No more redshirts. No more giving up.
Just five years of eligibility in five years – take it or leave it.
Consider Jason Eck a fan.
“I think it’s going to be a good transition,” New Mexico’s second-year coach said Thursday.
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On Wednesday, the NCAA approved a landmark age-based eligibility policy that allows five-year athletes to play five seasons beginning with their full-time enrollment or the season after their 19th birthday, whichever comes first.
From the previous model that offered four seasons of eligibility in five years, the change eliminates redshirts, giving athletes the opportunity to play a greater number of games in any of their seasons of eligibility without penalty.
The waiver process used by athletes to secure additional years of eligibility will also be terminated under the new policy; extended eligibility will only be granted for athletes’ religious missions, military service or maternity leave.
Athletes who were ineligible in the spring of 2026 under the previous rules will not receive an additional year under what is collectively known as the “5-for-5 rule.”
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Eck has been in favor of the change since it was first considered this spring. The former Idaho coach revealed how he is solving the “chaos” he has seen the past few years, with coaches worried that players will hold back after four games to try to save their redshirt year.
“My last year at Idaho, we had a guy — a freshman — say, ‘Yeah, I want to redshirt,'” he said. “We had to advise him and talk to him … It was an issue for many years when I was the head coach, so I think it’s a good change.”
Eck added that he believes it’s good to get away from the “hit or miss” waiver system that dictated more years of eligibility.
“It’s clean,” he said. “I think it’s going to keep your freshmen very busy, because hopefully you can find a role for some of those guys. In the past, maybe you didn’t want to use their year to run down the first game.
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“Now … (they) can have any role. You can start on the punt team, start on the kick team, start on the PAT team.”
While UNM benefited from the compromise — backup quarterback James Laubstein is returning to the team after winning an appeal to one NCAA — the program will benefit from the new policy, too. With the change, Eck said more than a dozen players will get more years, including four-year “seniors” like linebacker Jaxton Eck and running back Scottre Humphrey.
Under the previous four-out-of-five eligibility policy, these two will no longer be eligible at the end of this season.
Steps to challenge the policy have been taken, however. On Wednesday, 15 college basketball players — former UNM men’s basketball player Filip Boroviccanin among them — filed a lawsuit in Ohio state court claiming the change “unfairly restricts their ability to monetize their name, image, and likeness (‘NIL’).”
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On the football side, no major charges have been filed yet. But former Lobo defensive end Brett Karhu — a four-year player who couldn’t get a fifth year through waivers — indicated he might be interested in challenging the policy in court.
“Now that 5-for-5 is official it’s time to find the 2022 football eligibility offense class,” he wrote Wednesday via X. If you are a class of 2022 (graduate) who has not played in 5 years please (message) me. If you are a sports lawyer who would like to represent us (message) with me.”
Sean Reider covers college football and other sports for the Journal. You can reach her at sreider@abqjournal.com or X at @lenaweereider.
