Eligibility question

[spiderman]

I can't find the answer to this anywhere. SF ... you're an expert googler.

I've read that this year doesn't count for eligibility. everyone playing this year gets an extra year. but I've also read that it might be worded differently by the NCAA but I can't find it. the usual wording is that you have 5 years to complete 4 years of athletic eligibility. they may have simply changed that for existing college athletes to be that you now have 6 years to complete 5 years of athletic eligibility. so my question ...

if you didn't play this year, say a medical redshirt or just sat out like Andre Weir ... do you have 5 years of total eligibility to play?

I'd assume you only have 4 but I guess it depends on how it's worded.

 

[Eight Legger]

I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that for anyone who wants an extra year, you just pretend this year didn't happen and they then have whatever eligibility left that they had coming into this year. For example, Buck just announced he is going to Radford. That will be his sixth year in college and fifth playing.

 

[SFspidur]

Yeah, I haven’t been able to find exact wording of what was approved, just NCAA press releases that summarize, but my understanding is similar. Pretend this year didn’t happen, so like Weir would now have five more years to play four.

 

[spiderman]

not sure if this is accurate since it's not directly from the NCAA, but this is what's throwing me off:

https://www.ncsasports.org/coronavirus-sports/ncaa-eligibility-coronavirus

"For example, a D1 freshman athlete, whether they compete in the 2020-21 competition season or not, is eligible for an extra year of competition. Starting their sophomore year, this athlete competes in 100% of the season through senior year. After their senior season, this athlete’s eligibility count is 3 years and they decide to enroll as a fifth-year senior to compete in their fourth collegiate season. Upon the completion of their fourth competition season, this athlete has the option to compete for one final season, a fifth year, because the NCAA D1 had granted all 2020-21 athletes an extra year of eligibility. If this athlete returns for a fifth year, they will have been a member of the team and eligible to receive financial aid for six year, because their first year of competition didn’t count against their years eligibility."

 

[SFspidur]

Hm, yeah...not sure that's correct. Doesn't seem right to me that a guy who didn't even play in this shortened season could still play five full seasons.

The NCAA says it applies to "winter sport student-athletes who compete during 2020-21 in Division I."

DI Council extends eligibility for winter sport student-athletes

Winter sport student-athletes who compete during 2020-21 in Division I will receive both an additional season of competition and an additional year in which to complete

www.ncaa.org