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The super senior.
Every roster across the nation has some, players in their sixth—or sometimes seventh—season who are 23- or 24-years old.
Thank the pandemic.
Because COVID-19 impacted the 2020 campaign on many levels, the NCAA didn’t dock athletes a year of eligibility—regardless of how many games they played that season.
“It was an important tool at that time,” said a Big Ten defensive coordinator. “Remember, we didn't know if you could catch COVID playing football, there were a lot of missing things we didn't know at that time.”
But the free "COVID" year of eligibility announced in October 2020 for fall athletes that spawned “super seniors” has created roster management headaches for head coaches that will linger for several seasons. To wit: A true freshman in 2020 has eligibility until 2025.
“I think it was a knee jerk reaction,” said a Big Ten head coach. “I think it was ready, shoot, aim.
“I don't think they needed another year. I don't think it made it easier. I think it made it more complicated. But we stayed on track. If a guy wanted to come back for another year, that's what we did.”
Not all schools were as compliant. More on that later.
Coaches had no roster management issues in 2021 brought on by super seniors, as the NCAA permitted schools to exceed the 85-scholarship limit to accommodate super seniors. However, bloated rosters are no longer permitted beginning this season. Schools must be back at 85 scholarships.
And then there is this: Every super senior who stays on scholarship in 2022 will mean one fewer scholarship for a high school player.
“That isn't ideal,” said a FCS head coach. “It gets your roster out of whack. What's made it so difficult to manage is the fact the pandemic, NIL and transfer portal all hit at the same time. And it was all new. And none of us have been through all this. Now, we know what we're doing. And everybody has a plan, I'm sure, and you can see people's plan."
The fact fewer high school players are being recruited has prep coaches perturbed.
“The high school coaches don't like it,” said the FCS head coach. “We usually go out for four weeks. I cut it to two weeks for high schools. Why go out?
“Half our roster is coming from the transfer portal. Why would we spend that kind of time (on the road recruiting high school players)? What are we going to gain by two more weeks of spending all that money to go back out?”
Having super seniors also has created logjams at positions, and that is impacting recruiting. And if a position has one or two super seniors, that means the likelihood of a freshman or sophomore playing is limited--and development is stunted.
Head coaches have to do detective work to try to figure out who may come back for a COVID year and who may leave.
“We talk to players after the season and after spring ball,” said the FCS head coach. “Twice. I'm out recruiting. I wanna know where we are at (scholarship-wise).”
Added Illinois coach Bret Bielema: “How do you count them? You don't know if they're gonna be gone or if they're gonna come back. There are kids that you want back, there's kids you want to move on. There's kids that may be good enough for the NFL draft that you want to keep that are really good players, but now they get information that tells them they should enter the draft. These are all kinds of variables that they haven't accounted for.”
Basically, the NCAA hatched a one-year solution to a multi-year problem, creating unnecessary issues where prep players end up as collateral damage.
"I would not have done it for everybody," said a second Big Ten head coach. "I would have maybe done it for just the guys who were seniors (in 2020). It's being too generous, I think."
Still, some support the “free year” decision by the NCAA.
“I do. Absolutely,” said a Power Five head coach. “I definitely do, because I think when you gave student-athletes a choice to play or not, and it's strictly based on a world pandemic, it's not fair to those people who would have been seniors to not have another year.
"And not only that, there are freshmen who either opt out or didn't show up or couldn't do what they did, got COVID, didn't even have a freshman experience.”
But know this: Just because a player has an extra year to use due to the 2020 pandemic season doesn’t mean his current school has to take him back.
“It's not guaranteed,” said the defensive coordinator. “You don't have to offer it. They can have their COVID year somewhere, but they don't have to have it at your place. That was put in place for schools that couldn't afford it.”
Coaches have to have tough conversations with some players they may not want to see go but don’t have a roster spot/scholarship available for.
“It's a pain in the (butt),” said the FCS head coach. “Because, now you gotta count these guys (in 2022). That's why you got to make decisions. And, sometimes, you got to tell a good kid: ‘Hey, you got your degree. You've been a backup for five years. But we don't see you being a starter. We're gonna move on …'
“That's what you do. You have to make those decisions. And it might be a hell of a kid. You kind of want him around for a lot of reasons. For leadership, whatever. But you don't have the room. That's what's hard, because you gotta manage your roster. We went out and got four transfers better than him.”
Welcome to college coaching in 2022.
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