COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football made it through the spring transfer portal window without losing a scholarship player — a feat worthy of cracking open a beer, as coach Ryan Day astutely noted on a recent radio appearance.
But mid-April wasn’t a breeze for Ohio State’s staff to manage.
The Buckeyes lost four walk-ons to the portal — moves indicative of a new era in college athletics. The House settlement, when approved, is expected to smack the collegiate landscape with a tidal wave of changes.
Revenue sharing. Back-pay. And, as pertinent to Day and his walk-ons, roster limits.
The latter has become a buzzword as college football moves away from a scholarship limit of 85 to a roster limit of 105. For teams fielding rosters of 120 players, cuts are inevitable — even at a program such as Ohio State where the scholarship number will likely rise to 90, according to Day.
“This is kind of the way it is in college football right now,” Day said. “You’ve got to be able to adapt quickly and move on the run.”
The House settlement’s potential approval was delayed last week after Judge Claudia Wilken issued an order indicating she wouldn’t approve it under the proposed policy regarding roster limits.
The issue was the policy’s immediacy. Wilken feared immediately implementing the limits would lead to athletes losing their spot on their current teams.
The expectation is legal teams representing the NCAA, Power Four conferences and Pac-12 — the named defendants in the case — will work to phase in those roster limits over time, though how long that might be is unclear.
In the meantime, the edict from Wilken arrived in the heart of the portal window and created increased uncertainty around how many players programs might be able to carry beyond this year.
Ohio State, for example, might have to operate under a roster limit of 105 when the 2025 season arrives, though that could change depending on where lawyers land. If not, the Buckeyes plan to have about 120 players on the roster — a sizable difference.
“We’re having these conversations in real time,” Day said. “What I don’t want to do is look a guy in the eye and say, ‘Sorry, we don’t have a roster spot for you’ right before the season when I haven’t at least had the opportunity for them to at least get in the portal and check out what their options are.”
Ohio State walk-on receiver Reis Stocksdale entered the transfer portal in April.David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com
Running back TC Caffey, wide receiver Reis Stocksdale, punter Anthony Venneri and long snapper Morrow Evans elected to enter the portal in April.
“We were just being transparent in those situations because these guys — whether they’re a scholarship player or a walk-on player, they still put as much work in,” Day said. “I just felt like that was the right thing to do in a time where we don’t really know for sure how it’s going to shake out.”
The natural reaction to the changes is to question why teams don’t simply allow 20 walk-ons to earn a scholarship as a result of the change from 85 scholarships to 105 roster spots.
There are financial burdens that come with that in an era where athletic departments such as Ohio State’s are expecting to share more than $20 million with student-athletes. There’s also the incentive of pursuing higher-level players with more scholarships rather than assigning it to walk-ons.
Teams will have to learn the balancing act. How soon, though, remains unclear.
Ohio State has chosen to prepare for the immediate and will adjust otherwise.
“The easy thing to do is throw up your hands and get frustrated,” Day said. “But we’ll just adapt, try to communicate well and make sure we have everything we need.”
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