…to say that “age matters.”

To say it doesn’t belies the fact that age drives nearly everything we do from birth to now.

As babies, we receive our vaccinations on a schedule parents and doctors agree upon. We begin school when we reach a certain age. In my case, I started kindergarten when I was four and a half. New laws went into effect in California in September that a child had to be four years and nine months old, three weeks after I started school. Age mattered.

Throughout school, we had to meet certain qualifications to move on. Some were age-related, more were competency-related. It continues today.

It is no secret that I’m a HUGE college football fan. I love college football, What I don’t like is the changes made to college football in the past few years. Red-shirting, where a player can sit out a year, practice and put on muscle, and maintain the allowed four years of eligibility. The transfer portal allows players who sign with one school, spend a couple of years perfecting their skills, and transfer with no waiting period to a better school where they have a chance to win a specific trophy or national championship.

And that brings me to Sam Hartman, a 24-year-old “senior,” who benefited from one red-shirt year, one where he didn’t play enough games to have the year counted, and the Covid year. Sam Hartman looks like an NFL player. He plays like an NFL player. And he plays against colleges where many of their players are under 21. Somehow, that’s not right. It’s the rule, but it’s not just.

So, Sam Hartman looks like he belongs in the NFL but says he wants a Heisman Trophy before he enters the NFL draft.

And the new coach entering his second full year wants a national championship. Why else would he keep a 24-year-old in and let him run up the score against Navy when they met in Dublin? Why else would he keep his second string on the bench when they could have gotten some playing experience against a traditional rival.

Navy plays by different and older rules. No red-shirting, no Covid extensions. Midshipmen have four years of eligibility. Period. They also have four years to graduate. Period. I realize that football isn’t the prime motive for going to the Naval Academy. Education is. Swearing to serve a period of years in the Navy or Marines upon graduation is.

In closing, I don’t have to like the rules which govern college football today. No one is asking me to advocate to change them. I will always be a Navy fan. I will always watch 18- to 22-year olds play their hearts out knowing that it would be a huge lift for any of them to go pro.

Bet you thought I was going to talk about politics.