By JAMES MADDEN
Arkansas head coach John Calipari proposed an idea about how the NCAA could better regulate the current state of its eligibility rules in athletics on the Nothing Personal Podcast with David Samson.
Calipari, who has notoriously had some of the youngest rosters in recent history talked about the decrease in high school recruiting and how most programs only target transfers and players on other rosters. He has produced 35 first-round NBA Draft picks, with 23 lottery picks and three No. 1 overall picks since 2010, most of which were “one-and-done” prospects.
“How about freshmen recruiting? No one’s recruiting freshmen! You know why? Two reasons. Because kids will transfer and they can cherry pick. There were coaches, this summer, not out one time evaluating freshmen,” Calipari said.
Arkansas had the youngest roster in the SEC last season and despite that, made a Sweet Sixteen appearance. Calipari talked about the disparity between his roster and rosters they faced throughout the season.
“How about this? We played against kids that were 27, 28 years old. We had the youngest team in the SEC. So my 18-year-old played against a 26-year-old. So tell me why a 26-year-old is still in college. They’re getting paid and they’re looking like, I can’t make this money the rest of my life,” he said.
The Hall of Famer told Samson his ideas on the best way the NCAA could approach the current difficulties in the landscape of college athletics.
“You could do five to play five. In other words, we’ll give you one more year. You have five, but there are no waivers. If you’re hurt, you gotta leave in five years. If you’re hurt twice, you got to leave,” he said on his favorite way to fix this issue. “Now, here’s the other way you could do it. The old way. Five years, to play four. You have five years. That means you can transfer, you can transfer again and sit out. You get your five years. You could redshirt and play four. You could play, get hurt, play three. You could do it that way. But it’s still five years.”
John Calipari and Arkansas are once again set to have a relatively young roster, with five of his additions being true freshmen. This recruiting class is headlined by a top-five recruit in Darius Acuff Jr.
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