Who will get hurt by the "5 in 5" rule?

[CHROMEBIRD]

4 hours ago, LemonPie said:

How will this affect Ryan Crookham - who seemingly needs 2 or 3 medicals? 

He will still be able to file for medical waivers. Current athletes with eligibility at the end of this school year will have the choice of following the 5x5 rules or the existing system with RS, MRS, OS, etc. until they are done.

[LemonPie]

15 hours ago, CHROMEBIRD said:

He will still be able to file for medical waivers. Current athletes with eligibility at the end of this school year will have the choice of following the 5x5 rules or the existing system with RS, MRS, OS, etc. until they are done.

Interesting.  Thanks. 

[cl415]

On 5/1/2026 at 10:53 PM, scourge165 said:

Why? Are we not doing the "5 years from graduation" rule still?

 5 years from graduation or from 19 years old, whichever is sooner. So some high schoolers who redshirted in elementary school will have their clocks start before they graduate high school unless they reclassify. 

Edited May 4 by cl415

[cl415]

On 5/3/2026 at 4:46 AM, juniorvarsity said:

Penn State will not be able to get creative with redshirts to get these guys in the lineup. Will be interesting to see. 

I'm sure Mirasola was planning on an Olympic resldshirt to find an extra year in that lineup at 197 in like 2030.

I am bullish on the idea that this rule will make things more competitive. Football players don't take huge issue with sitting the bench for a year or two at the powerhouse schools. Plenty of guys will come into the lineup at sophomore and juniors and show out and get drafted. Wrestling is different. I think the talent will get spread out. 

That will be interesting to see what they do. Specifically for LL, Blaze and Duke because they almost assuredly will opt for the new rules. How will the lineup be handled when it was pretty likely they were previously planning on using some creative shuffling to make it work. Jayden James will be looking to make a lineup next year too now. 
 

Something has got to give. 

[scourge165]

5 hours ago, cl415 said:

 5 years from graduation or from 19 years old, whichever is sooner. So some high schoolers who redshirted in elementary school will have their clocks start before they graduate high school unless they reclassify. 

Ok... I'm skeptical this will survive the courts. 

You can easily look at Bassett(who is not the only one, but he's the best and so people will continue to cite him, but pointing out, I'm not piling on)... or RBY who openly admitted it.

You're going to have other guys who were held back for a myriad of reasons. I don't think it should be whichever is sooner. I think it should be either or. 5 years after HS or from the age of 19. 

I had a roommate and good friend who... had to be held back a year for reasons totally unrelated to the sport(he hadn't even started competing in anything yet, but it was unfortunate circumstances). I feel like he'd have had a strong case. 

Or if you just have kid and they say he's not academically ready to move on in K or 1st grade... or 8th grade. That's not really for the NCAA to legislate. 

 

And then it'll come down to 'does the NCAA really care enough to fight this?' This isn't a big problem in Football or Basketball, it's more... well, pretty much just Wrestling as far as I know, but say it's other sports. Just 5 in 5 from 19 or graduation, whichever is later, AS LONG as you were eligible to compete your Sr year of HS. That'd make far more sense. 

 

[MPhillips]

33 minutes ago, scourge165 said:

This isn't a big problem in Football or Basketball, it's more... well, pretty much just Wrestling as far as I know,

Don't we have 7-8+ yr FB and BB players? You're saying that this is a wrestling problem not a FB BB problem? Very interesting...

[scourge165]

36 minutes ago, MPhillips said:

Don't we have 7-8+ yr FB and BB players? You're saying that this is a wrestling problem not a FB BB problem? Very interesting...

No, I said this isn't a BIG problem in Basketball and Football. They don't have their top athletes taking Olympic Redshirt years, their top athletes try and reclassify and start college YOUNGER so they can start their pro-careers quicker. 

Do YOU think this will impact CBB and CFB like it will Wrestling?

You think... Caleb Williams would have spent 6 years in College like Starocci(I'm trying to take two elite examples). 

No, this FAR more of an issue in Niche sports. Maybe track and fieldd or...I don't know what else. 

[AlderPeak]

7 hours ago, cl415 said:

 5 years from graduation or from 19 years old, whichever is sooner. So some high schoolers who redshirted in elementary school will have their clocks start before they graduate high school unless they reclassify. 

The way I understand it, the five year clock would start at the beginning of the next academic year after they turn 19, not from their 19th birthday.  Anyone who started their senior year already 19 would lose a year, while those who turns 19 during their senior year of high school would still get five years of college eligibility.  That basically mirrors high school eligibility rules throughout the country, so I don't think it will affect many older seniors. I'm sure there's a few though.

