Football Free Agency and Roster Depletion Finds One-Year Reprieve
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Football Free Agency and Roster Depletion Finds One-Year Reprieve
Executive Summary
NCAA Division I Council recently approved a waiver of the FBS annual signing limit of 25
Waiver is responsive to concerns about football roster depletion and potentially higher numbers of transfers due to recent deregulation to NCAA transfer rules
“Oversigning” has been an issue in Division I football and well chronicled in the 2000s and 2010s
Approved waiver is a one-year solution
Concerns the waiver could incentivize “run-offs” in which a coach deters a football student-athlete from returning (or wanting to return) to the team thereby opening up another scholarship for a new prospect
Concern the new 25+7 waiver will become the expectation of head coaches
The Backdrop
For each scholarship “signing year” (August 1 – July 31) in the football bowl subdivision (FBS), there is a limit of 25 for the number of prospective student-athletes who may sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI) or institutional offer of financial aid as well as a limit on the number of student-athletes who may sign a financial aid agreement for the first time.
There are exceptions to this limit, including for student-athletes who have been at the institution for at least one academic year or individuals who, prior to participation, become injured or ill to the point that they will not be able to participate in intercollegiate athletics.
The FBS annual signing limit was adopted in 2017 to promote informed decision-making by prospective student-athletes; this was adopted in part due to concerns about "oversigning," where schools would sign sometimes thirty or forty prospects, including some with high-risk academic profiles, with the intent of enrolling only a portion of those prospects. "Oversigning" would leave some prospects who originally received verbal offers without a Division I roster spot when coaching staffs reneged on the offer before signing day. “Oversigning” has its own unique history in college football— so much so that there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to the practice.
However, the recent deregulation of transfers has left some Division I programs unable to use their entire allotment of 85 scholarships (when they can only sign 25 students in a year) due to an exodus of athletes leaving to graduate, transferring to a new program, quitting the sport or receiving an early entry into the NFL Draft.
Waiver Wire
In response to these growing concerns, the Division I Council last week approved a one-year waiver of the annual signing limit and initial scholarship limits in football to allow schools to replace up to seven scholarship student-athletes who leave school after the first term. This is being dubbed the “25+7” waiver.
The football student-athletes on scholarship (aka “counters”) being replaced have to be academically eligible in the institution’s ensuing academic term. The prospects that a football program brings in to use those seven extra spots may be high school, two-year transfer or four-year transfer.
Both the Football Bowl and Football Championship subdivisions approved the waiver and council members acknowledged the solution was temporary but necessary; a more permanent solution will be considered in the coming months.
Per the NCAA, the waiver addresses concerns about potentially high numbers of college athletes transferring after all student-athletes were given the opportunity to compete immediately after transferring for the first time.
From a timing standpoint, the waiver will apply at the end of the first term (students who depart on or after the earlier of the last day of the school's fall term or Dec. 15, 2021, which is the first day of the early National Letter of Intent signing period).
The waiver was recommended by the Division I Football Oversight Committee, chaired by Penn State Athletic Director Sandy Barbour.
"We believe schools should have temporary flexibility to help address possible roster depletion due to transfers," Barbour said. "This one-year waiver enables schools to properly utilize their scholarship limitations."
The waiver is effective immediately for the 2022-23 academic year only. The overall scholarship limit remains at 85 for the FBS and FCS while the limit of 63 scholarship equivalencies in the FCS also remains in place.
An example to put the waiver into context: a Division I school enters the 2021-22 academic year with 25 available scholarships for the 2022-23 class. The school’s football program signs 25 prospects in December and February.
Eight counters depart the institution on or after December 15, 2021, and are academically eligible for the institution’s ensuing academic term. That Division I institution may sign up to seven additional prospective student-athletes before July 31, 2022.
For institutions who enter the 2021-22 academic year with fewer than 25 available scholarships: if the number of attrition-based departures cannot be addressed within the permissible annual limit of 25, the institution may sign up to seven additional PSAs before July 31, 2022.
The 25+7 waiver concept is seen as a compromise between not proliferating overall roster sizes while enabling football programs that face marked roster depletion to backfill those open spots more quickly than the current 25 annual limit allows. This, in the end, positions Division I schools to use all (or nearly all) of the available 85 scholarships— which is in the interest of student-athlete well-being and opportunity.
The concept doesn’t come without concern or potential drawbacks, though. A 25+7 model could incentivize “runoffs” where coaches deter student-athletes from wanting to return to the team. While only approved for one year, this waiver could establish an expectation among college football coaches of having at least 32 annual signings for future years.
On the flip side, some Division I athletics departments have been campaigning for deregulation of the annual FBS signing limit, including concepts that would allow for even greater number of annual signees than the 25+7. One argument in favor of expanding the number of signees? Multi-year departures of athletes due to turnover at the head coaching position.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
