34 Man Rosters

[taylorvol]

I don’t get the uproar over the 34 man roster for the 26 season. I think folks forget baseball rosters were 35 before COVID. They were temporary expanded to 40 to account for the extra year of eligibility awarded due to the 2020 cancelled season. Essentially rosters have been reduced by 1 and now schools can award up to 34 full scholarships in lieu of 11.7

Teams will have to cull their inflated rosters to 34 by 12/1/25. The uproar should be over unlimited portal transfers and everyone being a free agent. What am I missing?

 

[knoxvol52]

34 man roster is sufficient enough to begin with, I see no problem with it.

 

[Pawleysvol]

I think there should be a set number they can bring in the fall before cutting down the roster in the spring. In the past coaches have brought in 50 plus kids and there are 7-8 kids that have zero chance of making the roster. Coaches should be held accountable for their misses in high school recruiting is basically what I am getting at. I think at times this staff has offered local kids that in reality have very little chance of making the team just to keep the relationships going with the local programs. For example the young man from Jeff County Beau Revord who just entered the portal. He was never going to play here

 

[wku vol]

I think that the issue is that the 34 is a cap. We have a lot more than the active roster on the team. We've seen several who were not on the active roster enter the portal. I don't think we will be able to have those guys considered part of the team going forward. Having only "34 to play 34" could easily be an issue. For example, it would mean that we would have had to carry Seibert on the active roster this year although he was not available due to injury. Now, it's 34 to play 33.

 

[rockytop25]

I don’t get the uproar over the 34 man roster for the 26 season. I think folks forget baseball rosters were 35 before COVID. They were temporary expanded to 40 to account for the extra year of eligibility awarded due to the 2020 cancelled season. Essentially rosters have been reduced by 1 and now schools can award up to 34 full scholarships in lieu of 11.7

Teams will have to cull their inflated rosters to 34 by 12/1/25. The uproar should be over unlimited portal transfers and everyone being a free agent. What am I missing?

I think a lot of the uproar from coaches stems from only being allowed to have 34. You could redshirt somebody and they are not apart of your “active roster”.

There’s guys that develop later on (Zander, Ensley, Lipscomb for example) that maybe you have to let go to another school because they aren’t ready as a freshman/sophomore

 

[volsagain]

I don’t get the uproar over the 34 man roster for the 26 season. I think folks forget baseball rosters were 35 before COVID. They were temporary expanded to 40 to account for the extra year of eligibility awarded due to the 2020 cancelled season. Essentially rosters have been reduced by 1 and now schools can award up to 34 full scholarships in lieu of 11.7

Teams will have to cull their inflated rosters to 34 by 12/1/25. The uproar should be over unlimited portal transfers and everyone being a free agent. What am I missing?

The number of transfers with no penalty or compensation for the school needs to end. Tampering needs to be addressed also and I understand we probably do this also. Don't see how these coaches can keep up with all that is going on crazy world. Hard to develop players when they can go anytime they wish. NCAA is as bad or worse than the government getting involved. It all needs Structure for all sports.

 

[taylorvol]

I think that the issue is that the 34 is a cap. We have a lot more than the active roster on the team. We've seen several who were not on the active roster enter the portal. I don't think we will be able to have those guys considered part of the team going forward. Having only "34 to play 34" could easily be an issue. For example, it would mean that we would have had to carry Seibert on the active roster this year although he was not available due to injury. Now, it's 34 to play 33.

I get it but only 27 are allowed on active SEC rosters anyway.

 

[NEBBDad]

I think there should be a set number they can bring in the fall before cutting down the roster in the spring. In the past coaches have brought in 50 plus kids and there are 7-8 kids that have zero chance of making the roster. Coaches should be held accountable for their misses in high school recruiting is basically what I am getting at. I think at times this staff has offered local kids that in reality have very little chance of making the team just to keep the relationships going with the local programs. For example the young man from Jeff County Beau Revord who just entered the portal. He was never going to play here

They can only have 38 on campus as of August 1, 2025 and need to be at 34 by December 1, 2025.

 

[Freak]

I don’t get the uproar over the 34 man roster for the 26 season. I think folks forget baseball rosters were 35 before COVID. They were temporary expanded to 40 to account for the extra year of eligibility awarded due to the 2020 cancelled season. Essentially rosters have been reduced by 1 and now schools can award up to 34 full scholarships in lieu of 11.7

Teams will have to cull their inflated rosters to 34 by 12/1/25. The uproar should be over unlimited portal transfers and everyone being a free agent. What am I missing?

I heard Tony talking about it and he said he would like the number to be a little higher, but mostly he seemed like he wanted a step down, like maybe 37 this year then 34 the next. Something like that, my memory is a little fuzzy, but that's what I recall.

 

[Volgrandpa]

How does the "Grandfather" affect the 34 man roster?

 

[taylorvol]

They can only have 38 on campus as of August 1, 2025 and need to be at 34 by December 1, 2025.

I know there was discussion of 38 fall rosters at the coaches convention but didn’t think it was finalized yet?

 

[taylorvol]

How does the "Grandfather" affect the 34 man roster?

Supposedly players impacted by the roster change (they were cut or perhaps told to transfer) won’t count against the 34 man roster in 26. How the NCAA determines this, I have no idea. It sounds very subjective and difficult to implement.

 

[NEBBDad]

Supposedly players impacted by the roster change (they were cut or perhaps told to transfer) won’t count against the 34 man roster in 26. How the NCAA determines this, I have no idea. It sounds very subjective and difficult to implement.

The "Grandfather" rule applies to those that have been designated to be cut due to the roster reduction, but they can get any scholarship or NIL money. If they get any aide they count against the 34 man roster.

The limit was set for 38 by August 1 and 34 by Dec 1 and I think that is to help with players being stockpiled.

 

[taylorvol]

I think that the issue is that the 34 is a cap. We have a lot more than the active roster on the team. We've seen several who were not on the active roster enter the portal. I don't think we will be able to have those guys considered part of the team going forward. Having only "34 to play 34" could easily be an issue. For example, it would mean that we would have had to carry Seibert on the active roster this year although he was not available due to injury. Now, it's 34 to play 33.

Good point as it’s a true cap of 34 (except for those “grandfathered” in). No stacking an additional 15-18 as redshirts. Still will have 27 man active rosters for SEC play, and likely won’t see any more than 24 with any material playing time over the course of a season.

 

[chuckiepoo]

Good point as it’s a true cap of 34 (except for those “grandfathered” in). No stacking an additional 15-18 as redshirts. Still will have 27 man active rosters for SEC play, and likely won’t see any more than 24 with any material playing time over the course of a season.

So we’ll still be stacking about 7 roster spots? Break open in case of emergency only type stack?

 

[taylorvol]

So we’ll still be stacking about 7 roster spots? Break open in case of emergency only type stack?

The 27 Active roster roster can change from SEC series to next SEC series. In other words, the 27 man roster is good for the 3 game series, but can be changed for the next week’s series.

 

[Orange.]

I’m glad for the much high scholarship limits. Baseball has needed and deserved it.