[MPhillips]

Just now, scourge165 said:

No, I said this isn't a BIG problem in Basketball and Football.

I believe it may be.

Seems like a lot of non-sense for the niche sports...

[MPhillips]

20 minutes ago, AlderPeak said:

The way I understand it, the five year clock would start at the beginning of the next academic year after they turn 19,

That's what we read...

Quote

4/29/26
"Division I Cabinet to advance an age-based eligibility concept that, if adopted in its current form, would permit student-athletes up to five years of eligibility beginning the regular academic year after they turn 19 or graduate from high school, whichever happens earlier.
Under that model, Division I student-athletes would no longer be limited to only four seasons of competition within their five-year eligibility window."

 

Edited May 4 by MPhillips

[CHROMEBIRD]

It happens in football and basketball because NIL payments are now competitive or better than rookie scale contracts and endorsement deals. James Nnaji, London Johnson, Amari Bailey, Charles Bedaiko, Shemar Stewart, that Georgia football player who transferred to JC and tried to return, and others have pushed the limits of eligibility and the problem will become an even bigger one when the floodgates really open.

I'm also against the idea of starting a kid's eligibility clock before they even start college, and agree that it'll be a shitshow to implement and result in a ton of lawsuits. Even outside of these weird pro athlete/heldback student scenarios, a ton of JC, NAIA, and D2/D3 athletes will automatically miss out on a full opportunity to compete at the D1 level. But the current system is being abused and I can see why the NCAA and some programs are in favor of the new rule. 

With wrestling specifically, I will say again that I would be surprised if the new rule creates more parity. At places like PSU, OSU, and Iowa, stockpiling talent and stashing them behind shirts, waivers, and RTCs will be replaced with shopping the portal even harder and recruiting over wrestlers in the lineup. The portal will just become more chaotic, and the rich will keep getting richer- just in a slightly different way.

Along with 5 for 5, the sport would need to limit transfers to level the playing field, but that's not likely.

[MPhillips]

Just now, CHROMEBIRD said:

It happens in football and basketball because NIL payments are now competitive or better than rookie scale contracts and endorsement deals.

I'm sure there were 2-3yr RS, FB and BB players out there before there was NIL? Wasn't there...

[CHROMEBIRD]

4 minutes ago, MPhillips said:

I'm sure there were 2-3yr RS, FB and BB players out there before there was NIL? Wasn't there...

I can't think of any names offhand, but I am sure you're right. Every season, some kid from some opposing team shows up and makes you say "wtf? He's still in college??"

[Dogbone]

The reality is this won't hurt anyone.  Anyone good enough to wrestle D1, typically knows they are going to wrestle in college before their senior season.  If anyone was in danger of losing a year and also good enough to wrestle in college, they will just reclassify so they don't lose a year. 

I suppose it COULD be drafted in a manner that would hurt Bassett but without the rule he was only going to compete at 4 NCAA tournaments and now, even if it hurts him, he will still gets to compete in 4 NCAA tournaments.  

 

[Dogbone]

Taking back the above.  The people who will get hurt by the 5 for 5 rule is anyone who suffers and injury that prevents them from competing that would otherwise gotten them a medical. 

[MPhillips]

12 minutes ago, Dogbone said:

Taking back the above. 

There ya go...

[JMill]

If there wasn’t the growing issue of European basketball players being pro for a few years in the European League before coming to college in the US, I doubt the NCAA would be proposing the rule.

It is going to have a huge impact on hockey… a lot of 21-22 year old freshmen who played juniors and, like with basketball, pros in Canada (this was the first year they were allowed).

Fun Fact: Auburn’s 2025 starting five had an average age (23.4) that was older than that of four NBA teams.

Edited May 5 by JMill

[JMill]

2 hours ago, Dogbone said:

Taking back the above.  The people who will get hurt by the 5 for 5 rule is anyone who suffers and injury that prevents them from competing that would otherwise gotten them a medical. 

They still have four years, just like now. They might not benefit from 5 for 5, but they certainly are not hurt by it.

The rule was always you had to be injured two years to get a med redshirt. You had to use your “traditional” redshirt for the first year lost to injury, and if you had taken a healthy freshman redshirt, then got hurt later, tough luck… you should’ve competed when you were healthy. This liberal granting of medical redshirts is a new thing.

