I wonder what the stats are on true freshmen coming in to any division one program and starting or even playing half the season...anywhere. I'd really like to see how many incoming freshmen redshirt and of the ones that burn their redshirt, how many minutes/game do they actually play? Maybe they ought to go back to the rule that prohibited freshmen from playing in their first year...it probably wouldn't affect many players at all. That way the NCAA could allow more scholarships/year. They could have an 85 limit for upperclassmen...and 25 limit for freshmen....and allow 5-10 of those freshmen to play varsity to cover any need that arises due to positional shortages or injuries, etc. Making true freshmen, that are not early enrollees, count against the team totals doesn't make sense if they don't actually get to play much. This might alleviate the situations like Porter's. Bottom line is this: if the NCAA is really interested in student athletes it should allow more of them to be on scholarship. I haven't put much thought into this...any ideas out there.
I wouldn't go as far as to going back to the old days where freshman couldn't contribute but you are right about the NCAA making rules supposedly to help student athletes but in turn throwing many of them into burdensome and life changing situations.
Don't know about it being "unwritten", but it would be pretty crappy from a personal standpoint if they just yanked a scholly from a player that was injured playing football for you. A highschool teammate of mine was on a football scholarship at LSU. Was an o-lineman. Had taken too many concussions and was advised to not play by the team physicians. DiNardo honored his scholarship.
