As amateurism and walk-ons have essentially become things of the past in college sports, redshirts could also soon be a part of the history of college sports.
The NCAA has recently pondered a new "5 in 5" rule, which would allow athletes in every sport five years of eligibility instead of just four years with the ability to redshirt and play in limited games. Although there's reportedly been a hold-up in the rule becoming official, Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables on Tuesday said he believes it's a change that's still for sure coming to college sports.
NCAA planning to change eligibility from 4 years to 5
"I've been told it's inevitable," Venables said during Tuesday's weekly press conference. "It's supposed to happen very soon. It's not going to be a grandfather where after this year you get five total years. This will be a year that counts towards that. But I've been told it's supposed to happen sooner rather than later."
The question on eligibility was sparked because, over halfway through the season, this is the time when Venables and his staff have to decide who needs to sit out the rest of the season to redshirt, whether it's because of injuries or getting jumped on the depth chart or being more needed in the future.
Between transfers and constant roster turnovers, navigating redshirts has been a headache that's almost always existed for coaches, but now it's just another task to juggle while managing rosters, especially when it comes to what's just become an educated guess on what a future depth chart could look like.
"So that coaches aren't hamstrung with a roster that now all of a sudden they don't," Venables said. "You spend all this time getting them ready, investing in them, preparing them, you made hard decisions where they became a two-deep guy, and then all of a sudden, at some point in time in the season, if that rule isn't there, it can make things a little more challenging than it needs to be, mentally and from your roster standpoint week-to-week getting guys ready to play.
"So I think that'll happen soon. It needs to for lots of reasons. Let guys have five years. One of the reasons is for that the NCAA will likely pass that, and the other is so that they don't have to have all these cases of giving an additional year, and getting into the sixth and the seventh year and all that. You get five years. That's hopefully coming really soon."