boolaHI, I believe you meant 5 years to play 4.
In the 1970s, the NCAA changed the scholarships to be just for one year, renewable. It wasn’t so much that the player lost his scholarship as that he wasn’t offered another. Just last year the rule has changed at the Dl power conferences and the schools can now offer 4 year scholarships again. Only a few have started doing so, and if it were important to the really good athletes, they’d demand them but they don’t. If the athlete has less than a full scholarship, he’s usually hoping for more in the later years. Even with the 4 year scholarships, the coach can revoke them for behavior and academic issues. They are exactly iron clad contracts.
My daughter didn’t just arrive on campus and meet the others on her team. She signed in Nov so spent from Nov to Aug texting and getting to know these girls. They roomed together, hung out together, ate together. Some she liked, others she wanted to hit with a stick, but I guess there is bonding in going through boot camp together. I’m sure that this Penn State recruit had put more than 2 weeks into the relationships. The coaches had probably been to him home, he’d been to campus, he’d been to camps with these players over the years.