The world of college sports is always evolving and will never go back to where it was in the past.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Athletes from a multitude of schools can make millions of dollars from name, image and likeness (NIL) and testing the waters of the transfer portal similar to how a professional enters free agency. Whether it is looking for the most cash being offered or the best opportunity to play, college athletes have more of a say in where they end up going than ever before.
In college football, there is a rapid growth in redshirting and preserving an extra year of eligibility even though they technically play four seasons. Someone who chooses to redshirt for a season can play up to four games to maintain that status. If that individual exceeds the limit, he officially enters a full season of eligibility and cannot claim redshirt status for that specific year.
With a majority of teams at the four-game mark or even more, players have either made a decision already or are starting to decide if they want to carry on and play or sit out. The student-athletes with a scholarship can still go to classes and take part in practices.
Knowing how drastic college athletics has changed across the country, ASU football head coach Kenny Dillingham shared his thoughts on players who decide to redshirt and why he has no opinion on what an individual does in these scenarios.
“Now with the current day of college football, people can call it when they will. At the end of the day, these kids are making money now doing it and that extends their ability to make money,” Dillingham said. “If you are making money doing it and you can extend another year to make money again, then that’s what they want to do and that’s their own personal decision to do that.
“I don’t really have much to comment on that other than there is so much change in the sport and it is going to continue to change. Anyone that is rushing to judge what is right or wrong in any capacity, there is going to be more and your opinion is going to change… I don’t think there is a right or wrong in the current landscape of college football.”
Some of the Sun Devils have not featured in up to four games so far, so they can prolong their capability of declaring redshirt status. Here is the full depth chart of ASU’s roster and who is already listed as redshirts.
Time will tell if Arizona State will start to see if players go under the tag and sit out games for the rest of the season.
Across the country, more and more athletes are anticipating the transfer portal already for a variety of different reasons. Going viral recently, UNLV quarterback Matt Sluka made the major announcement of redshirting due to allegedly not being paid the NIL money he thought he was promised by the school. Sluka, a graduate transfer from the FCS program Holy Cross, played the first three games for UNLV and was 3-0 before he decided to redshirt, which effectively means he will transfer once the portal opens.
The money surrounding college athletics is enormous and will only continue to grow as the years go by. Even though there are skeptics who believe what’s going on is unjust, that isn’t going to stop the upward trend of athletes gaining more power.
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Phoenix Mercury, Suns and ASU Athletics for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
