When people talk about post-high school athletics, Divisions I, II and III often get the most attention. But there is another level that can often be forgotten: The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), sometimes referred to as playing JUCO.
JUCO has programs for a variety of sports and is split up into Division I, II and III JUCO, with I being the best and so on.
JUCO is designed for athletes who are academically ineligible and need to get their grades up to play regular college sports at any level, mostly Division I. It’s also for students who have the potential to eventually play at that level, but are still developing and growing.
“Personally, at both of my junior colleges, they were a bunch of dudes that really had one goal,” said Ethan Glossa, a 2021 alumnus of Oak Park and River Forest High School who played varsity baseball. “The goal was to work their butt off for the next two years and develop into the best ball player they could be. Pretty much all we did was practice and work every day.”
Glossa didn’t really get to play his junior and senior years of high school due to COVID-19. He is currently in his first year at John Carroll University, a NCAA Division III school, playing baseball. His freshman year he redshirted at Rock Valley Community College, which is Division II JUCO, and then played two years at Herkimer College, a Division III JUCO school.
Redshirting in the NCAA is when a player is not officially rostered but practices with the team and can play only up to a certain number of games to be able to have four years of eligibility left. Redshirting in JUCO is where you practice with the team but don’t play any games.
“I chose JUCO because I wanted to play right away,” said Glossa. “When you look at these schools nowadays, kids aren’t stepping onto the field until their junior years . This would drive me crazy because I couldn’t imagine not playing in a baseball game consistently for two years.”
He added, “Junior college helped me grow up fast and mature in more than just the baseball aspect of life. Out of junior college I also had much more opportunities than I did out of high school.”
Kendall Wallace, a senior who currently plays baseball at OPRF, said he is planning to play JUCO next year at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). The Division III NJCAA program “felt a lot like OPRF to me, so I knew I could be more comfortable there and find out what I want to do there,” he said.
Wallace has been successful on the baseball field, coming into his second year of varsity as an outfielder and pitcher who also plays for an elite travel program called Chicago Hustle. Besides MATC, he received a couple of Division II offers and one Division I offer, for little scholarship money, he said.
The ideal path for a JUCO player is to play two years of JUCO, then transfer to a Division I or II college. Once there, they can redshirt for a year and play four years–the maximum amount of time that an NCAA athlete is eligible to compete.
In December, the NCAA issued a waiver allowing an additional year of eligibility for student athletes who competed at the junior college level, according to ESPN.
The rule came after a quarterback from Vanderbilt University named Diego Pavia sued the NCAA, claiming that his JUCO years shouldn’t count against his eligibility. Doing so would limit his ability to profit from his name, image and likeness (NIL), he argued. The court agreed in a Dec. 23 ruling.
That said, it’s not always easy for players to maximize their playing time. Not many players end up redshirting their freshman year at a Division I college, according to John Hoerster, the varsity head football coach at OPRF. Often, after the player plays four games, “the player and the coach run into a little conflict, where the player might say ‘Hey coach, I’ve played my fourth game, I don’t want to give up my redshirt, so I don’t want to play anymore.’ The coach might say, ‘Well, we need you to play.’”
Hoerster added that, depending on the college, the athlete’s skill and what the coach wants for the athlete, “the coach may say that either you play, or you should go to the portal and find another place to go.”
In addition, the chances of going from JUCO to Division I are slim. Many students have the same goal, and only the best make it. However, there have been examples of past OPRF students going from JUCO to a Division 1 school, including a running back Jaden McGill, who played at College of DuPage, a Division III JUCO school, and currently is playing at Middle Tennessee State, a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) Division 1.
There are many different opinions as to whether JUCO is a good idea. According to Hoerster, “It’s not a normal college experience. These are all students who are not necessarily looking to create any sort of relationships or bonds or community, they don’t necessarily care about winning.” He explained3 how these athletes are there for themselves and only want positive highlights and statistics, which according to Hoerster “makes it not the most healthy environment.”
But then again, for others it’s the right choice. Wallace, who hopes to play baseball at The University of Mississippi, said, “I’m excited for that JUCO grind. I’m very competitive, and I know being there I’ll have something to prove. Going out and working hard on and off the field is my main goal. I’m excited for the JUCO route and think it’ll be very beneficial for me to succeed in the long run.”
So, junior college may help students become more eligible for the top level, but then again “you have to ask yourself what you’re looking for in the experience,” said Hoerster.
