In the sports comedy movie "The Benchwarmers," a 30-something-year-old named Carlos is allowed to play in a big Little League game after bribing the umpire. Maybe it was a real social commentary on youth sports? Adults who leverage a biological advantage by way of being a few years older than their peers often comes off as cowardly, and picking on those who're inferior due to an age gap.
With this in mind, the NCAA's decision to grant Cam McCormick a whopping ninth year of college football eligibility at the University of Miami on Thursday (a ninth year!) was a massive mistake that continued to blur that increasingly shady line of amateurism in the game.
It's irrelevant that McCormick's endured three season-ending injuries at the college level. The reality of the situation is, a 25-year-old shouldn't still be in college for any reason -- period. Allowing and promoting adult participation not only provides a competitive disadvantage, but it threatens the safety of much younger players they're competing against, who aren't as biologically developed yet.
Ruling that the 2020 COVID-impacted season wouldn't impact eligibility was the correct move because it ensured that student-athletes wouldn't have to worry about a four or five-year career ending prematurely. It was intended to help those who wanted to capitalize on maximizing normal eligibility. Instead, the policy has led to a number of sticky situations like McCormick's at Miami. The combination of a redshirt year and a medical exemption -- in some cases, several medical exemptions -- have enabled some to overstay their welcome.
It's not like McCormick, who actually turns 26 in April, is some type of ringer like Carlos from "The Benchwarmers," either. With just 231 receiving yards in five seasons of play, he's likely reached his ceiling. Maybe a standout 2024 season could help his pro football prospects, but with his best year coming six seasons ago, McCormick hasn't demonstrated any massive progression, or torn it up at all. Maybe another argument could be made for two seventh-year seniors returning to Utah, Cam Rising and Brant Kuithe, who've actually performed at a high level and could use an extra showcase.
Kuithe's a three-time All-Pac-12 second-teamer, and Rising earned All-Pac-12 honors in 2022, a year in which he led Utah to a Rose Bowl berth. Both guys understandably need to make one more impression on NFL scouts and front offices in order to be drafted. But, in principle, it's still unfair that a pair of 24-year-olds are allowed to play college ball. Because the situation is a result of the cookie crumbling in a strange way, Kuithe and Rising could be viewed as exceptions to the notion student-athletes shouldn't compete past five years.
Yes, seven years is already too much. But every rule comes with an asterisk, and these guys are the anomaly. Once the wave of kids who decided not to use the COVID season against their eligibility passes, we won't see as many adults in their mid-20s still playing college ball. This doesn't mean the NCAA shouldn't step in to add age limits. Every condition that promotes stretching of the rules only increases the chance of people trying to push boundaries even more, which is what led to McCormick being granted a ninth season.
With college football more businesslike than ever before, no one's pretending this is intramurals, or a game of backyard flag football before dark. As long as the word "college" is before "football," it should limit its participants to those college-aged, while banning those who've transitioned from adolescence to adulthood.
Leniency, coupled with loose interpretation and inconsistent enforcement of rules, is what allows some super-seniors to stick around for as long as they'd like, while unfairly preventing the transfers from playing at all. Similar to most NCAA rules, uniformity in procedures has been absent from the equation.
McCormick plans on using his time at Miami to "further my knowledge in the business field," while hoping to "learn more about certain areas that can help me in the future." If he hasn't already accomplished that in his seven years of school, some sort of investigation needs to be conducted. Considering he's already earned and received bachelor's and masters degrees, he's practically closer to being a professor than a student. Yet, somehow, someway, this guy will be competing against schools while also continuing his education?
Some middle-aged men ignore aging by hanging out at the college hotspots or wearing younger-people clothing to fit in. Comparatively speaking, those methods of attempting to prolong youth are still much more acceptable than pretending that grown men are still kids so that they can play college football. Glorifying the once maligned victory lap, and allowing some student-athletes to stay in college for as long as they'd like, heavily threatens the integrity of what's supposed to be a game played exclusively by, well, college kids.