Freshman at Auburn Adds Letter to House v NCAA Lawsuit Opposing Roster Limits

by Madeline Folsom 82

January 11th, 2025 College, News, SEC

Auburn Freshman swimmer Keaton Rice added a letter to the House v NCAA docket yesterday discussing the impact of roster limits as he implored the court to “grandfather” athletes into their programs.

Boise State Assistant Professor Sam Ehrlich posted the letter on X with the sensitive information removed


Rice states that “these roster limits are unfair for the student athletes that are currently participating in college sports.” He goes on to discuss how half the team would be released, and he would lose roughly $30,000 a year due to the high out-of-state cost of attending Auburn.

He also listed the other “monetary perks” the athletes would lose once they were cut, including free dining, free healthcare, free tutoring, and free tickets to all sporting events.

Rice then goes into discussing his own personal situation, saying “I am a freshman and they would need to cut 20 men so I am sure to go,”. According to Rice, it would cost his parents an extra $40,000 a year for him to continue to attend Auburn after being released, and this is a cost they would not have committed to had they known he could be released. He also mentions that they already have a lease agreement for housing next year with his parents as co-signers which he would not be able to break.

He then explains how it is too late for him to enter the portal, but it is “cost prohibitive to remain without all the financial benefits of being an athlete.”

Rice ends his letter telling the court, “you must consider the thousands of us that will be in the same position and allow us to be “grandfathered in” since we made decisions for our future based on circumstances that were previously set in stone!”

Rice is previously from Texas, coming from Lakeside Aquatic Club in Flower Mound. He has only competed in one meet for Auburn this year, the Georgia Tech Invitational, where he placed 24th in the 100 free at 44.97 and 25th in the 200 free at 1:38.70.

These were both slight adds from his best times of 44.76 in the 100 and 1:38.57 in the 200. He also swam on Auburn’s ‘D’ 400 free relay, leading off in 44.88, their ‘D’ 400 medley relay, again leading off in 49.15 on the backstroke, and their ‘E’ 200 free relay where he went 20.55.

Auburn currently has 44 men on their roster. 11 of those swimmers are seniors or graduate students, but they have already signed 10 on for next year. The SEC roster cap has reportedly been finalized at 22 athletes, which means a significant number of men would need to be cut to reach this limit.

Schools do not need to meet the swimming roster limit by the start of the school year, they just need to be compliant by their first meet of the season. This year Auburn’s first meet was October 11th.

82
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

82 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Michelle Guziec
23 days ago

So if I understand Keaton’s very valid position, will this ruling not, at a minimum, require schools to uphold their “contracts”/”Scholarships for the duration of those cut? This is disturbing on so many levels, not the least of which is that these roster caps place an unfair burden on young male swimmers. Males peak, I believe, around 22-23 whereas females see theirs much earlier, around 16. Female swimmers, therefore, are judged for a roster spot on a level playing field whereas graduating HS male swimmers would be compared to those closer to peak. The vast majority of “points” are earned by upperclassmen swimmers and if rosters are limited, any coach would base his decision on ability to score points right… Read more »

JuJu
Reply to  Michelle Guziec
23 days ago

Very well stated. This is also why we are seeing tons of public universities and big name programs go with international swimmers who are 21-22 years old and entering as freshman. If you take a look at public universities, you will see the roster numbers for American males is diminishing.

Water Reflects Life
25 days ago

If you care about preserving opportunities in swimming and diving, now is the time to act! Here’s what you can do to help influence roster caps. Please let me know if you have other ideas.

Write to Judge Wilken: Share your concerns about the impact of reduced roster caps on young athletes and Olympic sports. Let her know why preserving opportunities matters.
Address:
The Honorable Claudia Wilken
1301 Clay Street
Oakland, CA 94612

Contact Your Athletic Director and University President: These are the key decision-makers who can push for fairer roster caps. Let them know that adhering to the 30-roster cap is essential for the future of our sport. SEC supporters — let them know 22… Read more »

Parent of Collegiate D1 Swimmer
Reply to  Water Reflects Life
25 days ago

There was a zoom informational call this morning with a law firm helping athletes submit an official objection letter. Strength in numbers matter. (Attorney Tom Wiegand at MoloLamken) My email is [email protected] and I can send you contact info. Mr. Wiegand is not recruiting, he is helping athletes and parents who reach out to him.

Bevo
26 days ago

Momentum is building to revisit these decisions. Track & Field and Swimming and Diving have strong cases to request the House numbers as a minimum. A three year adoption to final figures has historical support as Title IX legislation allowed.

Qqq
26 days ago

“Dear Keaton, swim faster” – Judge Wilkin

SwimDad
Reply to  Qqq
26 days ago

He swam fast enough to be sought after by an SEC school, get a scholarship, work out financing, organize living arrangement, choose his major all BEFORE some arbitrary roster limit was imposed not based on anything that was ever agreed to before joining this school.

Former Swimmer
Reply to  SwimDad
25 days ago

It’s making swimming more competitive now. If you don’t want the sport to get faster or more competitive, than you aren’t an advocate or fan of our sport. This Freshman at Auburn could still get some really good $$$ at a different school. He can break out of his lease agreement. And, it is definitely not too late to enter the transfer portal. And he should just swim faster if he wants to keep his spot.

