Senior Citizens: Seventh-year players in college football

After the UNLV situation this week where Matthew Sluka left over an NIL dispute and UNLV named Hajj-Malik Williams the starter, Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney looks at Williams and even more college football players in their seventh season.

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Rated one notch below five-star status in the 2018 class out of Gardena (Calif.) Serra, Addison originally picked UCLA but was granted his release in the summer following signing day because of an issue with a standardized test score.

The high four-star athlete landed at Oregon where he started playing receiver but then moved to defensive back a few years later. Addison spent six seasons with the Ducks before transferring to UCLA for this final season. He’s third on the Bruins with 14 tackles and a fumble recovery so far.

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An early Auburn lean before the Tigers decided to go in another direction, Hopper looked at Tulane, Western Kentucky and others before the four-star tight end from Roswell, Ga., signed with Boise State. Hopper played for the Broncos for five seasons before transferring to Michigan State.

But Hopper suffered a season-ending injury in the Spartans’ third game against Washington and he was granted a seventh year by the NCAA. He has no catches yet this season.

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A three-star quarterback in the 2018 class out of Tampa (Fla.) Sickles, McCloud played at South Florida for four seasons where his redshirt freshman year was the best, throwing for 12 touchdowns. He stayed with the Bulls for a few more years before transferring to Arizona, then to James Madison and now he’s closing out his college career at Texas State.

Coming up on his 25th birthday on Nov. 4, McCloud has thrown for 815 yards with nine touchdowns and three INTs so far this season.

Miami and Michigan were the other main contenders in Reese’s recruitment but the mid-level four-star from Vero Beach, Fla., chose Florida in the summer before his senior season. Ranked as the fourth-best inside linebacker in the 2018 class, Reese played five seasons for the Gators before transferring to Cal for his final two years.

He has two tackles in three games for the Golden Bears this season.

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Playing in 41 games over four seasons at USC and two at Fresno State before transferring for a final year at James Madison, Scott was a four-star linebacker out of Harbor City (Calif.) Narbonne in the 2018 class.

Through three games this season, Scott has totaled 10 tackles. He was a Rivals250 member and the seventh-best ILB in his class.

Sutton is the unique example of signing with one program and staying there for his entire college career as he’s now in his seventh season at Rutgers. In 2018, the three-star offensive guard from Towson (Md.) Calvert Hall redshirted after four games. He played six in 2019, the 2020 COVID year did not count against eligibility, he was injured after three games in 2021, missed the entire 2022 year with injury and then played nine games in 2023 before being a big contributor for the Scarlet Knights in his final season.

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An unranked dual-threat quarterback from Atlanta (Ga.) Hapeville Charter, Williams signed with Army but then went to the U.S. Military Academy Prep before leaving there and spending five seasons at Campbell.

Williams then transferred to UNLV for this season where he was expected to be the backup to Matthew Sluka, who left this week over an NIL situation, and now Williams is expected to start this weekend against Fresno State. He hasn’t thrown a pass yet this season.