According to a report from Maryland’s 247Sports site, head coach Mike Lockley discussed the possibility of Taulia Tagovailoa entering the transfer portal. It isn’t a shocking development given the state of college football at the present time, he is just out of eligibility.
Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman completed his sixth year of play in 2023 using this past season as his COVID year. All players received an extra year of eligibility regardless if they opted out of the 2020 season. Former Oregon Duck and Texas Tech Red Raider quarterback Tyler Shough is set to play his sixth season in 2024.
The difference is that Tagovailoa used his COVID year in 2023. There isn’t an obvious path to earning an extra year, or is there?
For the many players whose greatest value comes as a college athlete, is the four-year eligibility rule restricting their ability to keep earning (NIL) money? … maybe?
Talk about opening a can of worms.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) December 22, 2023
As Chris Vannini of The Athletic says, this would open a can of worms at the collegiate level.
There are several valid points on both sides of this sort of argument but it feels like the high school recruits and athletes that are in their first four seasons that would suffer. There are only so many scholarships to go around, so if we change the rules there seems to be someone that has to pay for it all.