Ever since the 2025-26 season ended and Tom Izzo and Michigan State fell short of the Elite Eight, the fanbase immediately turned its attention toward next season.
The first glaring need that Michigan State had was the center position with Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler leaving but there was talk about the NCAA voting on a five-year eligibility window.
Then rumors of Cooper seeking a fifth year surfaced, but those fizzled out once Anton Bonke committed. That was obviously a long-shot, but Michigan State addressed the position in the transfer portal and Izzo silenced the fanbase’s doubters — even if just for a minute.
Well, the NCAA finally voted to approve the five-year eligibility window on Tuesday afternoon and while Cooper is long gone, it could still open the door for some intriguing possibilities for Michigan State.
According to reports, the NCAA has voted to approve a new age-based five-year eligibility model. This means that the clock will start when a player or recruit turns 19 or when they enroll in college (whichever happens first). Instead of having redshirts, everyone will be allowed to play five years which may not affect football as much as basketball and other sports.
At least at Michigan State, many freshmen automatically get redshirted. They can play up to four games and still maintain that redshirt, but now it sounds like they can play an entire first season and still have four years of eligibility left.
There will be exemptions for pregnancy, the military, or a religious mission but it sounds like this is going to eliminate any case-by-case issues regarding redshirts or eligibility.
This is going to present some interesting possibilities for Michigan State.
How this new rule could affect Michigan State
This new rule is going to affect every program, but it opens up the door for some really intriguing possibilities for Michigan State.
Now that student athletes get five years of eligibility to be completed in a five-year window, Michigan State could get someone like Coen Carr back after the 2026-27 season if he actually wanted to return for a fifth season. I don’t see that happening, but it’s very much possible now considering the rule is going into effect for current student-athletes with eligibility left.
As for the football program, Fitzgerald could use the new rule to his advantage to get a couple of guys back. Rod Bullard Jr. is already lobbying for another year so maybe this helps even though the rule isn’t retroactive, but Jordan Hall could even come back for one more season if he wanted to.
I see him in the NFL next year, however.
This is going to be an intriguing new wrinkle in the NCAA eligibility landscape and it could very much benefit Michigan State which hasn’t had a high basketball turnover rate.
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