After years with a lack of clarity and consistency for eligibility, the NCAA is inching toward adopting a model that would significantly change how eligibility works. The potential new model focuses on age, and would remove redshirts. Each student-athlete would have five years of eligibility that begins the academic year after they turn 19 or graduate high school, whichever happens first. NCAA president Charlie Baker told ESPN he is "pretty optimistic" that the rule will pass in the near future. However, Baker also said that the new rules would not be retroactive — players who have already exhausted their eligibility, or are set to at the end of the spring 2026 term would not earn any additional eligibility. Missouri Director of Athletics Laird Veatch believes the model would begin provide some stabilization to a question that has been the focus of several lawsuits and rule changes over recent years.…