Will the NCAA’s new rule affect SEC teams?

 

 

 

 

The NCAA yesterday at their annual meeting said that – through all sports – that all athletes who transfer will be granted immediate eligibility for the season after they transfer, instead of having to wait a year.

This means that SEC teams will be able to ‘add’ players at speed, rather than wait on the indecision of high school players who might or might not want to come to their campus.

At the start, it’ll mean the rich get richer. Nick Saban – speaking before Alabama’s Spring Practice Day – said: “We have thought about a strategy that we’re going to use,” Saban said. “You’ve heard me speak about this before, but now that it is a rule, we’re going to adapt to it and make it an advantage for us.

“I think what’s going to happen as you see how often in a lot of leagues, you know the good players go to a good team and the bad players leave good teams because they’re not playing. So is that going to make the rich get richer? I don’t know. You can decide that.”

However, there is still a wrinkle within the Southeastern Conference, bless their hearts. SEC rules still dictate that a player moving within the conference will still have to wait a year. This is still a joke, if you consider that the ACC eliminated that transfer rule in March, and so have major mid-majors the AAC and MAC. With the likes of Clemson and a hard-charging North Carolina in the ACC, you should think that the SEC will want to move quickly to stop any advantage they might take.

SO HOW WOULD THE SEC SUFFER IF THEY KEPT THEIR WAIT-OUT RULE?

Take this for an example: Alabama 2022 recruit Jalen Minroe came on board into Tuscaloosa as a four-star, athletic QB. But it’s fairly obvious after playing at A-Day that Saban prefers Bryce Young, and he’s probably going to ride the bench for 2-3 years. By then, Saban will have probably recruited another after of five-stars, and he’s probably got a better chance of playing at Florida, where Dan Mullen really, really needs a QB. He puts himself into the transfer portal. You see, Emory Jones just sucks, and the cupboard’s feeling a little bare. Mullen’s seen the tapes, and thinks Minroe will play immediately, and everything’s going accordingly, but the SEC still have the wait-out rule.

So instead, Minroe decides that he’s going to play for Houston, who will immediately start him. It’s in Texas, Dana Holgerson loves the spread, and Minroe’s from Katy, anyway.

Now, that’s trickle down. The AAC has gained itself a major player in Minroe who can start immediately. The SEC is poorer because a top player decided to play outside the conference (I mean, not that much poorer, but still poorer).

Now think about how this might work if the likes of Minroe decided to play for a Penn State or a Texas or an Oregon. The SEC gets poorer because of its wait-out rule, and other conferences get richer because of it. The SEC would start losing better transfers because of their chance to play immediately. And in a world where transferring is currently en vogue, the SEC starts to suffer.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The SEC needs to cut its wait-out rule. The ACC has done it, and it’s going to benefit – as we mentioned – their bigger schools. The SEC has to stop this, or we’re going to see a drain – however small – of talent. Saban can say all he wants about ‘bad players’, but he’ll be the first to bitch and moan if there isn’t the depth he wants in Tuscaloosa.