All-American Level subscribers on our Patreon page get access to a monthly Q&A with me. The August edition focuses on new NCAA testing requirements.
Q. How will the NCAA’s relaxed eligiblity standards impact Rice football during this recruiting cycle? Are there any players on the fringes of eligiblity the Owls will be able to sign that they might not have been able to otherwise?
A. This is a timely topic and one which might generate some buzz when the calendar when players starting signing with schools in December. For those who hadn’t seen the news, the NCAA announced earlier this month they would waive standardized testing requires for student-athletes enrolling in the 2021-2022 academic year.
Their statement was somewhat lengthy, but here’s the important snippet:
“Students who initially enroll full time during the 2021-22 academic year and intend to play NCAA Division I or II athletics will not be required to take a standardized test to meet NCAA initial-eligibility requirements.”
GPA requirements would still be in place, as well as qualifications for core classes. But regardless of the level of relief instituted by the NCAA, the requirements at Rice will always be the higher hurdle for potential recruits to clear.
The academic standards at Rice are rigorous. Even if omitting a test score would be enough to get them into school, staying in school and bearing the workload of a Rice football student-athlete is non-negotiable. Head coach Mike Bloomgren always says he’s looking for young men that want the “best of both worlds”.
For those reasons, Rice isn’t likely to cut any corners and “reach” for an athlete that might not have gotten in during a non-pandemic recruiting cycle. Rice is going to continue to stick to their recruiting playbook and recruit the players that fit their vision for this program, and that means they’ve got to measure up in the classroom as well as on the football field.