[juniorvarsity]

9 hours ago, cl415 said:

That will be interesting to see what they do. Specifically for LL, Blaze and Duke because they almost assuredly will opt for the new rules. How will the lineup be handled when it was pretty likely they were previously planning on using some creative shuffling to make it work. Jayden James will be looking to make a lineup next year too now. 
 

Something has got to give. 

I would hate to see Jayden James lose a year of his eligibility behind someone. He's wrestling 74kg this summer. Kasak, Sealey, Duke will sort out 157. Many say Duke is moving up, so Kasak or Sealey sits. Gotta assume Messenebrink goes where he wants unless they ask him to go 174 for Duke to get in at 165. If not Duke and Messenbrink both at 165 - pretty wild. Henckle, Cunningham and James fight over 174. Can't imagine Cunningham is going anywhere. James is sort of looking like a generation talent. Rocco is a junior. One of them can go up to 184 in 2029/2030, but they're fighting for the same spots for 4 years. 

This is all said with the assumption that the 5 for 5 goes into effect next year 2027. 

[ionel]

11 minutes ago, juniorvarsity said:

Gotta assume Messenebrink goes where he wants 

He very well might but betting we'll never know.  

[MPhillips]

7 minutes ago, ionel said:

He very well might but betting we'll never know.  

Doesn't seeem fair...

[Sparro]

Rescind Chris Weinke Heisman.

[scourge165]

8 hours ago, MPhillips said:

I believe it may be.

Seems like a lot of non-sense for the niche sports...

I don't believe it is... but I'll go off of the average age, throw it into AI because... that's the extent to which I'm willing to work here. 

There are outliers... like the Auburn Basketball team that was 2 years older than average CBB roster... or specialists in CFB. And Hockey has also had an issue, but I would stand by the statement it's a BIGGER problem in Wrestling than CBB or CFB. 

Again, don't remember the biggest names in CFB being 25-26. 
Don't recall that because I believe someone of a simlar ability in Football or Basketball to Daton Fix or Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks, Kemerer, Stevenson, Kerkvliet, Spencer Lee, AJ Ferrari, Dean, SVN, Austin Gomez...etc...etc...


The final line seems to... support my theory. 

https://www.rotowire.com/cbasketball/article/acc-basketball-rosters-average-age-96424

Quote

The average age of a college wrestler is generally older than that of a college football player, though for different reasons than hockey.

While a football senior is typically 21 to 23, a senior wrestler is often 23 to 25. As of 2026, data shows that nearly 40% of D1 wrestling rosters include athletes in the 24–26 age range.

The age gap comes down to three main factors:

1. The "Redshirt" Standard

In football, redshirting is common but not universal. In elite college wrestling, it is almost mandatory. Most top-tier programs (like Penn State, Iowa, or Oklahoma State) redshirt nearly their entire freshman class to allow them to adjust to the physical "man-strength" required for the sport. This immediately pushes the graduation age back by a year.

2. Olympic Redshirts

Wrestling has a unique provision called the Olympic Redshirt. Elite wrestlers can take a year off from college competition to train for the Olympics or World Championships without losing a year of NCAA eligibility.

• This allows a wrestler to be a "junior" or "senior" at age 24 or 25 if they took time off for a freestyle cycle.

• Football has no equivalent; you either play or you don't.

3. Training Maturity

Wrestling is a "peaking" sport where physical maturity and mat experience are massive advantages. Because there is no professional "minor league" for wrestling (unlike baseball or hockey), athletes stay in the NCAA system as long as possible to reach their physical peak. In football, the NFL's massive financial lure encourages players to leave as soon as they are eligible (3 years out of high school), keeping the average age of the talent pool younger.

Summary Comparison

Feature	Football	Wrestling
Common Senior Age	22	23–24
Redshirt Frequency	High (but many skip it)	Nearly 100% at elite levels
Eligibility Exceptions	Medical/COVID only	Olympic, Medical, & COVID years
Pro Lure	Early exit (Age 20–21)	No pro league (Stay until 24+)

Fun Fact: Recent eligibility extensions have led to "Super Seniors" in both sports, but wrestling is seeing more 25-year-olds competing against 18-year-old freshmen than almost any other sport besides Ice Hockey.

 

 

[Husker]

Indiana’s National Championship football team was one of the oldest ever in CFB history 

 

 

 

[MPhillips]

4 hours ago, scourge165 said:

but I would stand by the statement it's a BIGGER problem in Wrestling than CBB or CFB. 

And I  agree with you. I just don't believe wrestling was the determiner...

4 hours ago, scourge165 said:

that's the extent to which I'm willing to work here. 

And even that is unnecessary...