COLUMBUS, Ohio -- When football recruits at Ohio State sign their National Letters of Intent Wednesday, they should have greater guarantees about their future than ever before in the modern era of college sports.

Buckeyes, as well as players at most -- if not all -- Big Ten schools and some other programs around the country, are signing four-year scholarships instead of renewable one-year scholarships, as has been the standard. After an NCAA rule change, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany encouraged conference schools to offer four-year grants. Administrators from the SEC and the MAC told The Plain Dealer their conferences haven't taken a position and left the decision to schools.

For those players getting four-year deals, the change may not be noticed, but the move offers greater protection, preventing schools from revoking their scholarships if they don't perform on the field. That particularly can be an issue after a coaching change. Ramogi Huma, president of the National Collegiate Players Association, said his group takes calls from players every year who thought their scholarships were for four years right up until they weren't renewed.

"Some may look at it and say it's symbolic," said Chad Hawley, the Big Ten's associate commissioner for compliance. "In the vast majority of cases with a one-year grant, if student-athletes came in and did what they needed to do, it was renewed. But at the same time, I think there's a peace of mind that goes beyond symbolism."

Thus, Wednesday is something of a landmark. Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith said the Buckeyes are extending the four-year offers only for football, but at least the players who make the most money for their schools are getting a little something back. (Smith did say the four-year scholarships still can be revoked for academic failings or off-field violations.)

The four-year plan

What you need to know about multi-year scholarships.

• In October, the NCAA made them possible, but not required. However, enough schools protested that a final vote on the matter will be held in February. For now, though, the rule is in place.

• Previously, scholarships were for one year at a time, though most were renewed. Still, players were in danger of having their scholarships pulled if they were not playing well.

• The Big Ten asked schools to make four-year offers to football players for National Signing Day. Ohio State is definitely doing so. The SEC and the MAC, for instance, took no position, leaving the decision up to each school.

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"We're in this window of reform," Smith said, "and this is the start of it."

But the path to reform is a winding one, filled with dead ends and potholes. This started in October when the NCAA forwarded a plan to make multi-year scholarships permissible, but not required. That was coupled with a plan to increase scholarships by $2,000, a move that got more attention.

Both ideas got pushback. Enough schools were against the $2,000 stipend that, though it was applied to scholarships awarded in November, it has since been suspended and will be reconsidered by the NCAA in April. Smith expects it to pass, but in a different form.

Many schools also came out against the multi-year scholarship plan, enough to require a vote on the full membership in February. However, there weren't as many objections as there were to the $2,000 move, so it was not suspended. Smith expects that February vote to pass the multi-year idea. Most of the powers at the NCAA support the multi-year grants.

When Hawley sat in on an NCAA meeting, the head of the Student-Athlete Well-Being working group found that many objections to the plan came because schools said it reduced the flexibility of a new coach to get rid of players who didn't fit his style.

Hawley said the chairman's response was "that's exactly why the legislation should be there."

So supporters are hopeful, but in the meantime, there is this window of change in which the rule is valid but caution and apprehension also remain.

Jackie Mynarski, an associate commissioner of the Mid-American Conference, said the league had not taken a position on the multi-year scholarships. Some MAC schools, with much smaller athletic department budgets than in the Big Ten, are concerned about the financial effect of multi-year offers. But if MAC schools don't offer four-year scholarships, and Big Ten schools do, that could put MAC schools at a disadvantage in luring players.

"It is a concern and it's been a definite point of concern for our coaches," Mynarski said. "We do recruit against Big Ten schools and it's definitely out there as part of the overall recruiting landscape now."

In the Southeastern Conference, money isn't an issue, but some conference coaches, like South Carolina's Steve Spurrier, have come out publicly against multi-year offers, saying players need to continue to earn their way. SEC commissioner Mike Slive, however, has publicly supported multi-year scholarships, and Greg Sankey, the SEC associate commissioner for compliance, said Tuesday that Slive maintains that stance.

However, for now, SEC schools made their own calls without conference input.

"We took the less regulatory approach to see how this is implemented across the country," Sankey said.

For those who support the rights of athletes -- including the founders of oversigning.com, a Web site dedicated to doing away with the practice of teams offering more scholarships than it has and then cutting either recruits or current players -- this move is an obvious one that will prevent coaches from cutting players to cover up misses in recruiting.

Huma called this a small step in the right direction, though he doesn't believe the NCAA is capable of comprehensive reform from within. Still, "it's a win for this recruiting class, at least," he said. "And if the rule stands, it's a solid win for college athletes."

Huma said schools everywhere can unfairly fail to renew scholarships, not just the ones that take the most blame for it. OSU AD Smith, however, said the greatest change needs to take place in other conferences, believing the Big Ten, which does monitor oversigning more closely than any conference, already had safeguards in order.

"For those places that really need the cultural change, this is big," Smith said. "There were some schools that ran players off because of their athletic ability, and so this helps. Now, those schools may not offer multi-year scholarships. But you would hope they would. And you would hope there's pressure that would cause them to do it, because this isn't how we should treat kids.

"But this is not a Big Ten issue, frankly. It's in other places."