A new NCAA policy that makes it easier to redshirt football players comes with an unintended consequence: Players can now choose to save their eligibility by leaving teams after participating in four games, with plans to transfer and use the saved year at a new school.
Several upperclassmen who would have been out of eligibility had they kept playing this season have already taken this route, including Oklahoma State receiver Jalen McCleskey, a senior with 167 career catches.
The rule took effect this year and was universally praised by coaches. In the past, playing just one game could cost a player a full year of eligibility. Football players have five years to play four seasons and take one redshirt year.
Minnesota's P.J. Fleck called the change the "greatest rule the NCAA has ever put in in the last 20 years."
It is proving popular with players, who get more opportunities to play-and, as it turns out, a little more autonomy.
"I just hadn't really thought (about) that being a possibility until it happened," Baylor coach Matt Rhule said of the midseason departures.
McCleskey is the most prominent player to take advantage of the newly created opportunity. He had 15 catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns through Oklahoma State's first four games after having 73 receptions in 2016 and 50 in 2017.
"You lose a good player. But we live in a world where things like that happen now," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. "Transfer's becoming very popular, and what would keep a young man from doing that across the country at any given time? But if they come to you and say, 'I'm not getting the ball enough and I feel like I need to be somewhere that allows that to happen,' then you have to give them that opportunity."
If McCleskey graduates before next season, he would be immediately eligible at his new school.
Arkansas wide receiver Jonathan Nance, a former junior college transfer who led the Razorbacks in catches last season, tweeted Monday he will transfer and use this as a redshirt season. Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said Ducks running back Taj Griffin, who is in his fourth season, left the team and plans to transfer.
There has been speculation Alabama backup quarterback Jalen Hurts might choose this path, putting himself in position to be a graduate transfer next year with two years of eligibility left.
The NCAA also has some new rules regarding transfers that take effect this year. Starting on Oct. 15, the NCAA will have a database that keeps track of players who notify their coaches of their intent to transfer. Schools will no longer be able to block a transfer nor dictate where a player can go, unless their conferences have specific rules permitting that.
Todd Berry, the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, downplayed the impact this new redshirt policy has on the transfer market. The former head coach at Army and Louisiana-Monroe noted players leaving teams midseason is not new.