Is there an age limit for college football players?
NCAA rules do not forbid students of any age playing football. All they require is that no student can play football for more than four years. This is their length of eligibility. This rule prevents colleges from enticing their big players to stay in school for an extra couple years, maybe even to go to grad school, simply so they can keep playing football for them. It’s not altogether uncommon to see, for example, a student play his first year of ball in his sophomore year, and therefore have “a year of eligibility left” and go to grad school for a year because of it.