Welcome to College Football Free Agency.

Two more athletes have decided to leave The Auburn Football program. Frankly, this writer is not surprised. This is exactly what I expected to happen when the NCAA instituted a new transfer rule last summer.

Auburn receiver Nate Craig-Myers and his brother defensive back Jayvaughn Myers announced today they would be leaving the program. Auburn tight end Jalen Harris left the team yesterday.

Nate Craig-Myers leaving will not hurt the Tigers depth as much as Harris’ departure where the team only has one scholarship tight end left on the roster. The new rule was ostensibly passed to help freshmen get more playing time while allowing players to have an additional year of eligibility.

The rule did away with an athlete having to get permission from their school to transfer and at the same time mandated that the school has to enter the athlete’s name in a national recruiting data base. Then any coach is free to make an offer to that player.

In effect, the NCAA has created a new free agency for college football.

In the past, if a player was unhappy because he did not receive the playing time he thought he should have, he was motivated to take his game to the next level. Now that players are allowed to play in up to four games and still keep their eligibility for another year as a redshirt player, those unhappy players can just leave and seek a position on another team, even in the same conference.

In the past, coaches had to be careful about playing exceptional freshman but not with the new rule. Many teams, including the Tigers, have witnessed a plethora of talented freshmen receive playing time this year. 

Upperclassmen that see them selves challenged by younger players can just announce they are going elsewhere.  Craig-Myers already saw himself competing for playing time behind Darius Slayton, Eli Stove, and Will Hastings. Then in the first three games this season he’s seen the ascension of freshman phenom Seth Williams rise on the depth chart to give Craig-Myers even more competition. Williams had two catches against LSU last week for 35 yards nearly matching Myers 39 yard total in the first three games.

Giving freshman a chance to play early without losing eligibility is a good thing but allowing upperclassman to transfer basically as a free agent is not. However, we can expect to see more of this happening across the college football landscape as the game grows closer to a minor league model for the NFL

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