The Division I Board of Directors directed the Division I Cabinet to move forward with a major change to NCAA eligibility rules Monday, but president Charlie Baker said he won’t recommend that current seniors and graduates be grandfathered in.

The model in question will allow NCAA athletes to play up to five years of their sport in a five-year window, with the timer starting the academic year after they graduate high school or turn 19, whichever comes first.

“The time is now to reform the period of eligibility rules to provide Division I student-athletes and our schools clear and consistent standards that align with current college athletes’ experiences,” Virginia Tech president and board chairman Tim Sands said in a statement. “The board fully supports student-athletes receiving the unprecedented financial benefits now available to them and emphasized these changes would protect opportunities for high school student-athletes to access the benefits only college sports can provide while delivering predictable outcomes for student-athletes and our schools.”

The Division I Cabinet will meet May 22 and potentially vote on the issue that day.

However, the NCAA’s release makes sure to carve out an exception for players whose eligibility runs out in the current academic year, 2025-26: “new rules are not expected to retroactively apply to student-athletes whose eligibility is or will be completed by the spring of 2026.”

The board of directors was said to have “expressed support” for this key caveat, and in an interview with ESPN, Baker also stood behind it.

“If you’ve used up your eligibility, you’ve used it up,” Baker told ESPN, describing himself as “pretty optimistic” the new rules would pass.

Vanderbilt basketball player Tyler Nickel responded to Baker’s stance with some discontent on social media.

“(S)o we had to play with and against fifth years our entire time in college, but we don’t get one? (A)nd everyone after us gets one too?” Nickel wrote.

Several classes before Nickel’s were awarded a fifth year of eligibility due to the 2020-21 season being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nickel entered college in 2022-23.

To Nickel’s point, it is unclear if an exclusion for the current graduating class would hold up under a legal challenge.

–Field Level Media

A former University of Alabama football player on Monday pleaded guilty to committing fraud in taking millions of dollars from investors by pretending to be NFL players.

Luther Davis, 37, worked in concert with another individual, CJ Evins, 29, in donning disguises, including makeup and wigs, to impersonate NFL players to secure investments and loans from multiple individuals, according to guilty pleas entered into federal court in Atlanta.

The charges included conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Both men face up to seven years in prison, but their plea deals should lower the sentence, which is scheduled to occur in August for Evins and in October for Davis.

A defensive lineman for the Crimson Tide from 2007-2010, including Alabama’s 2009 national championship team, Davis admitted to using fake bank accounts, fraudulent driver’s licenses and misleading emails to convince investors he was acting on behalf of famous athletes, or in some cases, he was the athlete himself.

The Guardian revealed details of the case in mid-April, reporting that the pair had obtained 13 loans in the names of current and former NFL players, including Michael Penix Jr., David Njoku and Xavier McKinney. The fraudulent loans obtained totaled more than $19,845,000, according to court documents.

“Davis and Evins convinced lenders they were NFL players, obtained millions of dollars in fraudulent loans, and used the proceeds of their crimes to purchase real estate and luxury items,” a statement from U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg read. “This scheme highlights that anyone can be a target of identity theft, and my office will vigorously investigate and prosecute swindlers who steal identities to defraud others.”

Davis, who owns a sports management company in Georgia, was part of Nick Saban’s first signing class at Alabama in 2007. The West Monroe, La., native who played in 45 games on the defensive line over four seasons with the Crimson Tide.

–Field Level Media

Jose Fermin’s two-run double with one out in the ninth inning capped a four-run rally as the St. Louis Cardinals overcame a near-shutout and beat the host Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 on Monday.

St. Louis, which had lost four straight and five of six, was hitless through 6 2/3 innings and scoreless through 8 1/3 before breaking through against Dennis Santana, who came into the contest with two saves and a 0.69 ERA with only one earned run allowed in 13 appearances.

Those numbers took a hit right away as Pedro Pages, St. Louis’s backup catcher, and rookie JJ Wetherholt hit back-to-back home runs off Santana (2-2) to even the game.

It was Pages’ third home run of the season, and second in his last two games, while Wetherholt went deep for the third straight game and sixth time this season.

Ivan Herrera walked, Alec Burleson reached base on his second infield single of the game and Jordan Walker also walked to load the bases for Fermin, who went 2-for-2 after coming in as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning.

Fermin’s double to left plated pinch runner Victor Scott II and Burleson.

Ryan Fernandez (1-0) struck out four in two perfect innings of relief, and George Soriano worked around a two-out single for his first save.

Dustin May had another solid outing on the hill for St. Louis. He came in with wins in each of his last three starts. Although that streak was broken, he kept the Cardinals in the game, allowing two runs while scattering seven hits and striking out two over six innings.

The Pirates, in a bullpen game, kept St. Louis off the basepaths entirely for the first 6 2/3 innings. Mason Montgomery started, and Justin Lawrence followed, each tossing a scoreless inning with one strikeout.

Wilber Dotel, making just his third major league appearance, threw four perfect innings and struck out three.

Evan Sisk allowed the first hit in the seventh — Burleson’s first infield single — but he, Isaac Mattson and Gregory Soto kept the Cardinals off the board until Santana entered in the ninth.

Ryan O’Hearn and Jake Mangum drove in runs for Pittsburgh, which dropped its second straight game. Mangum had two hits, while Nick Gonzales extended his hitting streak to eight games with a 3-for-4 day at the plate.

–Field Level Media