Wednesday Quickies: Extra Year of Eligibility Edition

This rule could open the door for Sarr to be eligible

By Zac Oakes@ZacOakes Oct 14, 2020, 6:40am EDT

Athletes playing winter sports will have an extra year of collegiate eligibility under a new rule approved by the NCAA DI Council yesterday.

College Basketball analyst Jeff Goodman reported the news yesterday.

D-1 Council has voted in favor of giving additional year of eligibility to winter athletes, source told @Stadium. Won’t be official until close of tomorrow’s meeting since it could still be brought back for reconsideration.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) October 13, 2020

This decision opens up a new way of looking at the situation with Olivier Sarr. The SEC rule, which is apparently the hold-up in declaring Sarr eligible this upcoming season, states that a player has to be at the school for a full academic year to be eligible if the player has less than two years of eligibility remaining.

“A student-athlete who, upon enrollment at the certifying institution, has less than two years of eligibility remaining shall not be eligible for intercollegiate competition at a member institution until the student has fulfilled a residence requirement of one full academic year (two full semesters) at the certifying institution.”

This decision would give Sarr two years of eligibility, thus removing the stipulation from Sarr’s situation.

The rule could also play a role for someone like Jacob Toppin. Toppin was once viewed as a guy who would likely sit out a year to preserve eligibility while training and practicing to play the following year. This rule would allow Toppin to play without losing a year of eligibility, if he were granted an immediate eligibility waiver.

The rule still needs to be made official tomorrow, but this decision could have significant implications for Kentucky this upcoming season.