College football players in Kentucky and across the country are getting older

Due to a 2020 NCAA ruling that gave an extra year of eligibility to all college athletes, many college football teams have some older players on the field this year, and Morehead State is no exception. The decision to give the athletes another year to compete was made mostly because of the shortened 2020 season, which was during the height of the COVID pandemic.

Some college athletes across the country are entering their 5^th, 6^th, or even 7^th season of eligibility. The Eagles currently have 14 seniors, five red-shirt seniors, and two graduate students on their roster. Officials at Morehead State said the addition of more seasoned players can prove beneficial.

Kelly Wells is the Athletic Director at MSU. He said these older players can provide a wealth of leadership and maturity to the team. He added while the Eagles may be senior heavy, they remain balanced.

“We’ll have 5^th year seniors, who are working on grad work. We’ll have four-year seniors who are finishing completing their undergrad. And then we mix in the transfers, the junior college transfers, and then our newcomers that are freshmen. So, we’ve done a great job in the program of trying to get a good variety of those classes,” said Wells.

He said the extra year has caused some athletes to look at transferring to another institution if they have eligibility left after finishing their undergrad.

“I think this will be probably the final verge of that at the end of this academic year. We’ll be moving towards the COVID exemptions will be gone now. But we're still dealing with a lot of those currently and it has impacted us both in a good way and a transfer way. So, the kid that graduates as undergrad is free to go to a different grad school of their choice if they offer something different then what we have it Morehead,” Wells said.

Wells said keeping players for multiple seasons can be difficult for some schools because of the lengthened eligibility and the transfer portal. However, Morehead has several players with multiple seasons on the Eagles’ roster. Wells attributes this to the close relationships between players, coaches, school, and the community at Morehead.