According to a Monday report from ESPN's Pete Thamel that echoed sentiments from SEC Media Days, the NCAA is set to implement some new roster limits to some of its varsity sports. In particular, college football and college baseball seem to be in the crosshairs of the impending changes. Nothing is official yet, but the "target" numbers of 105 players (football) and 34 players (baseball) are the expected final outcome. How might this affect the South Carolina Gamecocks?
In short, the answer is: "It depends."
It depends on a number of things, but first (and most crucially) it depends on scholarships.
Everything stems from a recent court decision that revenue-sharing will be allowable—or even mandated—in college sports. It is not known if the revenue-sharing would be only for scholarship players or for every player on the roster. The current 85-scholarship roster limit in football could be affected, though, nothing has been decided there, either. How revenue-sharing would work in relation to other sports (both revenue sports like basketball and non-revenue sports) is also unknown.
For the South Carolina Gamecocks' roster and every other college football roster, walk-on programs will shrink. Coaches across the country are not happy about that pending reality as walk-ons occasionally become major contributors (most schools have kickers, punters, and longsnappers start off as walk-ons, and past notable players like Hayden Hurst and Erik Kimrey came to USC as walk-on athletes) and walk-ons are a necessary part of every practice.
It also depends upon Title IX considerations.
Title IX helps ensure a number of things in college sports, most plainly, keeping the total scholarship count comparable between men's and women's sports for the purpose of promoting equality in athletics. If the scholarship count for football changes, not only will it lower the number for football, but it could also lower the number for women's sports to keep things balanced.
However, in a separate but related ruling, college baseball is set to increase its scholarship limits from the current 11.7 number to a number in the 30s. According to a report from Yahoo's Ross Dellenger (following up on comments from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey), teams will not be required to offer more scholarships, but they soon will have the power to do so. If they do, though, women's sports (through Title IX) actually would increase their overall scholarship count.
The Gamecocks' baseball program almost assuredly would be one that would begin offering more baseball scholarships, so, in turn, Carolina would need to offer more women's scholarships. That could come in the form of additional team(s) or an expansion of certain rosters.
Following these behind-the-scenes NCAA rulings, court orders, and conference policies will be interesting for college sports fans. Changes are coming, even if no one quite knows exactly what they will be right now.