How NCAA’s eligibility waiver will impact Mizzou, college sports in near future
No matter how the upcoming fall sports season plays out — canceled altogether, starts then stops, or completed as now scheduled, all student-athletes will have their eligibility frozen.
The NCAA approved a blanket waiver Aug. 21 for fall sports student-athletes, giving them an extra year of eligibility regardless of whether when they compete the fall 2020 season. It’s an arrangement that’s similar to what the NCAA approved for spring student-athletes who saw their 2020 seasons cut short early in the pandemic.
The most transparent effect of the waiver, of course, will be on the Mizzou football team. Players get another year to hone their craft, true freshmen can play more than four games without having to burn a redshirt and MU seniors like Joshuah Bledsoe, Tyree Gillespie, Larry Rountree III can return for 2021 if they choose to do so.
MU coach Eliah Drinkwitz said he didn’t have an opinion on the waiver since it’s already been mandated. With seniors will now able to return for the 2021 season, MU’s 85-person scholarship limit for football will need to be expanded.
“I don’t really approach the season any different,” Drinkwitz said. “It is a free season with the opportunity. We’ve got seniors and juniors that want to put good tape out there so they can get their NFL evaluations. We’re trying to earn positions.”
While redshirts won’t exist this fall, Drinkwitz said his players will still need to make the travel squad for away games if they want to see playing time. At home games, they’re limited to 80 people who can play. The Tigers weren’t planning to redshirt many players anyway, Drinkwitz said, because they’re limited to 81 scholarships this season in the wake of NCAA infractions.
Missouri tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Casey Woods reiterated those sentiments, adding he doesn’t think “the direct impact will be as widespread as people fear.”
“The NFL, good enough players are going to go play in the NFL, as they should,” Woods said. “Maybe the seniors that aren’t good enough to play in the NFL may not be the guys who are good enough to play for your team, as maybe guys who move on, as well.”
MU saw a similar case play out with its spring student-athletes. Mizzou baseball player Peter Zimmermann regained a year of eligibility but instead chose to sign professionally with the Houston Astros as an undrafted free agent.
The Tigers’ football team has several players who could give the pros a look in 2020, opening up new spots on the roster.
There is a scenario, Woods said, in which it’s “going to create four classes of guys that are accelerated in school.” In other words, there will be more college graduates who still have years of eligibility remaining — leading to more graduate transfers and a race by schools to land top talent that would be able to play immediately.
“That’s something we’ve got to pay attention to and evaluate,” Woods said.
Missouri athletic director Jim Sterk said it’s too early to determine how many student-athletes will be choosing to return in 2021. MU softball’s lone senior from 2020, Eli Daniel, chose not to use her extra year of eligibility, instead electing to start real life. That could be a real possibility for those on the Mizzou football, volleyball, cross country and soccer teams, Sterk said, but it’s dependent on the coaches and student-athletes.
There will be a financial cost as well, Sterk said, in funding those scholarships. The Mizzou athletic department has been in the red for three straight fiscal years and is already grappling with the financial downfalls of the pandemic.
“It does impact future classes and how the opportunity for playing, starting, those kinds of things,” Sterk said. “It could make more teams more competitive if they have a lot of seniors returning. Suddenly you have a new class that you didn’t think you had for next year. But I think those are few that come to mind for me, competitively, what does it mean?”
MU tight end Brendan Scales, a fifth-year senior, said he’s excited that he’ll get more time in the black and gold.
“Just honestly having a whole another year just to get this team together and a whole new staff,” Scales said. “Actually being with everybody on this team together. Who knows what happens since I’m a fifth-year senior but I’m excited about it, another year with these guys.”