Your Guide to the Complex World of Football Scholarships

For most athletes going through the football recruiting process, snagging a football scholarship to a great school is the ultimate goal. Here’s some good news: there are hundreds of football programs across the U.S., and the majority of them offer football scholarships to talented student-athletes. In this guide, we explain the football scholarship requirements and answer families’ most-asked questions about getting college football scholarships.

New NCAA Football Scholarship Limits

Starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, the NCAA may eliminate D1 scholarship limits if a proposed settlement is approved, enabling all sports to distribute scholarships more flexibly among athletes. This change is expected to have a significant impact on college football recruiting. More details and the latest updates here.

These changes would impact football recruits in the following ways: 

• D1 FBS football programs will be allowed to offer up to 105 scholarships, up from the current limit of 85. 
• D1 FBS football programs will have a maximum roster limit of 105. 
• D1 FBS football, once a headcount sport, will now be classified as an equivalency sport. This change allows programs to offer a combination of partial and full scholarships to recruits.

Keep in mind, these are the maximum scholarship and roster limits the NCAA allows for each program. Schools are not required to reach these maximums. 

How many scholarships are given each year for football?

Thousands of football scholarships are awarded each year, although the exact number is difficult to determine as not every program is fully funded and able to give out the maximum number of scholarships. However, there are certain pieces of information we do know, listed in the table below.

When it comes to college football scholarships, it’s common for college football teams to extend more offers than roster spots and scholarships than they have available. That’s because they expect some prospects to sign elsewhere and others to not stay with the team all four years. To make room on the roster, teams can extend different types of offers. These include:

• Redshirt: The student-athlete will have a scholarship but can’t compete for one year. They will get an opportunity to play four seasons in five years.
• Blueshirt: Like a redshirt, the student-athlete will practice with the team but won’t be allowed to play for a year. Unlike a redshirt, the student-athlete must be unrecruited.
• Grayshirt: The student-athlete postpones enrolling full-time and participating with the team for one semester.
• Greenshirt: The student-athlete enrolls a semester early and participates with the team’

Note: With the new proposed NCAA scholarship rules and roster limits starting in 2025-2026, the exact impact on walk-ons and redshirt offers for D1 FBS football programs are uncertain and will vary across different sports and schools. To understand how these changes might affect you, stay in touch with coaches and ask about their plans for walk-ons and redshirts, as this can differ significantly between programs.

Football scholarships requirements

Athletes must meet both athletic and academic criteria in order to get a football scholarship. The athletic criteria are largely up to the football program at each individual school. Every coach has different methods for determining which athletes are right for his roster, which is why the recruiting process is so crucial. If you’re not sure what a college coach looks for athletically in your athlete’s position, check out the roster. Or, better yet, send the coach an email to ask.

The NCAA Eligibility Center has specific academic requirements that athletes must meet to be eligible to compete at either the NCAA D1 or D2 levels. We’ve included the D1 requirements below. A good rule of thumb is that, if an athlete meets or exceeds the D1 requirements, they will be eligible at the D2 level, as well. However, always bear in mind that each individual school has its own set of admissions requirements that athletes will also have to meet.

• The athlete must graduate from high school.
• They must complete 16 core courses and receive a minimum GPA of 2.3 in those courses. The core course requirements are as follows: four years of English; three years of math (Algebra 1 or higher); two years of science (including one year of lab, if offered); two years of social science; and four additional years of English, math, science, religion, philosophy, or foreign language. Athletes need to complete 10 of their 16 core courses before junior year of high school.
• Athletes need to complete 10 of their 16 core courses by the end of their junior year of high school.

The difference between NCAA football scholarships and NAIA football scholarships

The NCAA and NAIA are the two main governing bodies for college sports, and both have their own specific methods for how they handle football scholarships and regulate the recruiting process.

NCAA football scholarships can be awarded by both D1 and D2 schools—D3 colleges and universities do not give out any athletic scholarships. To receive Division 1 football scholarships or Division 2 football scholarships, athletes must meet or exceed the specific eligibility requirements created by the NCAA, as well as get their amateurism certificate. The NCAA also enforces their recruiting rules and calendar for the D1 and D2 levels, which detail when and how college coaches are allowed to contact recruits.

