2022-2023 Division 1 Various by-laws have been amended to make significant changes affecting the wrestling season. Read below to see an explanation of how this affects college wrestling.
True Freshman-Competitive, Red Shirt Remains Unharmed
The biggest changes next year will affect true freshmen. These first grade student athletes are allowed to participate in five competitions throughout the year and are still eligible to wear red shirts. Conference tournaments and NCAA tournaments do not apply to this exception, but this will make major changes to dual meet and tournaments. For example, Pennsylvania State University may have wrestled with Alex Fakund last season. Alternatively, Iowa could march Patrick Kennedy with up to five dual meets and leave the red shirt in place.
In particular, this only applies to true freshmen. If a wrestler uses his qualifications as a true freshman, he is not allowed to use a red shirt for the same season as the “Five Free Dates” later in his college career. It is also important to note that you must maintain a 2.0 GPA or higher to qualify for competition.
No true freshmen unconnected First semester
Also, as it affects true freshmen, first semester student athletes may not compete “independent” in open tournaments. This means that if a true freshman competes in an open tournament in November or December, he must be in college and compete and “burn” one of the five competition days. This rule may have been introduced to help student athletes adapt to their first year of college by limiting the number of competitions.
20% minimum scholarship
Although less important than the above amendments, all scholarship athletes are required to cover at least 20% of all scholarships, starting with freshmen in the 2023-2024 semester. The Division 1 program is still limited to a total of 9.9 scholarships, and you need to manage the lowest scholarship percentage, along with a tight scholarship budget.
However, there are exceptions to this rule. Coaches can offer less than 20% student athlete scholarships to junior qualified athletes who have never received a sports scholarship in the past.
Summary of important articles of association changes:
- True freshmen can participate in competitions for up to 5 days without using a one-year qualification.
- There is no independent competition during the first semester for true freshmen
- We can offer a minimum of 20% for scholarship athletes and less than 20% for juniors who have never received a scholarship before.
- Minimum GPA of eligibility must be 2.0
