SEC coaches on why they want higher roster limits and to keep walk-ons

DESTIN, Fla. — This is how concerned SEC football coaches are about pending roster limits: They risked the wrath of Paul Finebaum.

Finebaum, broadcasting his SEC Network show live from the beachside Hilton, booked Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian, Kalen DeBoer and Billy Napier for Tuesday afternoon. Then they had to cancel when the coaches’ meeting ran long.

“I just think we got backed up. Took a lot of time discussing roster numbers,” Lane Kiffin said.

Right now, football teams can have more than 120 players, with an 85-scholarship limit. But scholarship limits are being eliminated as part of the NCAA vs. House case settlement, and roster limits are coming as a cost-cutting measure. But what exactly that number will be is uncertain, with 85 not being ruled out, which would mean the virtual end of walk-ons.

Coaches interviewed before their meeting were divided: Some hated the idea, and some hated it even more.

“We’re going to expand the length of the season, we’re going to play more games, but we’re going to have a smaller roster?” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said.

“I’m strongly against it. I think it’s absolutely against what college football stands for, what it’s about,” said Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko, citing legacy athletes not being able to play as walk-ons. “It’s something that’s really bad for the sport.”

Lane Kiffin is entering his fifth season as Ole Miss’ coach. (Seth Emerson / The Athletic)

Georgia’s Kirby Smart had a walk-on, Stetson Bennett, go on to become his starting quarterback and win back-to-back national championships. Smart cited examples of walk-ons who went on to become coaches: Dabo Swinney and Will Muschamp.

“I think it hurts high school football, and football as a whole, when kids can’t keep dreaming about what they might be able to do if they don’t get a (scholarship) opportunity,” Smart said.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey discussed all this with the coaches during the meeting. He termed it “pretty thoughtful.”

“My recommendation to them was to think about the why. Let’s think about the why first. And that usually guides you to the what,” Sankey said. “I stayed longer than I anticipated.”

It’s not clear whether roster limits will be decided on a conference level or NCAA-wide. The House v. NCAA lawyers said in their statement that scholarship limits would be eliminated but didn’t say anything about roster limits. Sankey indicated that’s a part of the settlement still to be finalized.

“It’s not done,” Sankey said.

But some limit is coming.

“The times they are a changing,” Sankey said.

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Texas coach Sarkisian, whose son is a walk-on with the Longhorns, at first took a practical view: “Through it all, we have to adapt. … At the end, if that’s the number, that’s the number.” But as he talked more, it was clear he had concerns, echoing the other coaches that walk-ons help make college football special.

“I’m hopeful we can find a common ground on something that is a reasonable number,” Sarkisian said. “I’m not opposed to change. Change is going to happen. But hopefully, we can find a reasonable number where we still feel like we can operate at a high level as coaches and for our players and still continue that tradition of walk-on football players on our teams.”

NFL rosters are set at 53 during the season, but the league’s teams can sign new players throughout the season. The colleges don’t have that luxury: Once the semester starts, their rosters are set. A rash of injuries could cut into a roster, without the ability to add reinforcements.

“We can’t just add players at any time. That’s an issue,” Venables said. “I just hope we get to a spot that allows the game to continue to grow and not diminish the quality of the game, and the play, because that can be the carnage of not getting that number right.”

The coaches also expressed concern that smaller rosters would hurt development. Coaches like to have players they know won’t play but put on the scout team so they can learn and grow.

There’s also the time element. NFL teams have more time with their players because that’s their job. It may unofficially be a job at the college level — this story is about roster limits, not employment — but officially, the players still have classes to attend, and practice time is limited.

“I know that there’s a cost, that the more guys you’ve got on the roster there’s a cost, and somewhere somebody’s got to balance the books,” Venables said. “But I don’t want it to hurt the game and development because college isn’t like the NFL when it comes to development. These are young guys that are still growing and maturing.”

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Could the players grow and mature at other programs? Sure. Could a lower roster limit spread the talent around to more programs? That may be part of the idea. But even the smaller programs like bigger rosters, as Alabama’s DeBoer pointed out. He started his head coaching career at the NAIA level and spent a lot of time at the Group of 5 level.

At smaller colleges, his roster was as low as 105 and as high as 135. He operated with 120 last year at Washington but will have a few more than that at Alabama.

“People say, ‘Well, there’s only 11 on the field at a time,’” DeBoer said. “There’s a lot that goes into development. There’s a lot that goes into putting together a practice that’s efficient. There’s a health and safety piece, for sure, that comes into play when it comes to roster size.”

DeBoer was asked if teams can operate safely and effectively at 85. He paused before answering.

“There’s obviously always a way. You can ask me any question, and I’m always going to come up there (and say) there’s always a way to get it done,” DeBoer said. “Would it be a much different look than what we probably do as far as coaches and executing our practice plans? Absolutely. But I guess I’ve always been one to adjust with the times, and you always do what you have to do.”

(Top photo of Kirby Smart: Seth Emerson / The Athletic)