NAIA football scholarships can be awarded by any fully funded member college or university. The NAIA does have its own set of academic eligibility criteria that student-athletes must meet, but they don’t have set recruiting rules like the NCAA. The recruiting process is less scripted, and it’s up to the individual schools to determine their own recruiting rules and calendar.

Scholarships are offered on a year-to-year basis, so more can be rescinded in the coming seasons if a program’s budget is cut or rosters become jam-packed with upperclassmen. This doesn’t mean recruits should necessarily take the first offer they get, but they should not wait too long. Sometimes a direct but polite conversation with the college coach is the best way to determine if a recruit is still wanted.

How to get a football scholarship

The short answer: It’s up to the coach of an individual team to award an athlete a scholarship. Athletes must show that they have the ability to make an immediate, positive impact at their position or they need to demonstrate that they have the potential to develop into a key player. This is why finding the right division level athletically is so important. A recruit might technically qualify to play at a D1 school, but they could be a more impactful athlete at a D2 or NAIA school. So, they would likely get more money—and more playing time—at the D2 or NAIA levels, as they will be able to make a bigger impact on those teams.

Layered on top of athletic ability, recruits need to be academically eligible to compete at the school. Not only do they need to meet the NCAA and/or NAIA academic eligibility requirements, but they need to comply with the school’s specific entrance requirements, which are often tougher to meet the NCAA eligibility requirements. In other words, the higher a recruit’s grades and test scores, the more schools will be available to them.

Do walk-ons get a scholarship?

Walk-ons do not get athletic scholarships, but they play crucial roles and are often essential to filling out the roster. 

Starting in 2025-2026, the NCAA will implement a new rule for FBS programs, removing the scholarship cap and setting a roster limit of 105 players. While it’s still uncertain how this will affect walk-ons, it may change how scholarships are distributed within these teams. For D1 FCS programs, the scholarship limit will remain the same, and there will be no cap on roster size, so walk-ons will continue to play an important role as they always have. 

If you’re considering becoming a walk-on, it’s wise to speak with coaches about their plans, as each program may approach these changes differently. Learn more about being a walk-on.

What’s the difference between a committable offer and a non-committable offer?

Because D1 football programs are so large, coaches will extend verbal offers to multiple athletes at the same position in the same recruiting class. The idea is that they will lose a few of those recruits to other programs, academic ineligibility or other factors. So, when everything shakes out, they should still have all their positions covered. Some programs take this to more of an extreme than others, sometimes extending over 100 offers to a single recruiting class.

When an athlete receives a verbal offer, they can ask the coach where they are at on the coach’s list of recruits. If the coach mentions that the player is after a few top athletes for that position, the recruit knows that they should continue the recruiting process with other schools of interest, as their offer might fall through.

Scholarships are offered on a year-to-year basis, so more can be rescinded in the coming seasons if a program’s budget is cut or rosters become jam-packed with upperclassmen. This doesn’t mean recruits should necessarily take the first offer they get, but they should not wait too long. Sometimes a direct but polite conversation with the college coach is the best way to determine if a recruit is still wanted.

I got an offer through social media—now what?

With the NCAA now allowing recruiting contact through social media, it’s become common for college coaches, especially at the D1 level, to send out “official offers” via social media to high school juniors and seniors. It’s typically some kind of graphic or image letting you know that you have a scholarship offer from that school. This is great news, but remember: until you sign with that school, it’s still a non-legally binding verbal offer. You need to reach out to the coach immediately to discover what is included in the scholarship offer, where you’re at on the coach’s list of recruits and the coach’s deadline to receive your decision.

How many players can be on a college football team?

In college football, the number of players on a team can vary depending on the level of competition and the specific regulations of the governing body. Here’s a general breakdown:

• NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS):
  • Starting in the 2025-2026 season, teams will have a roster cap of 105 players, including walk-ons (non-scholarship players).
• NCAA Division 1 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS):
  • 63 scholarship players, with the total roster size and number of walk-ons varying.
• NCAA Division 2:
  • The total roster size typically ranges from 75 to 100 players, including walk-ons.
• NCAA Division 3:
  • The total roster size can vary widely, often ranging from 75 to 100 players, including walk-ons.
• NAIA:
  • The total roster size is usually around 80 to 100 players, including walk-ons.
• Junior Colleges (NJCAA):
  • Teams can have up to 85 players on the roster, with a maximum of 55 dressed for any given game.

These numbers can fluctuate based on specific school policies, conference regulations, and the needs of the team.

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