The policy in brief
What this part would establish
- From training camp through the national championship, there is no general portal-entry window or formal signing period.
- Formal FBS-to-FBS head-coach movement begins after the championship.
- A common post-title opening prevents eliminated teams from receiving weeks of roster-shopping advantage over finalists.
- Hardship, discontinued-program, financial-aid, and legally required exceptions remain available.
- A short supplemental movement window follows spring practice for defined corrections and exceptions.
- Requesting an NFL advisory grade, meeting with certified representatives, or exploring the draft does not by itself end college eligibility.
- A published withdrawal deadline preserves a return option; final professional commitment ends college eligibility under one national rule.
- NFL declaration, portal, roster-certification, and championship dates are synchronized so an athlete is never forced to choose because two systems failed to coordinate.
How it works
The hard season-protection rule
The roster is generally frozen during the competitive season. Coaches can be evaluated and interviewed under controlled rules, but a head coach cannot begin formal work or recruiting for another FBS program while championship football is still being played.
The proposed roster season
The coaching market opens the day after the title. A roughly 14-day portal-entry window follows in late January, with transfer visits through early February, one high-school signing period, and a roster-management commitment deadline. Spring practice begins after a mandatory football shutdown; a seven-day supplemental portal follows in early May.
A calmer high-school rhythm
Evaluation and relationship-building occur in spring, official visits and camps concentrate in June, and July includes a meaningful dead period. Campus visits can continue during the season, but the period from the Monday before Rivalry Week through the national title becomes a recruiting dead period. Verbal commitments remain possible; formal signing waits.
The wider player and staff framework
The proposal calls for transparent player agreements, registered agents, tampering enforcement, legitimate multiyear terms where lawful, a five-to-play-four eligibility baseline, one studied roster limit, and a staff rule that reflects who actually instructs players. Employment, antitrust, bargaining, and state-law questions cannot be solved by competition rules alone.
One Clean Doorway to professional football
Exploration remains reversible through a fixed national withdrawal date. Finality begins only at an objective professional commitment point—such as signing an NFL player contract, accepting NFL regular-season practice or roster compensation, or participating in an NFL regular-season game. Draft selection alone does not create an artificial no-return rule for an unsigned player. A narrow written appeal covers administrative error and extraordinary hardship, not performance regret.
Safeguards
What keeps the rule honest
- Emergency and hardship relief includes clear deadlines, written reasons, and an appeal path.
- Athlete representation is substantive wherever movement, workload, contract, or compensation rules are set.
- No calendar provision takes effect without legal, labor, academic, and welfare review.
- Medical, biometric, contract, and representation information moves between systems only with informed athlete consent and defined retention limits.
Still to resolve
Questions testing must answer
- Can a uniform national freeze be implemented lawfully without collective bargaining or statutory protection?
- Is fourteen days enough for informed movement without creating rushed decisions?
- How should graduate transfers, coaching dismissals, aid changes, and program discontinuations be handled?
- Which transition rules require collective bargaining, federal or state legislation, or amendments to NFL and NCAA agreements?
Discuss this rule
The proposal ends.
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