Longhorns Daily News: Latest college sports shake-up underway as NCAA approves five-year eligibility rule

Monumental change in college sports is underway yet again.

OnTuesday, the NCAA voted to approved a new five-year eligibility rule for student-athletes.

The rule change would eliminate college athletes’ redshirt season.

College sports’ governing body’s move to implement a move as historically significant as the new five-year eligibility clock originates from a confluence of conflicts emerging across contemporary landscapes, from college locker rooms to pandemics to the rarified air of Washington’s Beltway.

It could be argued that universities’ athletics programs were destined to land at this decision.

The redshirt rule, which historically provided college athletes a full season of practice-only competition, dates back to its earliest implementation at the University of Nebraska in 1937. In the ensuing decades, the redshirt rule became a mainstay across universities’ athletics program. But in 2018, an NCAA tweak to the rule allowed players to compete in up to four games while a redshirt.

With the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset in March 2020 forced the cancellation of the remainder of the academic year’s sports calendars; later, the pandemic resulted in a shortened football season that following fall semester, all student-athletes were awarded an extra year of eligibility. The COVID-19 eligibility rule seemingly primed the system’s decision to make the change announced this week.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came through an April 7 executive order issued by President Donald Trump, who cited the eligibility proposal alongside the order’s slew of proposed changes.

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