The SEC is keeping a limit of 85 scholarships for football, the league announced Thursday.
The ongoing House vs. NCAA lawsuit settlement has teams preparing for the effects that the settlement will bring. While the limit will stay the same as in the past years, the settlement is expected to regulate and set roster sizes for football programs. It will also affect how scholarships are dealt with in the coming years.
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Most SEC teams have 105 players on its team, and because programs can only give 85 scholarships, they fill the rest of their roster with 20 spots with walk-on players. However, the $2.8 billion settlement is expected to make changes to those numbers.
The settlement is expected to extend scholarship offerings to 105 players, thus, doing away with walk-ons. SEC teams will face a lot of changes and players will also need to adapt as they consider NIL deals, entering the transfer portal and committing to schools.
The league says, “As football coaches recruit now to build rosters for the 2025 season, it was important to provide them with parameters to manage this interim period as we await a final ruling on the House settlement which would address how scholarships are managed going forward,” according to Yahoo Sports.
The House settlement has received preliminary approval, but a hearing to finalize the deal is not until April 7, 2025. If it is approved, the results of the settlement will most likely go into effect for the next season.