[terry]

I thought I heard somewhere that the "clock" of your 4 years of eligibility starts as soon as you enroll in college.  You can get a 5th year if you redshirt, but Barry's already done that.  So he would have 1 calendar year left, not allowing him to leave for a year and then play in 2017. 

Am I completely wrong? 

Looking at Gaffney: http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.db...=208167743
- He played 3 years (no redshirt), left for baseball for a year (I guess you could consider that his redshirt), and then played his last year (his 5th year).

Correct. Players have 5 years to play their 4 seasons.

A player can petition for a 6th year if he has missed 2 seasons due to injury, but that's not Sanders' situation. His fifth and last year is next year. So he needs to be able to play immediately, which means he needs to graduate (or drop down to an FCS school).

[terry]

I thought I heard somewhere that the "clock" of your 4 years of eligibility starts as soon as you enroll in college.  You can get a 5th year if you redshirt, but Barry's already done that.  So he would have 1 calendar year left, not allowing him to leave for a year and then play in 2017. 

Am I completely wrong? 

Looking at Gaffney: http://www.gostanford.com/ViewArticle.db...=208167743
- He played 3 years (no redshirt), left for baseball for a year (I guess you could consider that his redshirt), and then played his last year (his 5th year).

Correct. Players have 5 years to play their 4 seasons.

A player can petition for a 6th year if he has missed 2 seasons due to injury, but that's not Sanders' situation. His fifth and last year is next year. So he needs to be able to play immediately, which means he needs to graduate (or drop down to an FCS school).