SwimDad
Reply to  Former Swimmer
25 days ago

I think being in favor of eliminating ~50% of spots at Auburn and in other D1 swim programs is not exactly being an advocate for ‘our’ sport. None of House vs. NCAA settlement was done with swimming in mind. This is an unintended consequence and Keaton is brave for speaking up. Unfortunate to see former swimmers who had the benefit of having their whole career with larger roster limits, now sit back and say “Yes! this is great, swim faster.”.

Moopy
Reply to  Former Swimmer
25 days ago

Grandfathering in the current swimmers and those verbally promised a spot last recruiting season isn’t going to slow down the sport – godforbid. The current roster cuts will disrupt young peoples lives beyond what is reasonable. Kids can’t just pack up and move to another university after they have started at somewhere else. That’s ridiculous.

YES
Reply to  Moopy
25 days ago

I haven’t seen a comment referring to the “student” aspect of the student-athlete. The setbacks these student-athletes have faced that chose to transfer when their program was shut down is crazy. 1-2 additional years of school because the incoming school didn’t accept their credits toward their major. If you’re going to cut sophomores, juniors and seniors, then you’re probably cutting them from the sport altogether, rather than risk leaving a University that they chose to attend academically and athletically.

Concerned Parent
Reply to  Former Swimmer
22 days ago

This is not about just entering the transfer portal and trying to find a spot elsewhere. These kids made decisions and commitments to the school, foregoing other opportunities elsewhere. Bonds were made with the school, the team and the coaches. Now go do this again because we need to pay NIL money to athletes who played at a time when this wasn’t an option? Yes, progress is being made but at what cost. There is a trickle down effect. Verbal commitments are being pulled, smaller Division I and Division II school are not recruiting because they are going to try to cherry pick the transfer portal with Division I cuts. Its taking away opportunities for kids to even have a… Read more »

Qqq
Reply to  SwimDad
25 days ago

Totally get that and the change in goalposts after commitment and attendance sucks for those kids. But going forward the money that comes from the professionalization of college sports comes with a coincident professionalization of performance. If there’s 20 spots you need to continually show that you are worthy of that top 20. Silver lining is getting screwed by the process where the employer has all the power is good practice for the current job market.

SwimDad
Reply to  Qqq
25 days ago

Appreciate the acknowledgement that it sucks for those kids. The number is estimated at 25,000 kids across all sports who will be cut according to Sports Illustrated. Rather than just accept that fact, this kid was willing to speak up against something that him and most feel is unjust. So another silver lining is that he can come and read these comments and see just how supportive the swim community is to one another. At this point, just let football and basketball keep all the money.

Swim mom
26 days ago

Thank you for speaking up Keaton. All affected swimmers should be joining this battle. This case is devastating for existing swimmers and will have the potential to ruin our sport at the college level.

Carrie
26 days ago

We are missing the point, opportunities. These kids don’t have the opportunity to transfer. Even if he could enter the portal there are only 22 spots for men. Why? Football has an insane amount of players enough for a 3 & 4th string. Swimming has 13 events plus relays depending on the meet structure. With swimmers being limited to 2 events and a relay 22 is barely enough to cover the roster.

Some of you claim that he didn’t swim much so it isn’t a lost for auburn. What about that 3rd and 4th string football player who doesn’t play at all his whole college career or maybe his senior year? How many red shirt in the other sports?… Read more »

swimgeek
Reply to  Carrie
26 days ago

Money. That’s your answer. The SEC has a *$7 billion* contract with ESPN, and it’s not bc of swimming.

Former Swimmer
Reply to  Carrie
25 days ago

Some BIG10 teams have been reported to have 30 roster spots next year. 22 is for SEC. He can transfer to a different conference and maybe make a bigger impact. Auburn is also ranked 14th by the CSCAA in Division I. At a school like LSU or Texas A&M he may have more of an impact and make an SEC roster. I think this swimmer needs to ask himself what kind of role he wants to play on a team and what’s going to be best for his development moving forward.

Scott
Reply to  Carrie
25 days ago

Even for football, the roster limits are significantly changing the sport. Reducing the size of the roster most greatly impacts freshmen and sophomores, as they don’t get time to develop. You either have to be an immediate rockstar or not on the team.

Freddie
26 days ago

Without roster caps, more teams will just be cut. Be careful what you wish for.

Odie
Reply to  Freddie
26 days ago

No one is arguing about the roster caps, just to grandfather them in.

applesandoranges
Reply to  Odie
25 days ago

So, basicially he wants the can to be kicked down the road to let another set of freshmen deal with the issue.

Crooked lane lines
Reply to  applesandoranges
25 days ago

Atleast they won’t be blind sided?

SwimDad
26 days ago

Great job Keaton! Everyone who is against the roster cuts is aware that cuts can exist in college for performance or broken rules etc.. These roster limits due to House vs. NCAA only are happening because of the settlement. So yes, they are unfair and something that NO athlete could have planned for or expected.