5th year for seniors

[Raji]

NCAA president isn't opposed to 5th year for football players
Fri, Jun 1, 2007By Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- NCAA president Myles Brand said he isn't necessarily opposed to a recent proposal by the NCAA football issues committee that would extend player eligibility in the sport to five years.

Brand, speaking Friday at the Women's College World Series, even said the idea ''might be favorable'' if it included the elimination of the practice of redshirting.

Brand said that 80 percent of Division I football players are being redshirted and that it takes the average student about 4.7 years to graduate from college.

''I think if we do it right, to make sure student-athletes actually have educational activities throughout their five years, which approximates the actual practice, and we do away with medical redshirting (and) actual redshirting, I don't see anything wrong with that,'' Brand said.

The NCAA football issues committee, led by Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson, has requested that the proposal be discussed at the spring meetings of Division I football-playing conferences. Even if the idea gains support, it would have to go through several NCAA committees before a membership vote.

During a wide-ranging news conference, Brand also said that he doesn't sense support among universities for a college football playing system, that the Academic Progress Report system - which measures eligibility and retention of student-athletes and mandates penalties for schools not meeting certain requirements - ''is not going anywhere.''

Raji