Dabo Swinney Has Drastic Rules Change Suggestion For College Football

10/29/2024 04:21 PM

Clemson head coachDabo Swinney may have a potential solution to stop college football players from constantly taking advantage of the NCAA's redshirt rule. 

Swinney suggested this Tuesday that college football just gets rid of the option to redshirt a year. If you're wondering how that's fair to the players, there's a bit more here to unpack. He believes every single athlete should be given five years of eligibility.  

"I wish they'd just go five years and be done with it. Just let everybody play five years," Swinney said, via On3. "And just clean it up, you know. So you don't have guys that are 26, and all the medicals and all the stuff. Just, you get five years. And I think that would really clean things up for everyone."

So, what would that possibly clean up? Swinney thinks this rule change would stop players from opting out mid-season. 

"I think it would stop a lot of the opt outs, too, you know. Because I get it. If a kid's not happy where he's at and he's played four games, he wants to move on, he wants to save his year, I get that," Swinney explained. "But if you just went to five years, guys would play. And so now that keeps your rosters a little bit more intact, you know, to finish a season.

"So that's something that, I don't know where that is on the docket, but I would love to see that. You just get five years. You play five years. It doesn't matter how many games you play, whatever, you get five years. So that would eliminate some of that stuff."

Swinney did mention that he'd be willing to negotiate a sixth year of eligibility for those who are forced to medically redshirt. 

This change to the NCAA's redshirt rule would certainly make life easier for every coach in college football. Will it happen though? Probably not. 

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