Florida fans had a lot of fun on Sunday, making fun of Alabama and their attempts to skirt around NCAA eligibility rules when the Crimson Tide played a literal professional player thanks to a judge from Alabama. It didn’t matter as Florida eviscerated Alabama.
But while the confusion in basketball in terms of who is eligible and who is not is at an all-time high, football also has its fair share of confusion as players all over the country keep trying to gain extra eligibility.
At his press conference on Wednesday, Florida head coach Jon Sumrall opted to lean into the insanity with a quip about seeing if an all-time Gator legend had any eligibility left.
Jon Sumrall jokes about bringing Tim Tebow back
Sumrall was asked about whether the possibility of an NFL player one day coming back and playing college football feels real, and whether he himself has to prepare himself for that being a possibility:
“I wasn't planning on sharing this today, but we're going to file a temporary restraining order and see if Tim Tebow can play short yards and goal line quarterback.
So I don't know what the hell is going on with all that. I don't understand it. I'm not smart enough to figure it out. I'm not going to make any statements that's going to be bulletin board other than Tebow probably here because I'm not smart enough to understand all this legal stuff.
To me, you're either in college or you're a pro. Which one are you? You know, I don't know. But I don't understand all of it. We've gotten to where you can appeal for a JUCO year, a COVID year, a sixth year, a ninth year. How many years? The model has been five years to play four.
The conversation around some people with five for five, I don't think it is going very far because of litigation. I don't know all that stuff. I don't understand all of it. We're going to coach who they let us coach and recruit who they let us recruit.
But the problem is that it's such a moving target that you don't know who's allowed to play. And the rule may change tonight or tomorrow or whatever. And so I don't know. But, yeah, we'll see if Tebow gets his year I want back.”
New age of college football
Sumrall jokes, but his jokes aren’t far off from the potential new reality of college athletics.
The entire controversy with Charles Bediako goes beyond the fact that he left Alabama after two years and spent two and a half years in the G League; it’s the fact that if he had just stayed at Alabama and played for the Crimson Tide, he would have been out of eligibility anyway, coming into this season.
If Bediako winds up getting cleared for good, what is to stop a player from leaving college football after three years, participating on an NFL practice squad, and then coming back to college when it’s clear he isn’t good enough for the NFL?
Likewise, the UFL is a thing. What is to stop someone from playing multiple seasons in the UFL, then coming back?
Yes, Tebow played four years, and so in theory, he should be out of eligibility either way.
But in the newly made-up world of college athletics, who knows what is and isn’t against the rules anymore?