The big news in the past week was the NCAA's approval of a new age-based eligibility rule that will change athletics across all sports. The most important aspect is that players now have five years to play five seasons in their respective sports, eliminating the redshirt.
This means that, excluding those who have sat out a year in the past, everyone who is entering their 4th season, in what would be a traditional senior year, now has two years of eligibility going forward per the NCAA. The ramifications are big here for a number of reasons, but it also means that some teams could be afforded the kind of roster continuity they weren’t originally expecting.
Based on the current rosters, here’s a look at the top 15 teams that could have benefited the most from the new “5 for 5” eligibility rule.
15. Clemson Tigers
Players who benefit
Carter Welling (10.2 ppg and 5.4 rpg, out for next season)
Liutauras Lelevicius (8.0 ppg and 3.4 rpg at TCU)
Dylan Faulker (17.2 ppg and 8.6 rpg at Samford)
David Fuchs (12.7 ppg and 7.8 rpg at San Francisco)
Technically, Welling won’t lose a year of eligibility either way, since the original plan was for him to redshirt all of next year after suffering an injury at the end of last year. Now, he could come back to the Tigers at the end of next year if he’s able to.
The other two bigs in the rotation, Fuchs and Faulker, also could be back for a 5th year. We’ve seen the work Coach Brad Brownell has done with bigs who stay with him over multiple years, including Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall. Lelevicius and his shooting will help with the young backcourt guards if he’s around for a couple of years as well.
Clemson isn’t a team that’s going to win offseasons with its pickups, so the ability to keep rotation pieces for multiple years is important. If they can keep the frontcourt for two straight years and the young guards continue to develop, the Tigers could be dangerous in 2027-27.
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