long's defense.

Thankfully for Aztecs fans, that won't happen. Fely will play his senior year as an Aztec and will be a needed source of leadership and experience in that 2015-16 defense.