NC State roster allowed to remain at 125 thanks to House settlement exception
The world of college athletics remains in flux, but there is a little bit of stability — at least for the time being — and N.C. State head coach Dave Doeren is relieved.
One of Doeren’s biggest concerns last season came down to roster sizes.
Doeren said the Wolfpack is operating as if it’ll be a 125-man roster, with everyone participating in winter conditioning and spring workouts. When the final number is officially announced, the program will handle that accordingly. He compared it to the NFL; walk-ons will compete for the final roster spots.
The House v. NCAA settlement set the Division I football roster sizes at 105 players. A clause, however, allows all teams to keep “designated student-athletes” already on a team who might’ve otherwise been cut due to the new rules and honor their remaining eligibility.
N.C. State football has accepted the opportunity to retain its walk-ons, meaning the roster will remain at 125 this season. Doeren is thankful he doesn’t have to cut anybody.
“It’s good to have some clarity, finally,” Doeren said on Thursday at ACC Kickoff. “This case was hanging over our heads for a long time. The grandfather thing that the judge did was a good thing. It’s nice to retain our walk-ons and have a roster that is at 125 players. I think that’s the right thing for college football. Player safety is supposed to matter. When you shrink the roster, you’re basically saying that doesn’t matter. I’m glad that the judge understood that.”
In November, Doeren said coaches looked forward to knowing what the final number would be and could recruit players and plan with confidence.
“Sometimes these decisions at the last minute get tabled,” Doeren said in November. “The last thing you want to do is run off your walk-ons, cut them all, and then find out you’re going to be able to be at 125 again, and [officials] are going to wait a year.”
More than 40 walk-on players have received scholarships during Doeren’s tenure, including recent Wolfpack standouts Drake Thomas, Thayer Thomas and Trenton Gill. All three players earned spots on NFL rosters.
Doeren called the walk-ons an integral part of the N.C. State program.
Brandon Cleveland, Caden Fordham and Justin Joly — three players who attended the preseason media event — said no one views the walk-on players as less valuable. They’re all viewed as equal teammates and brothers.
“They work out every day with us. They push us. We all compete,” Fordham said. “I mean, some of our walk-ons are our hardest competitors. It’s awesome to see that those guys are able to stay and play with us.”
Doeren said he doesn’t think anything is final and additional changes will likely come. He hopes walk-ons will be part of the ongoing changes.
“We’re in an evolving state. College football, college athletics, you think you know what’s going on and the next day, ‘What just happened?’” Doeren said. “You’ve just gotta bend your knees, find a way to be flexible and not get caught up in the planning that happens. It doesn’t really fix anything.”
Doeren responds to injury reporting rule
The ACC made another change this season by implementing an injury reporting system. It requires teams to disclose before each conference game which student-athletes will be available to play.
Players can be listed for any reason, including injury, illness, personal matter or eligibility issue. Football coaches will submit their reports two days before each conference game, one day before and on game day.
Teams must designate players as available, game time decision or out.
“I’m not in favor of it, but it doesn’t matter. We’ve had them before,” Doeren said. “The reason I’m not in favor, but I think the coaches don’t tell the truth on them anyway. We don’t want to put our players’ injuries out there.”
The policy is reportedly designed to prevent sports bettors from contacting student-athletes for information. It is also designed to stop people who might sell player availability information for betting purposes.
Doeren said he doesn’t want anyone to know if a player has an ankle or knee injury and have a coach tell his player to “go lower on them.” The policy, however, reportedly does not require a reason for a players’ unavailability.
“I’m trying to protect my guys. I’m not trying to help bettors, and that’s what that stuff’s all about,” Doeren said. “To me, I don’t get it, but they made that decision so that’s what we’re doing.”
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, however, said on Tuesday the policy is based on safety and that it’s the right thing to do.
“Coaches are hard to change, but when we told them that we were doing it, no one said anything on the call,” Phillips said. “I don’t know what that meant, other than they were accepting it. … I understand, and every coach has to do what they have to do in order to get their team ready, and there’s always gamesmanship, always. That’s been around for a hundred years, and it’s going to continue, but it’s the right thing.”
