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Dana Holgorsen on NCAA’s extra eligibility year: ‘It’s pretty clear cut, the year don’t count’

Houston football's defensive line awaits the snap against Memphis in a regular season game during the 2019 season. Dana Holgorsen's team is set to take on the Tigers on Sept. 18 for the 2020 season opener.| Katrina Martinez/The Cougar

Houston football’s defensive line awaits the snap against Memphis in a regular season game during the 2019 season. Dana Holgorsen’s team is set to take on the Tigers on Sept. 18 for the 2020 season opener. | Katrina Martinez/The Cougar

As the calendar gets closer to September, the 2020 college football season remains shrouded in uncertainty. These unprecedented times require unprecedented rules, one of which came on Aug. 21 when the NCAA voted to give all fall sport student athletes an additional year of eligibility.

The extra year of eligibility applies to all football student athletes who are still unsure whether they will be able to get in an entire season.

But for the moment, it looks like they will at least try to get a campaign off, which gives players one less thing to worry about and provides them with options in an otherwise uncertain future.

“It’s pretty clear cut,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said to media on Tuesday through a Zoom conference call. “The year don’t count.”

“Regardless if you’re a true freshman or a redshirt senior, whatever you are this year, you’re going to be here next year,” he added. “It’s going to be different for everyone.”

While student-athletes all have the extra year of eligibility if they choose to take it, not every athlete will use it because of various reasons. One of them being that the academic term will not be taking a redshirt year, which means that plenty of seniors on the roster will have graduated by the time the 2021 season begins.

“The thing about college football is that your clock kind of runs out,” Holgorsen said. “I don’t (want) many guys who are sixth year guys, and I think there is a reason for that.” 

The Cougars’ 2020 roster has over 20 seniors as it begins the season and about 18 of them are set to graduate by the end of the year according to the head coach, which changes what the players are going to do even if they have an extra year to play.

Some student-athletes want to pursue a chance to play in the NFL while others choose to leave football in the rearview mirror altogether and start a new chapter in their lives or go to graduate school.

The biggest takeaway by Holgorsen of the NCAA’s decision was that it provides flexibility to the student athletes, which will benefit them regardless of what they choose to do according to the head coach.

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