Football rosters—Are they too big or too small?

[Robert Gilbert]

Before I start let me state that I have no idea what is best for college football. I am no expert but I have been watching college sports, especially UT, since 1967 or so. I know some schools have talked about cutting sports or office personnel in order to find the cash to pay payers. I like alot of the changes in college sports but not all. NIL and the portal are great but I do believe that some restrictions are necessary. For example, a player cannot transfer to an upcoming opponent of his current team. 

I was flipping around on YouTube and saw OB’s show and watched a few minutes. Before I continue, I know Ketch has a checkered reputation both on OTF and IT. To some extent it is deserved, possibly to a large extent. However, he sited some numbers that got me to thinking about roster sizes. He stated that in 2023 (including UT and OU) that the SEC averaged playing 58 players a game out of rosters that averaged around 120 players (including walk ons). Of course the participation numbers were inflated due to playing 3rd stringers or walk ons during a blowout. So my thought is this, ‘If roughly 60 players, on average, are not playing every game, are 85 scholarship players and around 30 walk ons really necessary’? I am by no means opposed to those numbers or advocating cutting roster sizes, I am interested in what the board thinks. 

 

 

[gus fleener]

There seems to be a lot of noise these days about reducing roster size and potentially the number of scholarships. Maybe we don't need 85 scholarships per team and maybe we don't need 128 players total per team. But we definitely need more than just those who play regularly. We need to be able to develop younger players and they need to be on scholarship.

Preferred walk-ons are valuable as well. (See Bert Auburn, Michael Taaffe & Isaiah Coleman.)

Some recruits are 3-year players. They come in as freshmen and compete for playing time, develop rather quickly and then they're gone after their third season. (See Bijan Robinson, Byron Murphy & Xavier Worthy.)

Other players need time to develop and will stick around for 4 or 5 years. (I'm assuming this COVID nonsense with 6, 7 and even 8-year players will soon be done.) (See T'Vondre Sweat & Christian Jones.)

In my opinion, a large reduction in roster size and scholarships would be unwise. It seems to me that reducing these numbers would lead to the haves raiding the portal and taking from the have nots even more than they are now. (I say this fully understanding that Texas is likely the biggest of the haves.)

If scholarships must be reduced, they shouldn't fall below 80 in my opinion. As for roster size, limiting teams to 100 players seems reasonable. You just have to remember this is football. Injuries occur. Development needs to happen. Not everyone is ready to play right away.