New rule allows football teams to suit up more eligible players

High school football fans can expect to see more players suited up to play this week.

A temporary adjustment to eligibility rules for academic performance has allowed students to gain eligibility after the first three weeks. Under the old rules, students who underperformed academically were required to sit out at least the first nine weeks of the following semester.

“I think for everybody it’s a big thing,” Arbor View coach Matt Gerber said. “They don’t normally get that opportunity, but I think the district saw how hard last year was and gave them a chance to have a second chance.”

For students to be eligible to start the semester, they must have at least a 2.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and have passing grades in four classes. To gain eligibility after the three-week grade check, which occurred Monday, students must be passing all of their classes.

The three-week grade check can still work the other way, with students who were eligible falling short and having to sit out. But coaches said the results were overwhelmingly positive for their teams.

Eldorado coach Henry Jackson said his team will add 15 or 16 players, a huge boost for a program that often struggles with numbers.

Jackson said he would have preferred students to be eligible immediately because last year was so difficult for them. But he also understands there needed to be consequences so that students didn’t “blow off the whole year.”

He said he has seen some students who were ineligible at the beginning of the year make a complete turnaround with the knowledge that they would have a chance to play after three weeks.

“I’ve got some kids that are straight-A students right now,” Jackson said. “They’re serious about it. It’s technically my first year here, and we’re trying to change the culture. (Keeping up their grades) is a big part of it.”

The numbers crunch is less dire at Class 4A schools such as Cimarron-Memorial and Las Vegas and 5A schools such as Arbor View, but they will still feel the effects of having more players available.

Las Vegas coach Erick Capetillo said grades weren’t much of an issue in his program, but he still will add some players who can help on special teams and in certain situations. The problems he saw last year stemmed more from a lack of access to his players than their academic performance.

“It was harder for us because of the resources,” Capetillo said. “Not everybody had internet. Not all of them had a Chromebook at first. Then they weren’t used to online learning, so they had to adjust to that.”

Cimarron-Memorial coach Shane Kanie said he will have about 15 players back in the program. That will allow him to comfortably field a varsity and junior varsity team and have different scout-team scenarios in practice.

While getting those players back was a start, Kanie said he hopes to continue adding players.

“I’m still encouraging kids to come out and play football and do the things they need to do to get eligible,” he said.

Gerber said Arbor View added six or seven players, and four of them were projected starters at the beginning of the season.

Losing last season was devastating, he said, and it would have been even worse under the old rules.

“You can see it in the kids’ eyes that they were excited in practice, knowing they weren’t able to play right away but would have that opportunity in a couple weeks,” Gerber said. “This was a smart thing to do because the kids could have lost two years. You could have kids that would have been juniors and seniors and never got to play either year.”

Contact Jason Orts at jorts@reviewjournal.com. Follow @SportsWithOrts on Twitter.