Miami football players are about to get a gift from the NCAA because of COVID-19
On Friday, college athletes in fall sports across the nation — including football players at the University of Miami — will likely get a gift.
That gift, should the NCAA Division I Council’s proposal to the Division I Board of Directors pass, as expected: An extra year of eligibility because of the upheaval in college athletics caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
So, instead of the customary NCAA-mandated five seasons in which to play four, athletes will now have six seasons, if they choose, because 2020 will not count toward their eligibility. And at least at UM, the extra year will be paid for in accordance with the Hurricanes’ “institutional commitment that we’ll honor their scholarship through their graduation,’’ UM athletic director Blake James said Thursday in a phone conversation with the Miami Herald.
If a player already has earned his undergraduate degree, such as graduate transfer quarterback D’Eriq King, those financial situations, should that player decide to return for another season, would be worked out on an individual basis.
Translation: Someone of King’s status would get another year fully paid.
2021 recruits
In light of the extra money being spent by UM on scholarships and the financial losses Miami will incur this year, James was asked if the incoming 2021 high school football recruits should feel confident their scholarships would be honored.
Replied James: “100 percent.’’
“We are going to honor all the scholarship commitments we make through a young person earning their undergraduate degree.’’
James told the Herald that the pandemic would “be a significant hit on our revenues,’’ but said he couldn’t give specifics this early. Miami is a private school and is not required to release its financial information.
Fans and revenue
“Right now we don’t know what the level of that hit is going to be because we’re still working through what potential fans we’ll have in place,’’ James said. “We don’t know what September, October, November, even December, will look like.... The hit will be significant, but we probably won’t know what the exact number is until we’re through the season.’’
UM is set to open the season on Thursday, Sept. 10, at home against Alabama-Birmingham.
James said there should be an announcement some time next week regarding if fans will be able to attend games. “I am of the mind-set there is a very good chance we will not have fans,’’ he said. “I am hoping we will be able to have fans. That’s something that’s up to Miami-Dade County and the government leadership. Whatever decision they make I’ll support 100 percent.”
Like it did in the spring, the NCAA is attempting to do the right thing for its student-athletes. Similar to the seniors in baseball or tennis or other spring sports, senior athletes in every fall sport won’t have to worry as much about their futures should the season implode because of COVID-19.
“There are just so many unknowns,’’ James said. “Right now, the experience that any of our kids have this year isn’t going to be the one they signed up for. In this case we’re at least able to give them an opportunity to come back and get another year of eligibility and have an experience, hopefully, more in line with the one they all signed up for.
“I just thought it was the right thing to do for the kids.”
UM seniors
UM football has at least four graduate transfers on its roster, including King and defensive end Quincy Roche, kicker Jose Borregales and offensive tackle Jarrid Williams. The other seniors include fourth-year safety Amari Carter, fourth-year offensive lineman Navaughn Donaldson, defensive tackle Jon Ford, fourth-year receiver Mike Harley and fifth-year linebacker Zach McCloud.
Newcomer Matias Gasc, a redshirt senior punter, is a walk-on who previously played at Stetson.
For players such as Donaldson, who was redshirting this season because he is still recuperating from major knee surgery, now he will be able to play two more seasons if he chooses.
The normal NCAA scholarship limit of 85 will be expanded for next season only, James said, according to how many of the seniors return. “The rest of it will be roster management that [coach] Manny Diaz will have to coordinate to make sure we meet the NCAA’s maximum of 85. But for the seniors who stay, they won’t count against your limits.’’
James said any seniors who transfer to another school next season would, indeed, count against that school’s 85 limit.
On Thursday, in a Zoom video conference with reporters, cornerbacks coach Mike Rumph said he was pleased with the expected extra year of eligibility.
NCAA has ‘heart’
“It’s a good thing because of the unknown that we’ve faced throughout the last five or six months,’’ Rumph said. “There has been so much unknown. Every day is an adventure for guys like us. I can understand it would be more of an adventure for the players.
“So, for the NCAA to do something like that it shows the heart they have and the vision they have of fixing something that was kind of like out of our hands going through the pandemic. It’s a great opportunity for college football to take a deep breath and allow these kids, through the uncertainty, to say, ‘OK, I do have another opportunity to do this thing over again if things don’t go right.’”
UM cornerback Al Blades Jr. said the expected extra year is “more than a huge statement for college football because you have a lot of guys who felt a little shaky because there are some seniors who don’t know how their seasons will go.’’
“They’re taking a chance,’’ Blades said. “That is a big thing for a lot of guys around the college football world.”
Miami-based collegiate sports attorney Jason Setchen, who represents a large group of athletes in the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference regarding their COVID-related concerns, said he was “very pleased with the progress that has been made with respect to the NCAA’s COVID eligibility waver.’’
“I believe it’s a victory for student-athlete advocacy and shows the NCAA is listening to the concerns of student-athletes and their families,’’ Setchen said.
Fall championships
The NCAA Board of Directors on Friday is also expected to pass the proposal to “move all the division’s fall championships to the spring,’’ the NCAA said in a release, “because more than 50 percent of schools participating in each NCAA fall championship sport canceled or postponed their seasons.’’
But James called that proposal “aspirational.’’
“Just as we’re being aspirational saying women’s soccer and volleyball and cross-country programs will all compete this fall,’’ James told the Herald, “the NCAA is being aspirational in saying our fall championships are going to move to the spring. There’s no guarantee those championships will happen in the spring.
“So we’re going to go forward with the idea that we’re going to create a great experience for our kids in the fall, recognizing that it’s not going to cost them a year of eligibility. And then if there is the ability to play in the spring and have a spring championship, they’ll have that opportunity to compete again.”
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 4:38 PM.
