Roster Roulette: How Unclear NCAA Rules Are Forcing Coaches to Make Tough Calls

Ohio State had four players enter the transfer portal this month following the conclusion of spring practice, but none of them were scholarship players.

Running back TC Caffey, long snapper Morrow Evans, receiver Reis Stocksdale, and punter Anthony Venneri were all walk-ons for the Buckeyes and all four decided to enter the portal. Generally, if a college football team can make it through the spring transfer portal window without losing scholarship players, it is seen as a win. That doesn’t mean the departed players weren’t losses, however.

In the still-changing rulescape of big-time college football, coaches had to begin operating on the assumption that the 2025 season would usher in a 105-man roster limit as proposed in the House vs. NCAA antitrust settlement. The Buckeyes went into spring ball with a roster of 105, but that didn’t include anybody they added in the transfer portal after spring, nor the five incoming freshmen who are enrolling in June.

The 105-man roster limit was still in flux and not yet approved as the transfer portal opened for 10 days on April 16, which led to some difficult conversations between Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and some of his walk-on players.

“Yeah, it’s tough because you hear about the 105 and you have to have real honest conversations with young men about whether they’ll be guaranteed a spot or not,” Day said this week.

Judge Claudia Wilken has signed off on just about everything in the settlement, which will, among other things, allow schools to directly pay players. One thing that she did not sign off on, however, was the move to a 105-man limit. Programs typically carry between 110-130 players and she couldn’t approve a settlement that would cause harm to some members of the plaintiff’s class.

The judge sent the settlement back to the NCAA with the instructions to grandfather in the existing players or phase in the move to 105 players. Without the NCAA doing this, the settlement will not be approved, which means that the NCAA is going to be doing as the judge wishes in the coming days.

Unfortunately for hundreds of players or more, they have already moved into the portal because they couldn’t be guaranteed a roster spot on a prospective 105-man team.

“We’re having these conversations in real time,” Day said. “What I don’t want to do is look a guy in the eye and say, ‘Sorry, we don’t have a roster spot for you’ right before the season when I haven’t at least had the opportunity for them to get in the portal and check out what their options are. So, we were just being transparent in those situations because these guys, whether they’re a scholarship player or walk-on player, they still put as much work in. So I just felt like that was the right thing to do in a time where we don’t really know for sure how it’s going to shake out.”

None of the four Buckeyes that entered the spring portal have reportedly landed anywhere yet, which means there would likely be room to return once the settlement goes through and the roster limits are widened or removed.

One of the other key pieces of the House case is that once the settlement is approved, there will be no scholarship limits. The limits will instead (eventually) be on roster sizes. Don’t expect programs to put all of their players on scholarship. With the transfer portal being what it is, hoarding doesn’t really exist anymore.

For instance, according to Ryan Day, the Buckeyes are planning to increase their football scholarships from 85 to 90. And if Judge Wilken allows it, they’ll try to operate normally this season.

“It’s difficult when you think it’s going to be 105 and now they’re saying maybe it won’t go to 105, but if it does, we better make sure we can pivot quickly,” Day said. “If the 105 cap isn’t put into play, we’ll operate right around 120, 121 like we’ve been. So, yeah, those are kind of the parameters that we’re working with right now.”

The NCAA’s response is expected any day now, which would then allow the judge to approve a multi-billion dollar settlement in favor of past, present, and future NCAA athletes.

But it was too little, too late for head coaches and the players who weren’t sure if there would be a roster spot for them in the fall.

“Which I know is tough for a lot of those guys who are on the fence, so that’s kind of why we wanted to make sure we were transparent,” Day said. “But this is kind of the way it is in college football right now. You’ve got to be able to adapt quickly and move on the run. The easy thing to do is throw up your hands and get frustrated, but we’ll just adapt and try to communicate well and make sure we have everything we need.”

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