Adjusting to college life as a freshmen takes time and is a difficult process for every student. Add in adjusting to the move up in competition on the field and the court for student-athletes and you got yourself a very taxing process for teenagers to navigate through in their first year away from home.
Could the conferences be in the process of making freshmen athletes ineligible for competition during their first year on a college campus? Well it seems at least one conference is kicking the idea around.
The Big Ten is seeking feedback from its members about the possibility of making freshman athletes ineligible for competition as they adjust to college life.
In a statement to ESPN.com, the league says it is gauging interest from its members about a “national discussion regarding a year of readiness for student-athletes.”
The league has provided background to its members about such a step but has made no official proposal at this point.
The Diamondback, the student newspaper at Maryland, reported Thursday that the Big Ten is circulating a document titled, “A Year of Readiness,” which explores making freshmen in football and men’s basketball ineligible for competition.
Maryland’s athletic council met Thursday afternoon to discuss the document, The Diamondback reported.
“”If they do well because they spend more time, get more academic advising … their freshman year, they’re going to graduate,” Maryland president Wallace Loh told the newspaper. “And I think it’s worth spending an extra year of financial support to ensure that they graduate.”
Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told CBSsports.com last week that he has discussed freshman ineligibility with several commissioners and that there will be “much more serious conversations about it in the coming months and year.”
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told CBSsports.com that there’s “growing interest” in debating the possibility.
Big Ten football coaches and athletic directors didn’t discuss freshman ineligibility at their recent business meeting, but they expect to do so in the coming months. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz told ESPN.com that he favors freshman ineligibility.
“That would be one of the healthiest things we could do for college sports right now,” Ferentz said. “Recruiting’s kind of a runaway train and what a lot of people don’t consider is there’s a lot of serious pressure that’s put on some players’ shoulders that I’m not sure is healthy for them big picture-wise. … It would allow the guy to transition a little bit with a lot less fanfare and get their feet on the ground and get a good foundation established.”
Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith doesn’t think the freshman eligibility policy should change based solely on some men’s basketball players spending just one year in college before turning pro.
“One-and-done is a small percentage, it’s not even one percent of our student-athletes when you take all the schools,” Smith told ESPN.com. “That’s way off base to me. Do we have challenges with young people who aren’t really prepared the way they should be to attack college education? No doubt about it.
“I have not been a proponent of freshman ineligibility but I keep my mind open that maybe it’s something we have to consider.”
I can see why some schools would want something like this to pass, but at the same time I can see why a lot of them won’t. With the way recruiting is these days, early playing time is a huge selling point for a lot of programs and recruits are attracted to the idea of being able to get playing time their first year on campus.
Making first year players ineligible will certainly have a big effect on college basketball and the number of players we see go one and done. The trend of one and done players has grown to absurd proportions ever since high school basketball players were not allowed to enter the NBA draft straight out of high school. Some schools and coaches have been pretty outspoken about how they feel about athletes only being on campus for one year and how they think it takes away from the idea of getting an education.
As far as football goes, fans would have to get used to having to wait a year for the big name recruits their respective schools hauled in each year, instead of getting to watch them immediately in the fall. Even though most football recruits end up redshirting their first year to get acclimated and to adjust to level up in competition, there are always cases of when players are talented enough to crack the starting rotation from day one.
It will be interesting to see if anything comes of this with the Big 10 and to see how other conferences react if this rule does come to pass.
