LEXINGTON – College football rosters this fall may look like something out of the Avengers.
Generally, it is not difficult to classify what class a college athlete is in. First-year players are freshmen. For the purposes of NCAA eligibility, second-year players are sophomores or redshirt freshmen depending on how many games they played in during their debut season. From there, players make take the typical progression from sophomores to juniors to seniors.
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered that system for the next four years.
Spring sports athletes were granted an extra year of eligibility after the 2020 season was cut short by the start of the pandemic.