Ohio State football: Players get extra year of eligibility

Ohio State football players will get another year of eligibility, as the NCAA has approved a measure to give everyone in Fall sports an extra year because of COVID.

Ohio State won’t be having a Fall football season in 2020. That has been the case for close to three weeks now despite parents’ pleads to reverse the decision. But those athletes won’t lose a year of eligibility because of the postponement until Spring.

The NCAA approved a measure that allows all Fall sport athletes to retain their year of eligibility that they would have had this season. That helps soothe the sting of losing 2020 for some athletes, but also creates another problem that has yet to be solved.

Having players use that extra year of eligibility could lead to too many players being on rosters now. Most recruits who are highly-touted enroll early in the Spring. That leaves questions as to what the NCAA will do in terms of roster numbers.

My guess is that the NCAA will likely approve a one-time roster extension in terms of numbers. That would be the only fair thing to do. You can’t turn away freshmen who have already been promised a scholarship because some seniors want to play an extra year.

It will be interesting to see which players decide to take advantage of this ruling. Jonathon Cooper is a particularly interesting case, as this would have been his fifth year anyway. He could decide for a sixth year or try to make his way into the NFL. Another year would really help his stock though.

Of course, none of this affects the big-named players on the roster like Justin Fields, Josh Myers, Shaun Wade, and some others. They will likely sit out the Spring season and start training for the NFL Draft. I would be surprised if they didn’t make an announcement of some sort soon.