Report: Big Ten proposing freshmen ineligibility for football, men's basketball
The idea of making freshmen ineligible seems to be gaining some traction among Power Five conferences.
Last week it was reported that the Pac-12 suggested the idea to restore the freshman ineligibility rule to the other Power Five conferences. The Big Ten is reportedly on board with the idea.
According to The Diamondback, the University of Maryland’s student newspaper, the Big Ten hopes to begin a “national discussion” with a proposal that would make freshmen ineligible to for both football and men’s basketball. The proposal, which is titled “A Year of Readiness,” is meant to look at “the health of the education experience,” according to The Diamondback, which has obtained the document.
The document details how making freshmen ineligible would help athletes from an academic standpoint.
The document, which shows football and men’s basketball as the only sports with graduation rates less than 75 percent across the NCAA, states that a push for freshman ineligibility would benefit athletes academically. Men’s basketball and football players lag behind other sports in terms of academics, according to data provided in the document. Among the 34 sports listed in the Graduation Success Rate data, football and men’s basketball ranked last in the 2004 to 2007 cohort, according to the document. Among the 38 sports listed in the Academic Progress Rate data from 2009 to 2013, those two sports also ranked last.
Additionally, the Big Ten’s proposal points to academics among men’s basketball and football athletes and how they differ from other sports.
The proposal examines “the imbalance observed in those two sports” and cites that football and men’s basketball student-athletes account for less than 19 percent of Division I participants, yet they account for more than 80 percent of academic infraction cases. It also suggests applying current academic eligibility standards for freshman student-athletes to sophomores if the “Year of Readiness” is approved.
Maryland President Wallace Loh seems to be intrigued by the possibility.
“What I like about the concept of the proposal is it puts right up front the basic issue: Are we basically a quasi-professional activity or primarily an educational activity?” Loh told The Diamondback. “And if you support it, you are basically saying very clearly the No. 1 priority is the education of the students.”
In general, this proposal seems more designed to be a deterrent to the one-and-done route taken by many college basketball players, who leave school after a single season to head to the pros.
As far as football goes, the large majority of freshmen take a redshirt year when they first arrive on campus. Players must be three years removed from high school in order to enter the NFL Draft anyway, so it’s hard to say what kind of impact this could potentially have on college football.
Sure, if certain teams lose some serious depth to the draft at a certain position, they would not be able to fill the void with a highly-touted true freshman. That, in turn, would place an added importance to having depth for programs across the board on both sides of the ball and special teams.
The Big Ten most likely wouldn't go in on this venture alone, either. Some recruits would simply rule out Big Ten schools if they could attend a school in another conference and be eligible to compete as a true freshman. If it were to ever come to fruition, it seems like a rule that would be implemented across the Power Five conference (with their new autonomy in place). The Big Ten hopes to lead a "national discussion" on this issue, after all. It wouldn't move forward without other leagues following suit.
- - - - - - -
Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
