Casey Clinger is 26 with eligibility left next year. Nico Young is 21 and finished this spring. Something is strange in the NCAA to allow this
I was 21 in my last NCAA race at NCAA west regionals (July birthday, never red-shirted and not held back for kindergarten). In general 22 is normal, so 23 if you red-shirt. And then 24 if you have some abnormal situation where a red-shirt isn't enough, although I feel the red-shirt is supposed to be used for the situation where you can't compete and not automatically used to make you save eligibility for when you're older. So this would still allow the mission trip for a year, and then their redshirt year for the other year, still leaving people with four years of eligibility if they do something for two years. Which still means 25 is too old. Part of the reason why times are so much faster the past several years is the extra years of eligibility. No longer are people in and out in four years. The vast majority of people red-shirt, now they've also got a covid year. And on top of that a trend was started 20 years ago to hold back kids with May/June/July birthdays for the next school year instead of sending them. So more people are turning 19 before they even start college, rather than turning 19 sometime during their first year of college.
Redshirt is a term used for football quarterbacks who wore a redshirt during practice so they wouldn't get hit. The coaches had them practice their freshman year and then play the next 4 years aftr they learned the plays and put some weight on. Medical redshirts, mission trips, and military service are other reasons that rpolong eligibility. Age is completely irrelevant. We are physically mature in our early tweties so I don't understand why people get worked up over a 27 year old competing.
I don't understand the issue here. Granted, I'm not in the US. But people have X number of years of eligibility. X being the same for everyone (right ?). If they start college later or suspend it to do something else (it could also be a gap year for no specific reason) and then come back later to complete their degrees, why shouldn't they be allowed to participate in competitive sports?
I can see that POV. But my guess is most of us see college sports as something that comes after high school for young people competing. Kids bridging HS and pro or olympic glory. 25 would be very generous without losing the spirit of college sports. Its not supposed to be a club league for all ages.
You can. Everyone can. A coach explained the waiver to me when I was a student athlete. The NCAA refers to it as the 3 M’s. Military, maternity, mission. If you serve in the military your eligibility clock is paused. If you are pregnant your eligibility clock is paused. If you do a mission for any religion your clock is paused. So go ahead and go on a mission for your religion. And please stop the bigotry towards mine.
We have another thread on taking a gap year. Anyone can do that also, but the majority of responses tell the poster a gap year is a poor choice.
Why complain about BYU and then have a problem with a gap year?
It isn't a club league for all ages. Only elite athletes can be part of it. Everyone can join a club. And everyone is limited to 4 years of eligibility.
Redshirt is a term used for football quarterbacks who wore a redshirt during practice so they wouldn't get hit. The coaches had them practice their freshman year and then play the next 4 years aftr they learned the plays and put some weight on. Medical redshirts, mission trips, and military service are other reasons that rpolong eligibility. Age is completely irrelevant. We are physically mature in our early tweties so I don't understand why people get worked up over a 27 year old competing.
I just looked up the median age of the top 20 all-time 5,000m and 10,000m runners in the world. Surprisingly the median age in both was right around their 23rd birthday, 23 3 months for 5,000m and 22 11 months for 10,000m.
BUT the runners who grew up in North America (Galen Rupp, Grant Fisher, Mo Ahmed) were some of the oldest athletes. Rupp was at his 28th birthday in the 10,000m, Mo Ahmed was 31, Grant Fisher was about 25 for his 5k/10k.
So it seems African runners are getting a head start but peaking at around age 23. North American runners are behind and don't reach their peak until somewhere between 25-30.
Regardless of where the athlete is from, 75% of the people are peaking between ages 20-25. So if runners in the NCAA start their eligibility later, and don't burn a year when they're 18/19, they're going to have their entire NCAA career while they're running at a high level.
Assume some of those Americans got a boost after college so I really wouldn't rely heavily on them in the equation. 23 seems to be the peak. People should be happy that BYU guys are out of shape at their peak and they compete when past it.
Redshirt is a term used for football quarterbacks who wore a redshirt during practice so they wouldn't get hit. The coaches had them practice their freshman year and then play the next 4 years aftr they learned the plays and put some weight on. Medical redshirts, mission trips, and military service are other reasons that rpolong eligibility. Age is completely irrelevant. We are physically mature in our early tweties so I don't understand why people get worked up over a 27 year old competing.
I just looked up the median age of the top 20 all-time 5,000m and 10,000m runners in the world. Surprisingly the median age in both was right around their 23rd birthday, 23 3 months for 5,000m and 22 11 months for 10,000m.
BUT the runners who grew up in North America (Galen Rupp, Grant Fisher, Mo Ahmed) were some of the oldest athletes. Rupp was at his 28th birthday in the 10,000m, Mo Ahmed was 31, Grant Fisher was about 25 for his 5k/10k.
So it seems African runners are getting a head start but peaking at around age 23. North American runners are behind and don't reach their peak until somewhere between 25-30.
Regardless of where the athlete is from, 75% of the people are peaking between ages 20-25. So if runners in the NCAA start their eligibility later, and don't burn a year when they're 18/19, they're going to have their entire NCAA career while they're running at a high level.
How many of those folks took two years off from running during that time frame?
Some of you seem to also be missing the point that the BYU folks also take two years off from school. They don’t spend more time in school than any other students nor do they compete more years than any other arhletes.