Episode Transcript
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[00:01:10] Speaker B: welcome to this week's edition of in the Clubhouse with EMD Baseball.
[00:01:13] Speaker C: I'm Andy Kiri Kutis, joined by my Wonderful co host Mr. Keith Glasser.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: How are we doing sir?
[00:01:18] Speaker D: Great, how are you?
[00:01:19] Speaker B: Yeah, we're all right. We fumbled. We fumbled the kickoff a couple of times today. Glad that's not going to end up on a live show, but we are here There has been yet another update amendment of sorts to the potential 5, 4, 5 eligibility ruling.
We've talked about this on on recent podcasts, but I do think it is relevant that there's been a slight change to the language that is being used around the age based eligibility model. So previously before the amendment, the proposed eligibility clock was essentially when a high school player graduates or when they turn 19 is when the eligibility clock would start. So under that language, the eligibility clock could start while you were in high school if you were a 19 year old who maybe did a prep year, so on and so forth.
The most recent language has been updated to where the eligibility clock would begin at whatever came first between the academic year following graduation, enrollment or after they turn 19.
Let me rephrase that.
An athlete's five year eligibility clock would start upon full time enrollment at a university or at the beginning of the academic year following their 19th birthday. And I think there's a clear, distinguished, clear distinguishing factor there where it's following the academic year of their 19th birthday. As previously stated, it was starting when they turned 19.
So small change in language, I think it's a big change in terms of impact. Right? And I'll kick it over to you because there was a couple driving factors behind this decision.
And there was actually a professional sports league that may or may not have gotten involved in some of the conversations here to make this change. So what do you got on this?
[00:03:31] Speaker D: If you are the parent of a high school baseball player with college aspirations, you already know the recruiting process can feel overwhelming. Endless showcases, nonstop emails and big promises with very little clarity. That's why we recommend Diamond College Showcase Camps, the nation's premier academic baseball showcase. At Diamond College showcases, every college coach in attendance is there with a purpose to coach, instruct, evaluate and recruit. Every player is seen, every player is engaged, and every family leaves with a clear understanding of where they truly stand. This is not a mass camp. College coaches run the drills, evaluate every athlete and provide honest professional feedback that you can trust. Diamond College Showcase Camps are built for serious student athletes who are who value both baseball and academics. If you're looking for transparency, clarity and a recruiting experience that respects your time and your players future, Diamond College Showcase is the place to be. To learn more, visit diamondcollegeshowcase.com
[00:04:33] Speaker E: Sure, I think the main thing is, and let's be real, we pontificated about this a couple weeks ago about what we thought it should be and lo and behold, they made the language change. So clearly it wasn't a professional sports league. It was that the NCAA is listening to the Dugout Dish podcast and they said, you know what, these guys are right, we're going to, we're going to go ahead and do what it is that they say we should do.
But the reality is it seems as though, and we don't know this for sure, right.
But I think that there was a specific, and it's probably the NHL, if we're being honest, in college hockey at the Division 1 and Division 3 levels that probably pushed back on that language.
Hockey, for those of you that don't know, is wildly different than from a recruiting perspective than any other sport. The vast majority of the kids that are going to go play college hockey generally are entering college, you know, around 19, 20 years old, under old rules.
Now they're probably going to be entering in around 19. They go and play juniors, they go and do some other things where, you know, it's not their traditional play high school or maybe go to a prep school for a year and then go play in college for four. It's you play in high school, usually they end up leaving high school, going to some special school, go play juniors, which is like a my understanding of it, I'm not a hockey guy, is that it's more of like a semi pro, if we will. You know, it's a bunch of, you know, high school slash older kids who have graduated. They're not necessarily in college, they're not professionals. Some of them may have been drafted. The NHL is different where they actually can draft you and own your rights for an extended period of time and then they kind of figure out what you do from there.
So my guess is that that kind of system that they, that ecosystem that they've built would come crashing down under those types of, under that language where your clock starts at the second you turn 19 years old.
They did what, you know, we kind of thought would be the most reasonable thing is that, you know, it's going to start the semester following you turning 19, the fall semester, excuse me, following you turning 19. And you know, we had talked about that, where, you know, if you turn 19, if your clock starts when you turn 19 and you turn 19 in November, you know, you kind of, you're December, you can play your entire fall sport. And if you're, if it starts, you know, you could have used your eligibility up if you're an April birthday.
So, you know, it makes sense to do it that way. I would say that they probably got some pressure from, you know, and it's probably not just that that sport specifically. There's probably some other sports out there that are very similar in that regard of, you know, maybe there's a lot of prep school kids or things of that nature in which sports are recruiting out of.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Right.
