It appears as though college football coaches will not have to worry about having a roster limit of 105 players in 2025. In a revision of the House vs. NCAA settlement, athletes who otherwise would have been on the team will be “grandfathered” in, meaning they will not count against the limit of 105.
Federal judge Claudia Wilken still has to approve the revision, which she is expected to do. She initially stated she thought the settlement was fair to both sides, with one provision: she instructed them to go back to the drawing board and find a way to prevent current athletes across the country from losing their roster spots on various collegiate teams. This revision should alleviate her concerns.
Why is this a big deal? How is 105 players not enough for a college football team? Shouldn’t that be far more than enough? That’s roughly twice as many players that comprise an NFL active roster (53).
Well, college coaches want more players than that on their rosters for scout team purposes, depth and more. You can’t hit the waiver wire midseason if you have a rash of injuries at a position like you can in the NFL. Therefore, Ohio State typically carries around 120 players on its roster, so this means that’s 15 guys who likely won’t have to get “pink slipped” by head coach Ryan Day this year.
If the revision to the settlement does in fact get approved, it will be music to Day’s ears. He has expressed frustration with the situation previously, especially when it appeared as though teams would definitely have to cut their rosters down to 105 this year.
Day was asked about the latest twist in the story last week when the media met with him. Obviously, if the situation is not resolved right now, it wasn’t then, either. But it does look a lot more positive than it did several weeks ago and Day was asked to give his thoughts on the matter.
“It’s tough because you hear about the 105 and you have to have real, honest conversations with young men about whether they’ll be guaranteed a spot or not,” he said. “Then you hear that maybe there won’t be a 105 and we’re having these conversations in real time. 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 just get in the portal and check out what their options are. We are 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.
“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.”
It does make you wonder if some of the walk-ons that transferred following spring ball would have stuck around if they knew for sure there would not be a limit of 105 players this season. Regardless, it is looking like this is one less thing on Day’s plate to deal with.
