Age-based eligibility comes as a benefit to Bemidji State coaches, true freshmen

Aug. 14—BEMIDJI — Brent Bolte has an old-school approach. The Bemidji State football team's head coach is entering his 11th year at the helm as the program crosses the century mark. He's been a Beaver since he was hired as an assistant in 2000, helping guide the program to new postseason heights over the last five years. If Bolte had it his way, college sports would look similar to when he first started, before the idea of the transfer portal was conceived and most football players stayed on campus for five seasons. But he knows his pleas for the days of old are likely to always fall on deaf ears. Instead, college athletics is firmly in its player-empowerment era. Student-athletes have more control over where they play, how long they play for and how much money they can garner through their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) avenues. "I could sit here for a week talking about what I agree and disagree with," Bolte said with a laugh after Wednesday morning's BSU training camp practice at Chet Anderson Stadium. One thing he agrees with is the new implementation of the age-based eligibility model, adopted by Division II on Aug. 5. The Division I Cabinet unanimously approved an overhaul to the NCAA's eligibility rules on June 23, permitting student-athletes up to five years of eligibility if they enroll in their respective institution no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday. It's a rule change that eliminates season-of-competition limits, redshirts, the old delayed-enrollment rule and eligibility extension waivers. Less than two months later, Division II followed suit. It's a change that comes with ripple effects across all sports, though some are bigger than others. In men's hockey, the average age of first-year players is 20.3 years old, due to delayed enrollment. With age-based eligibility eliminating delayed enrollment, more recruits could enter college hockey younger than they would've. On the surface, the timeline for college football players didn't change. Most recruits redshirt their true freshman season, then exhaust their four remaining years of eligibility. That five-year window is still in place. Even though the eligibility structure around college football stayed consistent, the elimination of redshirts could be one of the most sizable shifts the sport has seen. "We're talking about 18-year-old kids compared to 22-year-old men, so they have to be pretty dynamic (to play right away)," Bolte said. "But I bet by mid-season, you'll see more of those kids pushing through their depths. Some of them will be because of injuries, but they're still opportunities. Certainly, it helps for special teams." In the past, unless a true freshman proved they could play at the collegiate level right away, their first seasons almost always saw little to no game action. Even in the later weeks of the season, when some of those players were capable of earning snaps, they were still limited to three or fewer games to keep their redshirt. "When you look back a couple of years, when we made the quarterfinals, we were very specific on who we were playing," Bolte said. "I think of guys like Ray Saffold and (Tavon) Rice. Those guys stick out in my mind because we needed them for special teams. It's a war of attrition at that point to have enough guys to go play. Do you burn them early? Do you burn them late? I've had a lot of conversations with coaches about how this rule makes that easier. The best guys can just go play." Amid the Beavers' rise to the upper echelon of the NSIC, their flexibility through redshirts played a key role. Brandon Alt, one of the program's all-time quarterbacks, used two redshirts and the extra year granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic to play for BSU for seven years. "Yes, they are taking away the medical redshirts, so if a kid gets banged up and misses a season, it's a bummer, especially if you're going into your senior year," Bolte said. "In the overall broad scope of the rule, it should make it easier on compliance and the NCAA. But, man, for those kids who work hard, take over a role when they're a senior and then get hurt, it's tough that they won't have the opportunity to come back. "If we all do it and play by those rules, there's not a lot to complain about, to be honest. It's something everyone has to deal with." The age-based eligibility model is in effect for the 2026-27 season for all Division I and II sports. For student-athletes who were previously enrolled, they fall under either the old or the new model, whichever one grants them more eligibility. The age-based eligibility model does offer exceptions for military service, religious missions, similar service commitments and pregnancy. With more opportunity for true freshmen to find the field, Bolte anticipates incoming players will be on campus earlier in the summer. "A lot of it isn't physical, but more social," Bolte said. "It's understanding college life and being away from mom and dad. You have to be careful you don't overwhelm them, and they end up sacrificing their academics or development. They have to be able to handle the load mentally. Some kids are very mature and come from a unique background. Some kids are not, and then we have to break some habits. I do think you're going to see that competitiveness from the freshmen coming in against the guys on the bubble." The NSIC also expanded travel rosters from 58 to 66 players during the regular season. The number goes back down for any NCAA Super Region playoff tournament. "For us, 58 guys was hard," Bolte said. "You have your two-deep (depth chart), plus eight to 10 guys for special teams. Now, we can travel a whole other grouping of special teams guys, which may include those freshmen or guys who wouldn't travel as much. It's awesome from the development standpoint. It's fun for the kids to come in and compete. They have that carrot sitting there if they're good enough to go get it." There's still plenty of aspects in this era of college athletics that rub Bolte the wrong way. He's growing tired of the behind-the-scenes tampering. He coaches at a school that can't compete financially with programs in the division above him. Even though he sees age-based eligibility is a step in the right direction, he believes there's work to be done. "My belief in college athletics is being torn down by decisions," Bolte said. "It's not a developmental mindset anymore. There's not a ton of Iowas or Bemidji States that will keep kids for five years and develop. The kids get torn the other way. It's a circus, and it's frustrating when you lose kids, but Eli Coenen is making a lot of money at Michigan State right now. There are other guys who have gone and done it. For every kid it works out for, how many go play and end up spending thousands of dollars and don't end up getting their education? "That's the part that bums me out. It's hard for a student-athlete to look at that perspective. But we're going to keep things the same here. If guys make that decision to go in the portal, so be it. Our mindset will still be to develop, develop, develop within the structure we got."