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New NCAA Football Scholarship Limits

A

Art Spooner

Well-known member
The new NCAA scholarship limit for football is 105 players per roster, starting in the 2025-2026 academic year:
  • Roster limit: The roster limit for football teams increases from 85 to 105 players.
  • Scholarship limit: The scholarship limit remains at 85 players for the 2025-2026 season.
  • Walk-ons: The new limit includes non-scholarship walk-on players.

    There will be more portal players available than ever. Some Power 4 teams have as many as 150 players including all walk-ons. Vince Genatone comes to mind as to the type of player that will be looking for a new home most likely. Not going to be enough spots for all of them. There are over 1,000 players already in the portal.
 
Essentially ends the walk ons at bigger schools. Could help the FCS level. No more over signing athletes as well like some very successful programs have done.

Kent commented on this earlier in the season and it’s a big decision to make if you want to move up, you will be held to those rules. Is that something we want to do or be a part of?
 
mthoopsfan said:
The roster limit wasn’t 85 previously. That was the scholarship limit. The scholarship amount is effectively going from 85 to 105.
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I'm curious how schools will get around this. The cost of going attending some schools will be a drop in the bucket compared to the nil money to be had.
 
I wonder if some schools will make a practice squad with tuition discounts or something along that line to accommodate. Or if the NCAA will create a path for that not to count against scholarships.
 
This won’t be an issue for the SEC and BIG 10, but it could be an issue for lower budget Big 12 and ACC schools, and it will almost certainly be an issue for the vast majority of G5 schools. We’ll see how that affects those school’s decision making moving forward.
 
Wolf777 said:
I wonder if some schools will make a practice squad with tuition discounts or something along that line to accommodate. Or if the NCAA will create a path for that not to count against scholarships.
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i am thinking "club sport teams" would happen but no coaches from the varsity, just NIL money.
 
Art Spooner said:
The new NCAA scholarship limit for football is 105 players per roster, starting in the 2025-2026 academic year:
  • Roster limit: The roster limit for football teams increases from 85 to 105 players.
  • Scholarship limit: The scholarship limit remains at 85 players for the 2025-2026 season.
  • Walk-ons: The new limit includes non-scholarship walk-on players.

    There will be more portal players available than ever. Some Power 4 teams have as many as 150 players including all walk-ons. Vince Genatone comes to mind as to the type of player that will be looking for a new home most likely. Not going to be enough spots for all of them. There are over 1,000 players already in the portal.
Click to expand...
the FBS limit for 2025 will be up to 105 players and up to 105 scholarships. some FBS won't be impacted as they don't have 105 players or didn't use all of the 85 scholarships they had. it doesn't require them to give a player a scholarship but the player would probably not stay at the school being one of the 105 without a scholly. Example - Idaho the last few years of FBS and NMSU this year.
FCS can have 105 players in 2025, i think MSU, UM, NDSU, and SDSU, and maybe a few others, actually have more than 105 players on the roster. I think the bow wave from Covid drops most down to be a 105 team. the thing that hasn't changed yet is the scholarship limit of 63 for FCS. this will make a huge difference in future years trying to get the depth needed to compete with FBS and top 10 FCS UNLESS you have a strong NIL program. In about 5 years there will be about 15-20 FCS programs that have a decent NIL program. the exception i see is the Ivy and HBCU's could spend billions or nothing on NIL.
 
Montanabob said:
the FBS limit for 2025 will be up to 105 players and up to 105 scholarships. some FBS won't be impacted as they don't have 105 players or didn't use all of the 85 scholarships they had. it doesn't require them to give a player a scholarship but the player would probably not stay at the school being one of the 105 without a scholly. Example - Idaho the last few years of FBS and NMSU this year.
FCS can have 105 players in 2025, i think MSU, UM, NDSU, and SDSU, and maybe a few others, actually have more than 105 players on the roster. I think the bow wave from Covid drops most down to be a 105 team. the thing that hasn't changed yet is the scholarship limit of 63 for FCS. this will make a huge difference in future years trying to get the depth needed to compete with FBS and top 10 FCS UNLESS you have a strong NIL program. In about 5 years there will be about 15-20 FCS programs that have a decent NIL program. the exception i see is the Ivy and HBCU's could spend billions or nothing on NIL.
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The real impact will be large programs that hide players. I think I read somewhere that Nebraska has nearly 200 players. Like most rules established by the NCAA, schools will find a way to circumvent them.
 
