Report: NCAA to Expand Signing Class Limit

The transfer portal is having far reaching effects that extend beyond the field of play in college football.

Coaches are having to deal with numerous players suddenly up and leaving due to immediate eligibility and in return it is creating some major issues when it comes to roster management.

According to a report by Sports Illustrated, help could be on the way. The NCAA is on the verge of expanding the signing class limit to allow coaches to sign more than the normal 25 players.

“NCAA officials are moving closer to an immediate expansion of the annual 25-person signing limit as a way for coaches to replace players they’ve lost to the burgeoning transfer portal,” SI’s Ross Dellenger wrote. “The NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee is finalizing a proposal that would change the signing limit this cycle in what’s being described as a one-year waiver of relief until a permanent policy is created.”

As noted, this is just a one year type of deal, until the NCAA can get something permanent in place.

One of the current, more popular, permanent proposals being considered would have teams being allowed to sign one extra player over the 25-man limit for each player that team loses to the portal in that recruiting cycle. For example, if Clemson were to have three players transfer out, then they could sign up to 28 players in the subsequent recruiting class.

According to the report, other proposals are also being considered, including one that simply increases the total signees to 30, 32 or 35. Another proposal would require a school to use its 25 spots on high school players and would give a school an additional five to seven spots for transfers.

Another reason for signing classes being expanded is because of the extra year of eligibility that has been given to all players for the 2020 season.

The waiver would actually apply to the current 2022 recruiting class, according to Dellenger.

Over the past couple of years we have seen a trend in which coaches have spent as much time recruiting the transfer portal as they have high school recruits. Officials are hoping extending the class limits will help steer coaches back towards recruiting high school kids.