One of the many questions that’s been lobbed about as a byproduct of fall sports being postponed to the spring is the question of eligibility by playing two seasons in one calendar year. If efforts to sway the Big Ten to reinstate the football in the fall don’t work — and it’s looking like that’ll be the case — then a spring season does indeed happen, that means incoming, early enrollees could potentially play a spring and the traditional fall season in one calendar year.
Yes, it’s crazy, wacky, and exciting all at the same time for the incoming 2021 class. And yeah, already we’ve heard from defensive end Jack Sawyer, as well running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Evan Pryor, that they will be looking to take advantage of the potential.
But there’s only one thing that needs to be cleared. The NCAA has to weigh in and confirm that language stating that the calendar year is what counts for one year of eligibility is applied correctly in this case.
So far, there’s some good news on that front. According to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports, the NCAA’s Division I Council has landed on the positive side for many in that regard. On Wednesday it decided that fall sport student-athletes can compete in any amount of competitions this year and it won’t count as a season of eligibility.
Sources: The NCAA Division I Council decided today that fall sport student-athletes can compete in any amount of competitions this year and it will not count as a season of eligibility. This still needs to be approved by NCAA Board of Governors on Friday.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 19, 2020
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Now, that’s not exactly the same scenario of playing two college football seasons in one year like we’ll be looking at in 2021, but I’d argue it’s a similar ruling that will likely clear the decks for that to be confirmed.
Also, it must be noted that it still has to be approved by the NCAA’s Board of Governors, but that’s more than likely a rubber stamp scenario.
We’ll keep an eye on this as more is made available, but so far, things are headed in the right direction.
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