Colin Cowherd: “When is your official draft?”
XFL Commissioner Oliver Luck: “Our draft is in October.”
Cowherd: “Unlike the NFL, your league doesn’t have to wait for a player to play a minimum of three years. Do you think this draft will have some college sophomores?”
Luck: “We’re not subject to the NFL’s eligibility rules that you have to be three years out of high school. We can sign and WILL sign college players. I don’t think we will have that many this first go-around, but I think as the college players realize the quality of play and the quality of coaching, and also realize that they can use league as an opportunity, we will begin to see much more interest from guys who might have played a year or two years in college.”
Listen to XFL commissioner Oliver Luck join The Herd to discuss how his league is expecting to sign college underclassmen who would otherwise be ineligible to put their name into the NFL Draft.
The NFL has long stood by rules on age restrictions, as a player must be at least three years removed from high school to become eligible for the NFL Draft.
The rule has become controversial over the years, with college superstars like Marcus Lattimore challenging the rule after they suffered catastrophic injuries in their later seasons in college despite the fact they were drawing professional interest during their freshman season. Lattimore argued that he should have been allowed to play in the NFL after his freshman season and not been forced to wait around for two years.
Luck told Colin Cowherd that his league will absolutely begin to look at signing college sophomores and juniors who want to earn professional contracts, but whom are stuck in college waiting to become eligible for the NFL Draft.
Many media pundits have long believed the XFL would start luring NCAA underclassmen stars when the league first announced its plans for a comeback last year.
The XFL will begin it’s highly anticipated re-launch in January or February of 2020.
Check out the segment below