It’s not your imagination: There are players in their mid-20s all over college football, here’s why

Each time he sees his freshman teammates, Oklahoma State quarterback Alan Bowman gets a reality check about the length of his college career.

“When I was playing as a true freshman at Texas Tech, they were probably in seventh grade,” Bowman said.

Bowman is entering his seventh year of college football and his situation isn’t unique in this era of college football. Four years after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season resulted in every player getting an extra year of eligibility, its impact on the game remains apparent as players extend their college careers into their mid-20s.

Hundreds of Bowl Subdivision players are in their sixth season of eligibility and dozens are in their seventh year or later. Miami tight end Cam McCormick is entering his ninth season of eligibility at the age of 26.

No. 17 Oklahoma State has two seventh-year players – Bowman and linebacker Justin Wright – and 14 others entering their sixth seasons.

To say there is a lot of experience on college football rosters is an understatement. Other schools with multiple seventh-year players include No. 12 Utah (QB Cam Rising and TE Brant Kuithe), No. 15 Tennessee (OT John Campbell and LB Keenan Pili), Rutgers (OL Reggie Sutton and WR Naseim Brantley), Toledo (LB Daniel Bolden and TE Anthony Torres) and Utah State (QB Spencer Petras and OL Wyatt Bowles).

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Then there’s Indiana, which has four seventh-year players and 10 sixth-year players in its first season under coach Curt Cignetti. The seventh-year contingent includes one returning player (DL Jacob Mangum-Farrar) and three who followed Cignetti from James Madison (RB Ty Son Lawton, RB Solomon Vanhorse and OL Nick Kidwell).

Bowman believes this prevalence of older players produces crisper football. FBS teams averaged 5.83 penalties and 51.15 penalty yards per game last season, the lowest numbers in both categories since 2013.

“There’s a lot more good football being played,” Bowman said. “You don’t see as many mistakes from us older guys. I just think clean, better football. When you’ve got a lot of guys who’ve played a lot of games, you’re going to see less mistakes.”

Bowman, 24, has seen plenty in his college career.

He made a combined 16 starts for Texas Tech from 2018-20, though a broken collarbone limited him to three games in 2019 before he took a medical redshirt. Bowman transferred to Michigan and played three games as a backup each of the next two years, getting another redshirt in 2021. Bowman left behind a Michigan team that went on to win the national title in 2023 for the opportunity to regain a starting role at Oklahoma State.

Bowman’s two redshirt seasons and the COVID-19 year enabled him to earn a seventh year of eligibility and has helped him get a wide-ranging education.

He got his undergraduate degree in business management from Texas Tech and earned a master’s in supply chain management at Michigan. He’s now working toward a graduate certificate in leisure studies at Oklahoma State, and he also is getting a real estate license.

“I’ve been blessed, I would say,” Bowman said. “It’s been really awesome. I haven’t been in one spot for seven years, and I don’t think I could have done that mentally. I think each spot has kind of reset my clock, if that makes sense. I don’t really feel like I’ve been in college for seven years.”

Other players across the country entering their seventh season or later.

Tennessee OL John Campbell and LB Keenan Pili

Campbell, 24, played for Miami from 2018-22. He played four games in 2018 before redshirting and missed the 2021 season due to injury. He was Miami’s starting left tackle in 2022 and had the same role with Tennessee last year. He’s moving to right tackle this season. The 26-year-old Pili redshirted at BYU in 2016 before spending the next two seasons on a mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a team captain at BYU in 2021-22, though a torn anterior cruciate ligament limited him to three games in 2021. He played just one game at Tennessee last year before a season-ending triceps injury.

Utah TE Brant Kuithe and QB Cam Rising

Rising, 25, tore multiple knee ligaments during a Rose Bowl loss that concluded his 2022 season, forcing him to miss all of last year. Now he’s back for a seventh season. He started his college career redshirting at Texas in 2018 and sat out the 2019 season as he transferred to Utah. Rising has thrown for 5,572 yards with 46 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions. He has rushed for 953 yards and 12 touchdowns. Kuithe caught 148 career passes for 1,882 yards and 16 touchdowns from 2018-22, but he hasn’t played since tearing an ACL and meniscus in September 2022.

Miami TE Cam McCormick

McCormick, 26, is getting a ninth season because of injuries that caused him to play a total of three games from 2018-21. He played all 13 games for Oregon in 2017 but broke his fibula and tore a deltoid ligament in the 2018 season opener. He tore an Achilles tendon in 2021. He returned in 2022 to play 13 games and start six for Oregon in 2022. He caught eight passes for 62 yards at Miami in 2023.

Utah State QB Spencer Petras

Petras began his career at Iowa in 2018 and posted a 20-11 record as the Hawkeyes’ starting quarterback from 2020-22, but he tore his labrum and rotator cuff against Nebraska in the final week of the 2022 regular season. That injury prevented Petras from playing at all last year. He then entered the transfer portal and landed at Utah State. Petras, 24, threw for 5,199 yards with 24 touchdowns and 19 interceptions while at Iowa.

Louisville QB Tyler Shough

Shough, who turns 25 next month, redshirted at Oregon in 2018, played five games in 2019 and made seven starts in 2020. He played at Texas Tech from 2021-23 but appeared in just four games last year due to a broken fibula, enabling him to get a medical redshirt. He also has dealt with shoulder injuries in the past. Now he’s at his third school. Shough has 4,625 career yards passing with 36 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.

Pitt LB Keye Thompson

Thompson, 24, transferred to Pitt after collecting 96 tackles for Ohio in 2022 and 94 more in 2023. He was a first-team all-Mid-American Conference selection last year. Thompson played four games before taking a redshirt in 2018, and he missed the entire 2021 season due to injury. He has a seventh year of eligibility because of those two redshirt seasons plus the extra year he got due to the pandemic.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football