[00:07:28] Speaker E: So they need to make sure that if, if the language is written that way. They want to make sure that kids clocks aren't starting in, while they're in high school or prep school. And you know, let's be honest, there's probably some pushback at the prep school level as well. Right. Like that's a, that's an entire ecosystem unto itself as well that, that does, you know, the IMGs of the world, you know, they probably have a little bit of weight to throw around and say, like, well, wait a minute, we have a bunch of guys here that are 19. There's no reason their clock should start while they're here.
And it's not just img, there's plenty of them out there, but that's just probably the most known one nationally when it comes to prep school type stuff.
And again, you know, IMG is not just baseball. It's, it's every sport imaginable. So, you know, I think that it's, I think it's the right language to use when it comes to this rule, you know, and, and there's a, it's not just prep school kids, you know, there's kids that maybe they, you know, got held back or something went on where, you know, they started school later because they had one of those weird birthdays where they were a little bit later. So they started and they, you know, maybe they do turn 19, you know, when they graduate. So, you know, it's penalizing kids for things that maybe it would have been penalizing kids for things that were completely out of their control.
And I think that that's where, you know, they're trying to clean that up to say, okay, your clock doesn't start the second you turn 19, but you turn 19, your clock's going to start the following fall. So if you do go play juniors or you're doing stuff after, you know, for two years post grad or you turn 19 and then go do a post grad thing, your clock's going to start, you're going to get four instead of five.
So, you know, I think it's like I said, I think it's the right language to use.
But you know, and I think that it's, I think it's going to pass. If you want my honest answer, you know, we go back, you can go back, listen to the other podcast. I think it's good for Division 2, I think it's good for Division 3. I think that the, you know, the one time transfer they're going to throw in there more than likely is, is a really good thing for, for college sports. So, you know, all in all, I actually think it's, I've come around to the idea that I think that this is a lot better than my first initial reaction in the first couple days of thinking about it that I didn't think that it was the best thing that you could do. But I think that it's going to, again, it's going to raise the floor just like the house settlement did where now we went from 40 to 34. There's less people playing, you know, it's not necessarily going to mean there's less people playing at the Division 1 level, but in recruiting cycles now, my guess is it's going to be seven, eight guys a class unless you're getting gutted by the transfer portal. Right? You know, so you're probably going to be sitting around seven, eight guys class instead of the old eight, nine guys class. You're talking one, two guys, which is still, you know, it's still three between three and 600, possibly a little bit more that are not going to be playing Division 1 baseball. But that's going to raise the floor. But you know, my personal feeling is those guys would be back end roster field guys, right? Those guys are probably not going to be guys that are playing a lot. They're back in roster field guys. They're going to go down, you know, maybe the mid major level or down to Division 2 and so on and so forth. The you'll trickle down economics, if you will.
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[00:11:23] Speaker B: I mean I think that for me and you, we batted this around and we batted around with, with some of the, the guys that we talked to is that it gives a concrete timeline for the age eligibility portion of it, which is, you know, we had some questions on exactly that. Like what if a kid turns 19 in December of the senior year high school. Well, now it's pretty clear his clock starts the following fall.
So I think it's important, I think it takes into account to your point, some of the sports where this is a little bit more prevalent. I know it's a big thing in basketball to do prep years, obviously hockey, which is its own unique thing as you mentioned. So I think it's a good thing that we got some, at least in the short term, some concrete information on like hey, this is what the age, age based eligibility model is going to look like. And I think it's still accomplishing the exact same thing that they're trying to accomplish, which is you're trying to prevent 25 year olds from playing college sports. So I think the most important thing for there's a lot of people who are in limbo with this because there's a lot of this stuff had already been kind of set in motion if you had reclassed as a sophomore or you had planned on taking a prep year and you know, you're a 26 graduate and you'd planned on taking a prep year that that had already been set in motion and there's nothing that those kids could do to fix that. So I think it's the right move by the ncaa.
I don't always agree with what they do, but in this particular case with what they're trying to do with the age based eligibility model, I think firming up this language, taking into account stuff had already been in motion and that there's some sports that you're really putting a major, you're throwing a, you know, stick in the spokes of the tire, if you will, to some of these sports, specifically hockey, you know, top of mind for me. So I think it's a good thing.
I think people can worry a lot less about what it's going to look like until it gets passed, which I do think it's going to pass, as you said. So anything else you want to add there?
[00:13:22] Speaker E: No, sir.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: All right, tune in next week.
[00:13:25] Speaker C: We'll talk to you then.
[00:13:26] Speaker B: Thanks, everybody.
Thank you for listening this week.
[00:13:29] Speaker C: If you're watching on YouTube, go ahead and hit that subscribe button and smash
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[00:13:45] Speaker B: me and Keith do to help families
[00:13:46] Speaker C: and players navigate the recruiting process, go ahead and check us out on emdbaseball.com
[00:13:52] Speaker B: take a few minutes to check out
[00:13:54] Speaker C: our new online academy.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: I promise you'll get some good information out of that. Thanks again for listening. Check in with you next week.
