Summer is officially here, and college sports are over and done with. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything happening. First, some big news that could impact WVU and all other NCAA schools: the NCAA voted to revise eligibility rules. They decided to simplify things, and have a straightforward five years to play up to five seasons. This means redshirting is no longer an issue. If a freshman is talented, coaches don’t have to decide whether to play them and potentially burn a year of eligibility. Or if a player gets hurt, coaches no longer have to decide whether to go for a medical redshirt. It also puts an end to some — shall we say – questionable medical redshirts, where a player’s injury isn’t really enough to garner a redshirt in the spirit of the old rule, but coaches and/or the players decide to try to get an extra year.
Another key aspect of this rule is there is also an age limit. It is not uncommon these days to see kids in middle school (or younger) “redshirt” a grade so that they are at least a year older than their typical classmates in order to try to gain an athletic advantage because they an extra year of maturity. (There are non-athletic reason this can happen, but it happens quite often for athletic reasons). If that happens now, the 20 year old freshman will not be able to stick around for five years of eligibility in college. This also can impact international students who may be older than an equivalent American student.
This rule might allow a player like WVU basketball player Brennan Lorient an extra year of college eligibility. There are logistical issues – like the chaos of roster management for teams who might be interested in a newly eligible fifth-year player, but already have full rosters. The bigger issue is that the day after the rule was passed, there was already a lawsuit challenging the new rule. So, yet again, the court system will be forced to render a decision on eligibility rules. I would guess whichever side loses will file an appeal, so its unclear when the final decision about the five-for-five eligibility rule is known.
The post-season honors for WVU baseball certainly reflect how it was the Mountaineers’ most successful season ever. They finished #4 in the final polls (behind Oklahoma, UNC, and Georgia). They had two first team All-Americans for the first time ever with Gavin Kelly and Max Yehl. In addition, Kelly made the USA Collegiate National Team that will compete in the World Collegiate Baseball Championships in Taiwan this week. And for good measure, Ian Korn earned second team Academic All-American honors.
The MLB draft was held this past weekend, and WVU will have had some players and recruits picked. The Mountaineers will now await the decisions on players who could return (or enroll) this fall, and see how that impacts the roster.
Congratulations to rising senior rifle teamer Griffin Lake, who set two ISSF Junior World Championship records in Germany late last month.
Finally, the Big 12 conference held its Football Media Days last week. There were two WVU players on the preseason All-Big 12 team: running back Cam Cook, and fullback Kayden Luke. Both are among the several transfers expected to make a big impact for the Mountaineers this fall. The Big 12 did not release a preseason team ranking, but USA Today did do a small media poll, and WVU was picked 14 th out of the 16 teams. I think they will do better than that, and next week, I’ll tell you why.
