One of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day’s big pitches to incoming 2021 early enrollees just had a monkey wrench reportedly thrown into it. According to reports, the NCAA’s football oversight committee will not be recommending that early enrollees can play in a 2021 spring football season.
This goes against what Day considered a silver lining to the Big Ten’s decision to postpone the fall football season because of concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
While appearing with reporters on a Zoom call just after the announcement by the conference, Day said some of the incoming freshmen were excited about the prospects of getting two seasons in one.
“I think there’s some excitement about the possibility of playing two seasons in one year,” Day said. “I think that’s a really exciting thing for them to consider. I’m going to fight really, really hard so that if I’m a mid-year guy coming in and we do play in January, I’ll have the opportunity to play in January and also in the fall, and it only counts for one year of eligibility because it’s only one calendar year. I think that’s exciting for them, and the possibility really interests them.”
The Associated Press’ Ralph Russo was the first to break the news.
West Virginia AD Shane Lyons, who heads the NCAA's football oversight committee, told AP the committee will recommend to the DI Council that mid-year enrollees (aka early enrolling freshman) NOT be permitted to play in a spring football season.
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) September 4, 2020
Day was challenged with that thinking without having a kid reclassify to the 2020 class on the same Zoom call, but he stood by his thoughts of it being the fair way to do things in the face of what’s being asked of student-athletes, what it would mean for recruiting, and how the rosters would need to be managed with scholarship numbers.
“That’s why we have to play,” Day said. “That’s why you have to play in January, February, and March because of that very reason. That’s why we’re going to work hard to get that done and keep our focus on that. Because certainly, it would be a big challenge if we didn’t.”
Sadly, it looks like that’s not going to be the case, and you can bet guys like incoming freshman Jack Sawyer and TreVeyon Henderson may revisit their decisions to enroll early if this thinking by the NCAA sticks.
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