Vanderbilt just might be a trendsetter in the SEC. And other league coaches now are chiming in.
A pair of Commodores players -- Langston Patterson and Issa Ouattara -- have filed a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA. It seeks to give student-athletes at NCAA institutions five years' eligibility across a five-year calendar -- a measure that's already being discussed at college athletics's highest levels.
During the weekly SEC Coaches' Teleconference Wednesday, myriad league coaches were asked about the potential of a fifth year for players.
Consider Georgia's Kirby Smart a very vocal proponent of the five-for-five concept.
"i support the five-year plan; I think it cleans it up for a lot of people," said Smart, the two-time national champion coach at his alma mater. "I may not be the foremost authority, but I think I dig into it more than most.
"There's Olympic sports ... there's all kinds of sports within a university and every sport is different in how you measure a redshirt, whether it's baseball, track, basketball. There's different measurements, and it's so gray on the redshirt rule and how you use it. It makes it unclear how to utilize, No. 1. your roster.
"We got (coaches) trying to sign people in other sports ... and other teams are saying I don't know what my number is because of the redshirt rule. The five-year thing cleans it up."
Smart drove him the point direct to his sport.
"Now, football specifically, right now, there are coaches in our league who are in-between a kid who's saying, 'Well, I'm not playing enough, i'm gonna go ahead and just redshirt. Well, No. 1, you're compensating that kid with NIL money and now you don't have the ability to use him. Well, what if you allow that kid to have five years and he knows there is five years.
"There is no redshirt rule/ It cleans it up in terms of your numbers. Everybody's dealing with depth issues but when you add the redshirt rule, it creates doubt if you have access to that player."
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, who's beaten Alabama twice, led the Vols to the 2024 College Football Playoffs and just inked a contract extension through the end of the decade, navigated an early circuitous route through college football -- well before the NCAA Transfer Portal and transiency being the norm.
Launching his career at FCS program Weber State in Utah, Heupel played off-and-on for that program, redshirted there a year, became a junior college All-America pick and eventually ended up as a two-year starter during the nascent days of Bob Stoops's legendary Oklahoma coaching career.
Heupel points to the House Settlement -- particularly its college football roster-cap of 105 players beginning in the coming seasons -- as reasons to explore the five-for-five proposal.
"I wasn't aware of that; I'm guessing that happened here just recently," Heupel said when asked about the Vanderbilt-led lawsuit. "i did redshirt, gained valuable experience during that time. Learning the game, how to practice, learning our offensive system, all those things.
"i think the rule change from few years ago, allowing guys to play in four games [without losing the redshirt-year] was a positive. When you look at roster limitations here that just recently happened, the availability of more of the roster to be able to play is important in being able to navigate that."
Added Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, "With smaller rosters (due to the 105-player limits), i think it would really help us throughout the course of a season, injuries and opt outs and thinks of that nature, not having to worry about burning a guy's year.