Art Spooner said:
The new NCAA scholarship limit for football is 105 players per roster, starting in the 2025-2026 academic year:
  • Roster limit: The roster limit for football teams increases from 85 to 105 players.
  • Scholarship limit: The scholarship limit remains at 85 players for the 2025-2026 season.
  • Walk-ons: The new limit includes non-scholarship walk-on players.

    There will be more portal players available than ever. Some Power 4 teams have as many as 150 players including all walk-ons. Vince Genatone comes to mind as to the type of player that will be looking for a new home most likely. Not going to be enough spots for all of them. There are over 1,000 players already in the portal.
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Continuing to use Nebraska as the example, a quote from a story by Dave Feit titled Nebraska Football Maniac Monday “As Ruhl mentioned last week, he expects anywhere from 30-50 players to jump in the portal as the roster must shrink to 105 before the 2025 season starts.” That’s just one P4 program dumping up to 50 players into the portal. Less numbers in G5 programs but still many. Griz will be affected as well, having to consider player reductions. Lots of transfer movement this year, in and out.
 
FCS teams are going to have the ability to get good quick... who the best talent evaluators are and who has some resources to put into it can change their fortunes quickly going into next season. Do the Griz have the coaches in place who can thrive in this new era of roster management?
 
Brother Bear said:
FCS teams are going to have the ability to get good quick... who the best talent evaluators are and who has some resources to put into it can change their fortunes quickly going into next season. Do the Griz have the coaches in place who can thrive in this new era of roster management?
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Yes, Pease will dominate this like no coach in Montana at any level.
 
Art Spooner said:
Continuing to use Nebraska as the example, a quote from a story by Dave Feit titled Nebraska Football Maniac Monday “As Ruhl mentioned last week, he expects anywhere from 30-50 players to jump in the portal as the roster must shrink to 105 before the 2025 season starts.” That’s just one P4 program dumping up to 50 players into the portal. Less numbers in G5 programs but still many. Griz will be affected as well, having to consider player reductions. Lots of transfer movement this year, in and out.
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The Griz coaches say the Portal is going to be wild.
 
Brother Bear said:
FCS teams are going to have the ability to get good quick... who the best talent evaluators are and who has some resources to put into it can change their fortunes quickly going into next season. Do the Griz have the coaches in place who can thrive in this new era of roster management?
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Which FCS program has the best facilities, fans, most FCS tournament appearances etc…?
 
I'd say the days of signing HS project QBs or HS QBs who "just need more time" are numbered. The way I see it shaking out on average is like this (QB-specific):

I agree with @Brother Bear 's post above. I think there will be opportunities to snag players because FBS AND FCS programs can't afford the time it takes to develop HS QBs at their respective levels. Put another way: If USC or Arizona need another QB to round out the roster, they don't have to look to HS. They can just look to a RS-Soph QB2 at Oklahoma State or Wazzu or wherever. Way less risk. So, the HS QBs who might have gone to those programs could fall to FCS.

Not a perfect analogy because of the MLB draft, but it's a lot like what the portal has done to college baseball. It's way more difficult to get a DI scholarship in baseball than it was pre-portal. If I'm the coach at Fresno and I need an infielder, I'm not looking to an 18yo who has never played in college. The 18yo will have to go DII or JC (there is so much talent in DII because of this). I'm taking a junior who isn't happy at his DI program, or maybe even a DII where the 18yo is now 21 and has crushed it. I think the 18yos could be opportunities for FCS (tier 2) FB programs just as they have been for DII baseball programs because of this dynamic.

Just my opinion.
 
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