NCAA’s five-year eligibility push won’t help athletes already out of time
The adoption of the NCAA's "five-for-five" eligibility rule is one step closer to being approved and implemented.
Just don't call it "five-for-five," which was the message FBS Division I coaches shared as they left the D-1 head coaches meeting at the annual AFCA Convention on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. "Age-based" eligibility is the preferred nomenclature.
The NCAA Division I Board of Directors announced on Monday that it has directed its Division I Cabinet to advance talks on providing student-athletes with up to five years of eligibility, beginning the regular academic year after they turn 19 or graduate from high school.
The Division I Cabinet, which "kicked down" the "five-for-five" idea earlier this month, is expected to meet next on May 22.
In a statement to ESPN's Pete Thamel, NCAA president Charlie Baker said he's "pretty optimistic" that the new five-year eligibility proposal will happen.
Currently, the NCAA provides student-athletes with a maximum of four years of eligibility out of high school. This is before the possibility of a redshirt year or a medical redshirt waiver might be added to a student-athlete's eligibility status.
"The time is now to reform the period of eligibility rules to provide Division I student-athletes and our schools clear and consistent standards that align with current college athletes' experiences," Virginia Tech president and chair of the board of directors Tim Sands said in a statement.
"The board fully supports student-athletes receiving the unprecedented financial benefits now available to them and emphasized these changes would protect opportunities for high school student-athletes to access the benefits only college sports can provide, while delivering predictable outcomes for student-athletes and our schools."
As noted by USA TODAY Sports' John Brice, the "five-for-five" eligibility idea would consist of "five years to play five seasons, no redshirts, virtually no medical exemptions and the potential for waivers due to religious missions, military service or pregnancy." It was unanimously supported by the 10 individuals who spoke to USA TODAY Sports, all of whom serve in various roles as direct stakeholders in college athletics.
"It's great," one power conference front-office director told USA TODAY Sports earlier this month. "Helps just stabilize a lot of things. I’ve always said the issue with college football right now is the guidelines just constantly change, so there’s no consistency. Hoping this just gives a baseline to what to follow and we can continue to plan for the future."
The idea first gained traction in January at the annual American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
NCAA "age-based" rule not expected to be available to 2026 graduating athletes
The NCAA's five-year eligibility proposal, which the organization prefers to view as its "age-based" initiative, isn't expected to be retroactively applied to student-athletes whose eligibility is or will be completed by the spring of 2026. It also mentions that it would maintain the Division I core guarantees, including the funding for student-athletes to complete their degrees for up to 10 years after a student-athlete's eligibility expires if they had not earned their degree.
"The new age-based model produced by the Cabinet and discussed by the board today is a great step forward in simplifying and stabilizing college sports, especially football," Michigan State linebacker and board member Sam Edwards said in a statement. "In addition to clearly defining an age range of college players, it allows student-athletes to compete over the entirety of their eligibility period."
A college athletics executive with direct knowledge of the latest proceedings in the NCAA's "age-based eligibility" discussion shared the following with USA TODAY Sports, with the condition of speaking anonymously to provide candid insight into matter:
"If this model is adopted in its current form, student-athletes who enroll at a DI school immediately after high school are likely to get five full years of eligibility (assuming they didn’t turn 19 prior to high school graduation), but that may not be the case for all prospects."
USA TODAY Sports' John Brice contributed to this story.
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