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College Football transfer rules could be changing soon

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Changes could be coming to the college football transfer rules. The NCAA could enable one-time transfer exemptions for all sports as soon as April.

There have been rumblings of changes to the NCAA transfer policy for some time. Those ideas have reemerged recently in the national discourse. The Big Ten got things rolling in earnest a few weeks ago by announcing their support of a “one-time transfer exemption.” That policy, if enacted, would allow athletes competing in any sport to transfer to another school without being forced to sit out a year as a penalty.

A more open transfer policy is already in place in all Division 1 sports with five notable exceptions: football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball and men’s ice hockey. This new proposal would bring those five spots into alignment with the rest of collegiate athletics.

The ACC quickly followed suit:

With two Power 5 conferences in support of a revised policy, the NCAA stepped in. They provided a few clarifications to the proposals, announcing potential conditions for a new rule. This proposal, created by a working group, could be enacted as quickly as April of this year. If that were to be the case, the rule would be in place before the beginning of the 2020 football season.

If the transfer rules were indeed relaxed, some language could be added to the rules to account for the fluctuation in players from school to school. The biggest change would revolve around the size of annual signing classes, currently capped at 25 players per year. Transfers currently count against that number.

So how does this impact Rice football?

The short answer is I’m not sure. I’m cognizant of the fears that Power 5 programs will all of a sudden swoop in and steal away all of the top talent from Group of 5 programs.

But let’s not pretend that’s not a threat as things currently stand. And the mobility isn’t limited upward. Rice signed six graduate transfers last year and three more this year, the majority of which came from Power 5 schools. They’ve not taken many regular transfers under head coach Mike Bloomgren, instead, they’ve relying on the JUCO and grad transfer markets.

Rice has seen several players enter the Transfer Portal this offseason. It’s reasonable to believe that a more lax transfer policy would see that number increase. But the doom and gloom preached by some seems a tad excessive. A capable starter at a program like Rice would have to weigh the trade-offs of a Rice degree and playing time with perhaps a lesser role at another institution, albeit one with a bigger football brand.

Beyond that, Rice will be playing by the same rules as everyone else. They’ll have just as much access to talent relative to their peers in Conference USA and the Group of 5. The gap between the bigger state schools is sizable already. I don’t see more transfers tipping the playing field by a noticeable margin.

I’m curious to hear what you think. Do you support these potential changes? How would you propose such a policy were implemented?

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How new NCAA transfer rule impacts the Owls

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The NCAA passed out new rules and regulations regarding transfers and redshirts on Wednesday. How will these new guidelines impact Rice Football?

The NCAA might have just done something right. The Division I Council approved significant measures this week that will impact college football immediately, and Rice could be one of the beneficiaries. In short, the changes are two-fold.

First, there will no longer be any restrictions on athletes that wish to transfer. Rather than seeking approval from their current administration to contact another school, all players will now be free to notify their respective schools of their intent to transfer. Once that happens the school will enter his or hew name into a national database, officially giving other schools permission to reach out and discuss transfer options.

Second, the redshirt rule has been modified. Any student athlete that participates in any game will no longer have their redshirt immediately “burned”. Instead, a four-game grace period will be instituted. The same restrictions or five years to play four seasons will be in place, but playing a few games for experience or prior to an injury will no longer cost an athlete a full year of eligibility.

Where does Rice fit?

Every year the top-flight talent tends to accumulate at the same institutions. Alabama has more blue-chip running backs on their roster than they could possibly play. The same goes for Georgia quarterbacks and Stanford tight ends. Eventually, someone is going to get tired of riding the bench and decide they’d rather be on the field. That’s where Rice fits in.

Not only will Rice be ready to swoop in and offer early playing time to some of these disgruntled players, coach Mike Bloomgren will be able to sell the beginnings of an era (hopefully) unlike any other in Rice football history. Come be on the field. Come be a part of something special. If Rice narrowly misses out on a recruit the first time rest assured they won’t lose of track of where their targets end up and who’s out there that could help this team.

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