They're talking about the NCAA's five-year eligibility idea like it's some revolutionary fix. It's a band-aid on a bullet wound. The real problem is that nobody cares about the team anymore, they care about their personal brand for a year before hitting the portal. This "structural shift" they're hyping up won't bring back what we lost.
I remember when a senior class meant something. The 1997 team that went to the Rose Bowl was built on guys who grew up together, who bled crimson and gray for four or five years. Now, with this free agency every offseason, what are you even building? A roster, not a brotherhood. They think giving a kid a fifth year to play somewhere else is progress. It's just more chaos.
The tradition of a program used to be passed down in the locker room. Now it's wiped clean every December. You can't have bowl tradition nostalgia when your entire roster turns over. The Holiday Bowl, the Alamo Bowl, those trips meant something because you were celebrating a journey with the same group. This new proposal just institutionalizes the mercenary culture. It's sad.