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

[ScottishSteel]

I'm curious what % of wrestlers will actually end up wrestling 5 post seasons; between injuries and just not being "the guy" how many actually toe the line all 5 years.  I suspect there will be notables that do but I think the percent will be lower than we think.

[Idaho]

34 minutes ago, ScottishSteel said:

I'm curious what % of wrestlers will actually end up wrestling 5 post seasons; between injuries and just not being "the guy" how many actually toe the line all 5 years.  I suspect there will be notables that do but I think the percent will be lower than we think.

Lower … the only guys that will even use all 5 are blue chips who come in and start on day 1 and do not get injured. 

[GimJustafan]

 

[GimJustafan]

 

[AgaveMaria]

Have they figured out Military service and Religious missionary tours? 

How about a kid held back when younger due to illness? 

Is there an appeal process or exception to cover these?

[Fletcher]

On 5/13/2026 at 5:35 PM, AgaveMaria said:

Have they figured out Military service and Religious missionary tours? 

How about a kid held back when younger due to illness? 

Is there an appeal process or exception to cover these?

I always presumed this is what the 5th year is for - to absorb those types of cases so case-by-case exceptions and appeals are not necessary. Nobody has said that - it's just my own assumption.

[CHROMEBIRD]

On 5/13/2026 at 3:35 PM, AgaveMaria said:

Have they figured out Military service and Religious missionary tours? 

How about a kid held back when younger due to illness? 

Is there an appeal process or exception to cover these?

Military and religious missions: exempt (also maternity)

Illness: no (see above post)

Appeals process: you might be overlooking the intent of this new rule

[JMill]

On 5/13/2026 at 5:35 PM, AgaveMaria said:

How about a kid held back when younger due to illness? 

The kid would in almost all instances have to be held back two years. If we are talking about a kid getting sick in elementary or middle school, there are now so many avenues for kids to catch back up to their class, and using an extreme outlier case as an example of the injustice that could occur with five for five for a reason against it, it would simply fall into the cult of victimhood mentality that’s so prevalent today and deserves no acknowledgement.

Edited May 23 by JMill

[jdalu75]

4 hours ago, JMill said:

The kid would in almost all instances have to be held back two years. If we are talking about a kid getting sick in elementary or middle school, there are now so many avenues for kids to catch back up to their class, and using an extreme outlier case as an example of the injustice that could occur with five for five for a reason against it, it would simply fall into the cult of victimhood mentality that’s so prevalent today and deserves no acknowledgement.

Much depends on the child's birthday.  Most states have school cutoff dates in the fall; in Virginia it's Sept 30th.  Children normally need to have their birth date before Sept 30, 2021 in order to begin kindergarten in 2026.  Those born on or after October 1, 2021 wait until 2027.  A child born on 9/30/2021 would graduate HS in May 2039, four months short of 18.  Born on 10/1/2021, graduation is in May 2040, eight months after 18th birthday.

In reality, at least where I live, many parents hold their children back a year if they're born in the second half of that window; not all kids are ready to begin school when the rules say they should.  My son was born in early July and was almost always the youngest child in his class, and occasionally the youngest in his grade.  In kindergarten he had a couple of classmates who were 18 months older; they'd flunked kindergarten the first time through.

The youngest college wrestler I can remember hearing about was Cornell's Jerry Rinaldi, who supposedly was still 17 when he first suited up for the varsity.  Colleges don't post birthdates anymore, a good idea to protect privacy.

 

Edited May 24 by jdalu75

[JMill]

14 minutes ago, jdalu75 said:

Much depends on the child's birthday.  Most states have school cutoff dates in the fall; in Virginia it's Sept 30th.  Children normally need to have their birth date before Sept 30, 2021 in order to begin kindergarten in 2026.  Those born on or after October 1, 2021 wait until 2027.  A child born on 9/30/2021 would graduate HS in May 2039, four months short of 18.  Born on 10/1/2021, graduation is in May 2040, eight months after 18th birthday.

In reality, at least where I live, many parents hold their children back a year if they're born in the second half of that window; not all kids are ready to begin school when the rules say they should.  My son was born in early July and was almost always the youngest child in his class, and occasionally the youngest in his grade.  In kindergarten he had a couple of classmates who were 18 months older; they'd flunked kindergarten the first time through.

The youngest college wrestler I can remember hearing about was Cornell's Jerry Rinaldi, who supposedly was still 17 when he first suited up for the varsity.  Colleges don't post birthdates anymore, a good idea to protect privacy.

 

How the rule is being proposed it’s five years starting the year after the athlete turns 19, so a guy like Bo Bassett who turns 20 in August (meaning he was 19 for the totality of his senior year) will still have five years of eligibility.

I know in Illinois, a high school athlete becomes ineligible to compete on his 20th birthday, and I’m guessing it’s similar in many states. High school kids who become ineligible to compete due to age in high school would be the only ones who would run into issues with age under five for five. I’m totally fine with that.

Any kid with the ambition to compete in collegiate athletics for five years will find the ambition to graduate early enough to get their five years. We can’t make rules to “protect” those who refuse to help themselves at the expense of everyone else, and trying to come up with rules and exemptions to cover every random, extreme scenario is how we ended up in this jumbled mess with 27-year-old, former professional basketball playing freshmen.

[nhs67]

What is the most recent update to this?

Found out earlier my copy/paste response to folks talking about redshirt of "Redshirts don't exist anymore, brah." is no longer accurste?

[JMill]

3 hours ago, nhs67 said:

What is the most recent update to this?

