When it comes to the NCAA, there are few things that get people fired up more than the uneven way the organization tends to handle transfers. Having said that, there was some to hope the governing body of major collegiate sports was starting to realize the way they were doing things was hurting the people they were supposed to be protecting.

Just last year, the NCAA changed the way it handled redshirts and transfers, making it easier for a player to transfer away from programs they feel are no longer a good fit. One set of player transfers that seemed to have been done the right way for quite a while now, grad transfers might now be getting a change that should have fans shaking their heads.

According to the Associated Press, the NCAA Division I Council is expected to vote this week on a new rule that would absolutely punish players that want to be grad transfers, as well as any school that takes them in. Currently, grad transfers are the equivalent of free agents. They can transfer to any school they want, without having to sit out a year to become eligible.

Changing of NCAA rules means grad transfers will lessen

The thought behind the lack of need to sit out has always thought to have been a kind of reward for a player that has managed to get their degree before they actually ran out of eligibility. It now appears the Council wants to basically tell players that, while they did everything right, everything you would expect from a student-athlete, they will get slapped should they want to continue their athletic careers elsewhere.

The new rule, which is expected not only to be voted on but passed, would make a grad transfer count against a school's scholarship total for two years. They would count against that limit even if the player was only at the new school for one season. To be clear, this would be like a professional football team signing a free agent to a one-year deal, but having to play the season after the contract ran out, with a hole on its roster, even if the player they signed had moved onto another team.

Questioning the motivation of grad transfers

In response to questions as to why the NCAA is looking to penalize players that graduate and then want to transfer, and the schools that accept them, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said the organization wants to make sure players are graduating for the right reasons. “The so-called graduate degree is really not the aspiration," Bowlsby said, "The aspiration is to be featured, and usually featured at a higher level.”

To be sure, the rule was originally put in place for players that wanted to go to another school for an advanced degree.

While that may not be the goal for most, these are still players who are graduating and doing it ahead of schedule. If the rule goes into place, players like Jalen Hurts would be costing the Oklahoma Sooners two scholarships after he transferred from Alabama.

The NCAA definitely wants to slow down what has been a growing tide of transferring players. Trying to do it by singling out grad transfers could backfire.