Franck Kepnang seemed all but set to return for the Huskies for another season, but then, suddenly, days into the portal being opened, he submitted his name. He's now one of the top shot blockers in the portal with a ton of experience. Which brings everyone to the same question: "How does Franck Kepnang still have eligibility?"
His first season in college was in 2020. He's played in six total seasons, and he's now working on his seventh. It's an insane number for any college player, even in today's day and age, and yet Washington head coach Danny Sprinkle was pretty confident the NCAA would give him the seventh year. The question is: "How?" The answer isn't as straightforward as you think.
Washington center Franck Kepnang will enter the @TransferPortal, per his representation GVO Sports
— Jamie Shaw (@JamieShaw5) April 14, 2026
The 6-11 grad student started 25 games last season. Finished 2nd in Big Ten in blocks (2.1). https://t.co/xajlcZVfRA pic.twitter.com/eBt1PISE2B
Examining Franck Kepnang's eligibility for his 7th season of college basketball
Related: Washington’s top weakness already solved by Danny Sprinkle’s first portal move
Kepnang played two years for Oregon. In his first season, he played a total of 17 games, and as a sophomore, he played 35. He then struggled with injuries for three straight seasons, playing in 8, 10, and 14 games, respectively. Last season, he appeared in 27.
Thus, according to Kepnang's argument for eligibility, he's only played in two full seasons. However, this is the negative side to his argument. You combine the other games from the other four seasons; he's at 49 games, which is about another 1.5 seasons. So, sure, there's a case for another season, but it's close.
The other thing that helps Kepnang out is that the 2020-2021 season was a "COVID" season. His first year doesn't count against his eligibility. Thus, you can throw those games out and that season out in terms of his eligibility, and now his case gets a whole lot stronger. He can get one COVID year, two years of medical redshirts, and he's due one final season of eligibility.
The bad news is that now he won't be using that year at Washington. He's off to the portal, and Sprinkle is running out of players. He's basically building a brand new team in the portal (again). With Kepnang, he was feeling good about his frontcourt, as most of that was intact. Now, he's crumbling again.
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