Clemson coach Dabo Swinney sounded off on a proposed scholarship increase in college football during his appearance at ACC Media Days on Wednesday. The new rule would reduce roster limits to 105 players and mitigate the impact of walk-ons.
“It’s a really sad thing to me,” Swinney said.
The proposal, reported by Yahoo Sports, is part of the House v. NCAA settlement terms that are expected to be announced Friday.
The current scholarship limit for FBS programs is 85, but programs are allowed to carry up to 120 players including walk-ons. Under the reported terms of the House settlement, programs would be permitted to provide scholarships for all 105 players on the roster. The new scholarship rules would also apply to other sports.
“That’s great for baseball, soccer (and) some of the sports that you take 11 scholarships and spread it out amongst 30-some guys,” Swinney said. “But for football, the unintended consequence is it basically eliminates your walk-ons. There’s no coach that wants that.”
Walk-ons contribute in practice, typically comprising scout teams and offering roster depth over the course of a season. While having 105 scholarship players could theoretically give programs more quality depth, it’s also likely to mean more discontent. Unlike walk-ons, scholarship players typically arrive with expectations of playing time.
“When you have that many guys on scholarship, you think you got transfers now, wait till that number gets there,” Swinney said. “It’s going to be a lot.”
Swinney said teams “would have had to forfeit” their bowl games last season if the proposed rule had been in effect last season “because they wouldn’t have had enough players.”
“I do think you’ll see that transfer number go way up because you only travel about 80,” he said. “That will be a lot of football players not getting to play. Again, the walk-on program is what disappoints me the most. Kids that just want to be a part of it, that want to come help you practice in practice. It saddens me that that is probably going to go away.”
