Big Ten wants to discuss football, men's basketball freshman ineligibility

According to a document obtained by The Diamondback, the University of Maryland's student newspaper, Big Ten brass is hoping to help lead a "national discussion" about the possibility of freshmen being ineligible in football and men's basketball.

Reports first surfaced last week that the NCAA was considering freshmen ineligibility in certain contexts with the Pac-12 and ACC's commissioners both being advocates for that line of thinking.

SB Nation's Steven Godfrey opined that while making freshmen ineligible was certainly one strategy, the more common sense approach might simply be giving players five years of eligibility and doing away with redshirting:

"By removing redshirting, you can focus on the best interest of the student-athlete, which is sometimes not addressed by our current system. If you have a system where everyone's eligible, and say you're up by 28 points in a homecoming game and want to play a freshman, why not allow that player to learn and gain experience?"

According to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith is opposed to the idea for now but wants to have the dialogue the Big Ten is seeking in an attempt to learn more about the subject.