Kansas State Football: Age-Based Eligibility Changes: Quarterback

I’m going to move forward with the idea that the new “age-based” NCAA eligibility model will stick around in some form once all the legal challenges are exhausted. It makes sense, and I’m not sure the schools are interested in the constant court battles over eligibility. I get the feeling that some high-up folks went to check on the college athletics golden goose, and while it wasn’t dead, it was missing some feathers. This age-based model is an attempt to limit some long-term financial damage from disillusioned fans (mostly middle-aged and older) who were once the backbone of college athletics. It feels like this is the first bone they’ve thrown the die-hard fans who care about this sort of stuff in a long while.

I wrote an article explaining the age-based model here. The basic idea is that athletes get 5 seasons of eligibility if they enroll in school by age 19. It prevents 27-year-old Euro pros from dominating college basketball as true freshmen and does away with the archaic redshirt rules in both football and basketball. In theory, it also gets around the arbitrary NCAA eligibility “waiver” system, but I’ll believe it when I see it in action. The schools like hard-and-fast rules right up until the point when they think they should get an exception from said rules.

Anyways, this is how the new “age-based” model affects the football team moving forward. I’ll go through the roster by position group, and at the end I’ll put it all together into a coherent roster with a bunch of information beyond what you find on other sites.

So, without further ado….

Quarterback

Thoughts

The main beneficiaries of this rule change are players who played as true freshmen. Under the previous rules, players had 5 years to play 4 seasons, but under the age-based model, they have 5 years to play 5 seasons, provided they enroll by their 19th birthday.

Avery Johnson happens to be one such player.

I can’t stress how much of a game-changer this could be for Avery and, potentially, freshly minted head Coach Collin Klein. Avery is not projected as a 1st-round pick heading into the 2026 season. Best-case scenario, he plays well enough in 2026 to work his way into the first round, and everything I type after this is moot. If he’s a 1st-round pick, he had an exceptional season, and he’s headed to the NFL. NIL makes it easier to come back, but any player projected to go in the first round should enter the draft.

If, however, Avery finds himself outside of the first-round projections (the most likely scenario if I’m being 100% honest), he’ll have a decision to make in 2027:

1. Enter the Draft and hope for the best.

2. Return to Kansas State for his 5th season.

3. Return to college football for his 5th season and see how much he’s worth on the open market as a 5th-year player.

The only scenario I can imagine that takes the decision out of Avery’s hands is if he gets injured early in the season and one of the reserves steps in to lead Kansas State to glory. That’s not unheard of, but the most likely scenario is that Avery has gone from having 1 option after the 2026 season (the NFL Draft) to 3. It’s always nice to have options.

That also means Coach Klein and offensive coordinator Sean Gleason could potentially have two seasons to install their offense. Johnson has played in Klein’s offense before, which helps, but two seasons would allow the new K-State brain trust to fully install the new offense with a veteran signal-caller. Most coaches don’t get to start their careers with a program-record-setting quarterback, and Coach Klein could now get two seasons with the program leader in touchdown passes.

While the prospect of having Avery in the fold for the 2027 season is intriguing, it’s not without its drawbacks. Blake Barnett and Dillion Duff knew they would have to wait behind Avery. Their first opportunity to win the starting job was in 2026 (if Avery left for the NFL after 3-seasons). Obviously, that didn’t happen, but now there’s a chance Johnson could be back in 2027 as well? Asking either of them to stick around in 2027 in the hope of winning the job in 2028 seems unfair.

I don’t think it changes anything with the class of 2027 quarterback commits Cam Kruse, but it could have knock-on effects to the 2028 class, where the ‘Cats are well positioned to land the services of 4* quarterback Titus Huard. Then again, it might not have any effect? If I could tell the future, I’d have a significantly larger office.

With that said, this would be a great problem for Coach Klein to have to navigate. You can never have too much talent or experience at the quarterback position, and with the transfer portal, backfilling position groups isn’t an issue.

If nothing else, this will be an interesting sub-plot for the 2026 season.