Jimbo Fisher supports 5th year of eligibility

[wiskyisgood12]

IMO...if the NCAA want's to promote them as student athletes. It's tough to graduate in 4 years, with all the extra classes that you are required to take that have nothing to do with the degree. It is not uncommon now days that students go to graduate in 5 years, rather than 4.

So from an academic angle, I can agree.

Completely agree with this. It's easy for an undergrad degree to take 5 and in some cases 6 years. It makes sense academically.

I don't now if it makes sense athletically, if you eliminate the redshirt year and allow them to play for 5 years would many people stay the extra year? Why not leave after the traditional 4 years of athletic eligibility? It can create program depth, but if I'm in my 5th year and I've for the most part played sparingly why would I stay on the team the last year to continue not playing. I could move on with my life or strictly focus on finishing up my degree. Again, it makes perfect sense on the academic side, but not sure why football coaches would agree.

 

[WizardHawk]

Hadn't really thought about it.

But, right off the bat I see a problem. The # of scholarships available and having to cut players which everyone complains about already. So if you increase the # of scholarships to adjust for it, then the advantage goes back to the big schools.

Yeah but aren't you adding another year to it basically?

I believe what Mamba was saying (and he will of course correct me if I'm wrong) is it stands to level the playing field a bit because it will impact the smaller schools and the non stars the most. The big 5 star kids play as few years as they can to reach the draft and their payday. Wouldn't change much for them as most don't burn all 4 years anyway.

For the smaller schools where talent is more thin adding a 5th year starter is a heck of a boost. And those kids have one more year of development to attract pro scouts.

It shouldn't change the scholarship numbers at all. It just does away with miles of unnecessary red tape and gives both teams and the kids the option of playing all 5 of their years on campus if it works out for them.

 

[WhiteMamba]

Yes Wiz. Those are my sentiments on the topic.

 

[4down20]

Wouldn't that hurt Alabama more than it would help? Most of your elite players leave early because they are NFL ready.

No, players like that play as true freshmen from day 1 anyway.

It would help more at positions like QB, kickers and players who need time to develop. Besides, those guys get all the glory, but being a "deep" team requires good backups as well.