Judge in NCAA House settlement orders roster limit changes that echo Rich Rodriguez's complaints

A constant refrain heard this past spring by West Virginia football fans who paid attention to Head Coach Rich Rodriguez's media press conferences was that he did not want to have to make the required roster cuts to meet the new 105-man roster limit being instituted by the NCAA this upcoming season.

"I still think the NCAA should allow us to grandfather clause...if they're already here, they should be able to stay there," Rodriguez said.

However, no indication was made by the NCAA that such a move would happen, and as WVU ended it's spring sessions earlier than many other teams, they saw an exodus of players once the portal opened -- many who were cut simply because there was no room on the roster, even if Rodriguez wanted to keep them around.

" "Post-spring is not going to be fun," he said in reference to the impending cuts.

On Wednesday, Claudia Wilkens -- the judge currently overseeing the NCAA House settlement case that is set to change the landscape of college football -- ordered that attorneys begin to phase in or grandfather in roster limits over the next 14 days, or she will deny the settlement. This means that the courts are forcing the NCAA into the idea of a "grandfather clause" for athletes who have already been in place on a roster, which echoes Rodriguez's repeated sentiments for the past few months.

This is big news -- and good news -- for those players who may have joined rosters as walk-on athletes in recent years and might find themselves without a home due to new rules that weren't around when they were given their spot, or for young recruits who haven't had time to work themselves into a position of necessity on the roster.

In the end, a lot of college football athletes were likely going to have to retire early because of this rule, as there would not be enough landing spots across the sport for them -- now, that will hopefully not be the case.

How this affects West Virginia specifically is yet to be seen. A large chunk of players have been removed from the roster and are in the portal, but have yet to find homes -- some will likely keep looking for a new landing spot. However, if Wilken's order allows for rules to be written in to grandfather in previous season's roster members without regard to the new limit, some of these players who have not yet found homes may be interested in returning to WVU.

Whether these players want to return to a program where they know they're at the bottom of the roster, or whether Rodriguez will take all of them back, remains to be seen. But now, the possibility is open that some of the mass exodus of players over the past couple weeks may not have been necessary after all -- and that some can return to the old-gold-and-blue.

It seems that someone with the power to chnage things has finally listened to Rodriguez and his fellow college coaches.

MORE STORIES: