Ever since COVID turned the world of college football upside down in 2020, things have become extremely difficult for high school seniors to find their collegiate landing spots. Now it’s even worse.
Just ask Dr. Phillips senior linebacker Maurice Jones Jr.
With the NCAA trying to bring things in line after the House vs. NCAA revenue-sharing settlement went into effect, things have changed even more drastically.
The NCAA ushered in many more changes this year. With an overall limit of available scholarships per team being increased to 105, one might think that would improve the chances for high school seniors to gain offers. That, however, is not necessarily the case.
The scholarship limit has increased from 85 to 105, but rosters have also been capped at 105, including walk-on players. So, teams will no longer be able to carry an infinite number of walk-ons, and will have to develop strategies on how to maintain their rosters.
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Schools are also bracing for the fallout from a current class-action suit challenging the redshirt rules, as well as other suits, challenging the eligibility of junior college transfers. A ruling allowing Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia to play this season provided his sixth year of college football.
The NCAA is mulling the idea of scrapping the redshirt plan and opting for a new window of five years to complete a student-athlete’s eligibility. The current model gives a player five years to complete four years of eligibility. The new plan would essentially allow for five years of eligibility.
What it means is that we could begin seeing more 28- and 29-year-old seniors.
Mississippi State has overhauled its entire strategy and let several committed high school seniors know last week that they no longer have scholarship offers available.
That meant players like Jones, who committed to Mississippi State on June 16, are left scrambling. Tuesday marked 50 days until the Dec. 3 early signing day for 2026 seniors.
Jones reinjured a torn labrum he suffered earlier this season during Friday night’s win at East Ridge and may not play again this season. He is now looking for a new college home.
To his credit, Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby, formerly an offensive coordinator for Scott Frost during his first go at UCF, personally made the phone calls to those committed recruits to give them the bad news.
“Over the phone, he was telling me he had to pull the scholarship due to NCAA rules,” Jones Jr. said. “New rules. … for like seniors that redshirt, they’ll be given their years back, so that gives the prospects in high school less scholarships to give out.”
It’s definitely confusing. On the surface, it would appear there are more scholarships available, but schools must decide how many they opt to give to high school prospects. Since the COVID-forced rules changes ushered in the transfer era, colleges have begun handing out scholarships to seasoned college transfers instead of young high school talent.
More scholarships to give may just mean more transfers. Another problem is the change in the transfer window. There will only be one window for 2026, whereas in the past there were two. The new window does not open until January, which means schools may sign fewer high school seniors during the December early period because they have no idea what transfers they will be losing in January.
The late National Signing Day is Feb. 4.
“I was committed for about five months, so it felt bad,” Jones said. But he said he does have offers from other schools to fall back on. “The No. 1 thing I care about is getting to college. So making sure I get there and taking care of myself until I get there, is all that matters, really.
“Recruiting has slowly been getting back active.”
On top of the scholarship problem, Jones has to deal with his injury.
“I’ve just been staying with God,” he said. “It’s frustrating, but I know God’s got me.”
Tohopekaliga senior quarterback Sabby Meassick is now the state’s career leader in pass attempts and pass completions, and he still has at least three games remaining in high school. (Chris Hays/Orlando Sentinel)
Sabby Meassick tops all-time charts
Tohopekaliga senior quarterback Sabby Meassick broke two state passing records on Friday night during Toho’s 42-8 victory against The Master’s Academy. Meassick eclipsed marks for career pass completions and pass attempts, numbers that were previously held by another player coached by Meassick’s head coach, Anthony Paradiso.
Former Lake Nona quarterback Tucker Israel (2011-14) set the records with 1,008 completions and 1,584 attempts based on stats posted on MaxPreps.
Meassick completed 28 of 52 attempts vs. Master’s to increase his five-year totals to 1,034 and 1,628. That includes his eighth-grade varsity season at Foundation Academy. Tohopekaliga (4-3) still has three regular-season games remaining and could qualify for postseason play.
Junior athlete Bryce Norflee has scored 24 touchdowns this season for undefeated Umatilla (8-0). (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Umatilla turnaround
Undefeated Umatilla, which opted into the Sunshine State Athletic Association last season, is seeing the benefits of joining competition more in line with its program. The Bulldogs had only one winning season in nine years before making the switch, and went 6-5 a year ago, including a bowl-game loss to Space Coast.
This year the Bulldogs are the bully. Umatilla is 8-0 and winning games by an average margin of 43 points. That includes a 71-0 shellacking of Lake Alfred’s Discovery Academy last week.
“It’s been amazing,” said third-year Umatilla coach Eric Samuels, a former Bulldogs star. “The guys have been preparing well and executing well on Friday nights. The community is behind us and Friday nights have been electric here at Bulldog Stadium.”
The move to the SSAA has been instrumental.
“I feel like it was huge in building that confidence in our guys and competing with teams to our caliber until we learn how to win, learn how to go out there and perform the way that we can,” Samuels said.
The key components have been junior athlete Bryce Norflee and senior quarterback Ray Jenkins. Norflee has scored 24 touchdowns. Jenkins is completing 61% of his passes for 1,493 yards and 28 TD passes.
Samuels also pointed out the play of junior linebacker Isaiah Brown, the leading tackler with 78 stops; senior defensive tackle Kevin Hatcher, 53 tackles; and a pair of “glue guys” in senior running back/defensive back Nate Hawkins and senior Tyler Pounders, who kicks and plays receiver and defensive back. The Bulldogs have sophomore Micah Lambert as their leading rusher.
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.
