College Football
NCAA Expected to Approve Elimination of Initial Counters
The NCAA Division I Council is expected to approve the elimination of initial counters, the rule that limits football programs to 25 scholarship recruits a class according to Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger. The only scholarship limit for football players would instead be the total 85 player limit already in place.
DI Council expected to approve the elimination of initial counters this week, allowing coaches to sign unlimited players each year as long as they remain at/under the total 85 scholarship limit.
Why? Wrote about it three weeks ago. https://t.co/JVdsZyQUOk https://t.co/A4O4ClIHR5
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 17, 2022
The intention of the rule is to help programs who lose a significant amount of players still field. With the transfer portal and name, image and likeness polices now in place, players have more freedom to leave schools for a perceived better opportunity elsewhere than ever before and have taken full advantage of that right. West Virginia, for example, has lost 19 players to the transfer portal, the worst mark in the Big12 this off-season. On top of that, they’ve averaged 12.7 losses from 2019-2021. They’ve lost a total of 72 players in the portal during that span, also the worst mark in the Big12.
Losing that many players yearly could be the new norm for a school like West Virginia. While West Virginia is certainly a big program their lack of recent success combined with financially lucrative NIL deals to be found at even bigger programs elsewhere could lead to a lot of roster turnover in the transfer portal. Eliminating the 25 scholarship limit can help fill the holes that open when a player leaves a school like West Virginia for a new opportunity.
At the same time, concerns can be raised for players who are now more cut-able because a team doesn’t have to worry about using a limited scholarship to replace them.
Regardless, this is the new norm for college football. For example, West Virginia’s season is only 105 days away now and it’ll likely be a transfer quarterback starting against a transfer quarterback who also took the former’s starting job at their original school.
