The NCAA is considering a major eligibility change that might give athletes in all sports an extra year of eligibility. Now, this proposal came up in talks at the start of the year and is still under consideration. If this change pans out, players will not have to fight for exceptions such as medical redshirts, waivers, and extra years impacted by COVID-19. For now, Illinois HC Bret Bielema is pretty hooked on it and is even urging Joey McGuire to fight for this change.

“I think 5 for 5 will be in place for the guys next year; I don’t have any reservations about that… I know the Big Ten is 100% behind it; I know the Big 12 was when I talked to Coach McGuire (Texas Tech), and I talked to several SEC coaches who said the SEC was going to be on board as well,” Bielema said.

It’s pretty clear that it’s not just Bielema; even Joey McGuire is pretty much looking forward to this shift. And time and again, McGuire has supported it, saying, “It’s the easiest rule that they could ever pass.” He even pointed to WR Reggie Virgil’s situation, who’s in his last year. “Reggie Virgil played 79 snaps as a freshman,” McGuire said. “79, and he lost a year, so he’s very interested in if he needs to get a year back.” Now, in what should be his final season, he’s run out of time. A rule change, however, could give players like Virgil a chance to reclaim the year they never truly used.

This push came after Diego Pavia pleaded against the NCAA and won. And his ties with junior college, which doesn’t come under the NCAA, saved him. But that win also opened gates for a wave of change everyone’s looking for. The best part is that after that win, the NCAA Division I Board of Directors decided in late December to offer a blanket waiver. This means it will allow former junior college athletes an additional year of eligibility for the 2025-26 season, but they must have played at a non-NCAA school for at least a year.

But this waiver is specifically for athletes who have already used up their NCAA eligibility. At the same time, the NCAA filed an appeal to fight the Pavia ruling. If the NCAA fully implements the five-year model across all sports, players like Boise State defensive end Ahmed Hassanein, who is finishing his four years of eligibility, could potentially get an extra year. Now, with this 5-year eligibility, Joey McGuire is also preparing his team for the Big 12 test.

Joey McGuire gets real about Utah’s game

Joey McGuire and his team are all set to visit Salt Lake City this weekend for a massive Big 12 showdown against Utah. Now, what makes this matchup more interesting is that this game will have NFL scouts watching them like a hawk on both sides. So, losing is not an option. McGuire knows Utah’s strong gameplay and even praises them. “I think the teams that are the toughest teams, the most physical teams, have a chance to win every single week, and that’s what he’s built,” McGuire said. “Whenever I watch them, I think that’s what football is supposed to look like.”

But let’s not forget that even the Red Raiders are leading the Big 12 in scoring, 58.0 points per game, and putting up a total of 602.7 yards per game. Crazy, right? Well, all thanks to QB Behren Morton, who’s leading the league with 11 touchdown passes and holds the second-highest 208.4 passer rating, after USC’s Jayden Maiava nationally. Yet it’s half-witted to take Utah’s defense lightly, which has not allowed more than 10 points this year. “There’s going to be a lot of strength versus strength,” McGuire said. “And it’s going to come down to who executes and who makes the least amount of mistakes; and really, who wants to be the toughest team.”

Not just the defense; even their offense looks pretty solid under Devon Dampier’s dynamic dual-threat ability that fuels the Utes’ ground game. “I remember in 2018 we faced Kyler Murray, and he’s a dynamic runner. And then we turned around, and we had to play [Jalen] Hurts the next year, and he’s a dynamic runner. I mean, [Dampier’s] like that whenever he pulls the ball down. One thing I think we’ve got to do is we’ve got to take away just obvious runs,” McGuire said. It looks like McGuire knows his opponents pretty well, but only time can tell which of them will win this title game.