MWCConnection Roundtable: Thoughts on the new NCAA eligibility rulings?

Last Friday the NCAA voted and adopted new rulings in light of some conferences pushing fall sports back to the spring (hopefully). This Friday, we will discuss some of our thoughts. So the question is, what do you think of the NCAA eligibility rules?

Jake:

Honestly, I am not the biggest fan of having this year “not count” for a players eligibility. To me, this is going to take away the all out effort of players, as they will know that they have another college sports year under their belt. On the flip side, for fans, if your team is looking really good this upcoming season, guess what?? That means they will look the same, if not better for the 21-22 season. It’s obviously, such a tough spot and decision, but at the end of the day, I am not a fan of the decision.

Zach:

I have mixed feelings. I think this really hurts small schools that can’t afford the extra scholarships. I also wonder how this impacts high school seniors. There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered before I give a strong opinion.

Mike:

Overall, I think all the rules and new changes that were made are positive. Everything was done to forward the well-being of the student athletes and that’s always my barometer at the end of the day.

I do agree with Zach that not every school will be able to do that. We saw this in the spring, even with bigger schools not wanting to cover the cost of extra scholarships. This may result in programs taking smaller classes in the 2021 recruiting cycle. Some teams may already be trying to play this game and that obviously doesn’t bode well for the 2021 student athletes.

No plan is perfect but I still think this is the right move. There will be unintentional outcomes to this plan that will need to be addressed but it is clear the NCAA is trying to do the right thing here and accomplishing that overall.

Adam:

I like the idea of giving another season of eligibility. The only issue I foresee will be that teams will have an influx of redshirt freshmen in the upcoming seasons. And if the NFL rules stay the way that they are, with the requirement to be three years removed from high school before entering the draft, then that will more than likely also cause an influx of players leaving early for the NFL draft.

At the end of the day, though, the NCAA really was in a no win situation. However, unlike most times over the years, I think the NCAA finally played this one really well. The question now is, when is the next time we get to see Mountain West football?

Graham_Gibson:

I have mixed feelings about the NCAA rulings because with all things, there are really big positives and then pretty large negatives involved. The best positives are that younger players may get more experience and veteran players (if they choose to do so) are able to play another year. The negative side to this ruling is that it is likely going to greatly affect scholarships and in turn recruiting. Many of the first string players are likely already on scholarships and quite a few of the second string players too. This is going to impact recruiting because if more players begin to stay because they have another year of eligibility, then that leaves less room to give scholarships to recruits and may convince a recruit to not attend a particular school that they were previously committed to. There is also the chance that juniors and seniors may decide to forgo the extra year and instead enter the NFL Draft. Strange times.