EUGENE — Roster management, particularly in recruiting, is going to be a lot different in college football for at least the next two years.
With the NCAA lifting the limit of 25 initial scholarship counters for the next two years, FBS teams will be able to field a roster of 85 scholarship players without fear of the number players who complete their eligibility or transfer outnumbering the number of incoming signees or transfers.
“The landscape has changed,” Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said. “The transfer portal had an impact on rosters and roster movement and the old model was built on a set of parameters. I think the flexibility that says in the overarching parameter of 85 is the way to go because we don’t even have data to understand what the percentage roster change is going to be year to year in the portal.
“I think it was the right move to provide more flexibility. Obviously there’s a lot of reasons you want to be at 85 scholarships in the sport, so I think making the rules to allow folks to get to that 85 in the simplest way possible is a good move.”
For Oregon specifically, the roster Dan Lanning and his staff inherited was one of the youngest in the FBS.
The Ducks had just seven super seniors last season, who didn’t count against the team’s scholarship limit regardless. Even with 16 scholarship players transferring or leaving the program since the start of last season and five who had eligibility remaining entering or remaining in the NFL Draft, Oregon offset much of those departures with nine incoming transfers and 17 high school signees in its 2022 recruiting class.
“I think (lifting the initial counter limit is) necessary with the transfer portal rules and rules in general,” Lanning said. “The model of having 25 scholarships to fill was not a good model with the way legislation is in college football.”
UO enters 2022-23 with 86 projected scholarship players, including 11 seniors, with tight end Cam McCormick having an additional year of eligibility remaining, and 15 juniors, 10 of whom are entering their fifth years. So even if all of the Ducks upperclassmen and several draft-eligible sophomores were to leave after the season, the now-lifted limit of 25 scholarships wouldn’t have necessarily been much of a pinch.
But without having to be concerned about an annual limit, Lanning and his staff can pursue as many high school recruits and transfers as they feel necessary while staying within the overall limit of 85.
“It changes the volume of players that you would target,” Lanning said. “Or maybe similar volume, but you’re going to sign more players year in and year out.”
