McElwain in favor of shaking up rules

Florida football coach Jim McElwain would love a simpler approach to player eligibility.

“Why not just let them play?” McElwain asked when he was reporters on the SEC spring football coaches teleconference Monday sought his opinion about letting players retain redshirts. “Give them five years of eligibility and call it the way it is.”

Under the current rule, players have five years to complete four seasons of eligibility. But once they enter a game, the option for a redshirt year is forfeited. If a player is injured, however, they may petition the NCAA for a medical redshirt and potential extra year of eligibility.

A new rule proposed by the American Football Coaches Association would allow players to maintain their redshirt while also competing in up to four games. If they don’t play the majority of a season, these players would essentially get five years to play five seasons.

McElwain’s sentiments were shared by many of the league’s coaches.

“They all wanna play,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “This would give them an opportunity to play some and would actually enhance their development to some degree.

“. . . I think the No. 1 thing is it would tremendously help the development of some young players on your team to be able to look forward to playing in some games without losing the year.”

Coaches had mixed views on the adoption of an early signing period.

After a vote by the NCAA’s Division I Council on April 14, the Collegiate Commissioners Association approved the new signing period on May 8. The early signing period goes into effect this year, making the 2018 class the first recruits to have the choice to use it.

In addition to the traditional signing period that starts the first Wednesday in February, the early football signing period will span 72 hours, beginning Dec. 20 and ending Dec. 22.

“It will put some players that maybe have taken reservations rather than commitments [on the spot,]” McElwain said. “It’s gonna kind of call that bluff and as well as a lot of schools that have a lot of offers out. Then we’ll find out how serious they are come that early signing [period.]”

Saban said the new signing period would accelerate the recruiting process to some degree, but it would give less time for coaches to evaluate prospects.

“I think evaluation is important,” he said. “I think the sooner you have to make decisions on these guys, the greater opportunity you have to make mistakes.”

Georgia coach Kirby Smart said he’s neither for nor against the new signing period.

“I’m very interested to see how this plays out because I think that we’re entering a world that we haven’t dealt in,” he said. “So when you have that, there’s usually things you haven’t thought of, repercussions you haven’t thought of.

“It’ll be interesting to see who handles it best.”

Coaches, for the most part, had little to say about the SEC’s graduate transfer rules.

The Gators were recently in the running for Notre Dame graduate transfer quarterback Malik Zaire but were restricted from pursuing the signal caller due to SEC rules.

The league rules state if a school signs a graduate transfer and that transfer doesn’t end up graduating, that school cannot sign a graduate transfer the following year. Schools in other conferences that compete with SEC teams don’t have the same restrictions.

SEC leaders are expected to review changes to the rule during spring meetings in two weeks.

STEPHEN M. DOWELL/STAFF FILE PHOTO Florida head coach Jim McElwain says, as far as eligibility rules are concerned, ‘just let them play.’