Found out earlier my copy/paste response to folks talking about redshirt of "Redshirts don't exist anymore, brah." is no longer accurste?

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2026/5/22/media-center-division-i-cabinet-continues-discussions-of-age-based-collegiate-eligibility-model.aspx
 

Memo from May 22… Last paragraph basically says athletes have to put their claims in for redshirts by July 31, then they’re gone. 
 

Specifically, the implementation options currently contemplated include:

• Student-athletes whose fourth season of collegiate eligibility was completed by spring 2026: No additional eligibility.
• Currently enrolled student-athletes with eligibility remaining after the 2025-26 academic year: Flexibility for schools to apply the age-based model or continue with the previous eligibility rules (four seasons to compete with five total years of eligibility), whichever is most beneficial to that individual.
• Prospects expected to graduate from high school in spring 2027: Age-based model only.
• Prospects expected to graduate from high school in spring 2026, regardless of planned enrollment date: Age-based model only.
• Prospects who graduated prior to spring 2026 and have not enrolled: The NCAA Eligibility Center will review the prospect's individual circumstances and apply the age-based model or existing delayed enrollment eligibility rules, whichever is most beneficial to that individual.

For schools with current student-athletes who may be eligible for hardship waivers or extensions of eligibility, the Cabinet indicated that the deadline to submit any waiver requests to NCAA staff is July 31. After that date, waivers would no longer be available for current student-athletes or prospects.

[ionel]

26 minutes ago, JMill said:

Specifically, the implementation options currently contemplated include ...

... so really nothing yet. 

[JMill]

2 minutes ago, ionel said:

... so really nothing yet. 

Not really. Football and basketball coaches are on board. Hockey coaches want the clock to start at 19, not graduation. The NCAA said no sport-specific carve-outs or exemptions. The only way it holds up in court is if the rules are black and white, no “special cases”, because then everyone thinks they’re special, too.

[ionel]

5 minutes ago, JMill said:

Not really. Football and basketball coaches are on board. Hockey coaches want the clock to start at 19, not graduation. The NCAA said no sport-specific carve-outs or exemptions. The only way it holds up in court is if the rules are black and white, no “special cases”, because then everyone thinks they’re special, too.

... so yeah we don't know how the legal action will play out either.  

[george]

On 5/23/2026 at 10:33 PM, jdalu75 said:

Much depends on the child's birthday.  Most states have school cutoff dates in the fall; in Virginia it's Sept 30th.  Children normally need to have their birth date before Sept 30, 2021 in order to begin kindergarten in 2026.  Those born on or after October 1, 2021 wait until 2027.  A child born on 9/30/2021 would graduate HS in May 2039, four months short of 18.  Born on 10/1/2021, graduation is in May 2040, eight months after 18th birthday.

In reality, at least where I live, many parents hold their children back a year if they're born in the second half of that window; not all kids are ready to begin school when the rules say they should.  My son was born in early July and was almost always the youngest child in his class, and occasionally the youngest in his grade.  In kindergarten he had a couple of classmates who were 18 months older; they'd flunked kindergarten the first time through.

The youngest college wrestler I can remember hearing about was Cornell's Jerry Rinaldi, who supposedly was still 17 when he first suited up for the varsity.  Colleges don't post birthdates anymore, a good idea to protect privacy.

 

Not sure how old he is when he wrestled his first match as he didn't wrestle his first year due to age and other issues, but enrolled at 16.

U23 World Team Trials champion Muhamed McBryde takes an unconventional path to success | USA Wrestling

[MPhillips]

It's here...

[Dark Energy]

Good!!!  Glad to see it approved.

[ionel]

2 hours ago, MPhillips said:

It's here...

[GimJustafan]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7S7Mkd06NU4?feature=share

[Gene Mills Fan]

If your young and defer, are there stipulations on where you can train?

[MPhillips]

https://abcnews.com/Sports/wireStory/ohio-lawsuit-alleges-new-ncaa-rule-unfairly-denies-134178572

 

The lawsuit points out that the plaintiffs don't challenge the concept of a defined eligibility period or the five-for-five rule itself.

“Rather, they challenge the NCAA’s application of the rule” that allows players they competed against from the high school class of 2017-20 and 2023-25 an additional year of competition while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity," the attorneys wrote. “The NCAA then compounded the problem by allowing former professional players to compete in their fifth year following high school graduation regardless of the number of professional games they had played, while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity for a fifth year of competition.”

Edited June 25 by MPhillips

[LJB]

whatever the "spirit" of collegiate athletics ever was, it is now truly dead as fried chicken...

[Simpleman424]

21 hours ago, Gene Mills Fan said:

If you’re young and defer, are there stipulations on where you can train?

Oh would think that they wouldn’t allow you to use the facilities and such…

[ionel]

3 hours ago, MPhillips said:

https://abcnews.com/Sports/wireStory/ohio-lawsuit-alleges-new-ncaa-rule-unfairly-denies-134178572

 

The lawsuit points out that the plaintiffs don't challenge the concept of a defined eligibility period or the five-for-five rule itself.

“Rather, they challenge the NCAA’s application of the rule” that allows players they competed against from the high school class of 2017-20 and 2023-25 an additional year of competition while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity," the attorneys wrote. “The NCAA then compounded the problem by allowing former professional players to compete in their fifth year following high school graduation regardless of the number of professional games they had played, while denying plaintiffs the same opportunity for a fifth year of competition.”

Lawsuits ... who would've thought?