66,456
players on 11,964 active college rosters are in their final listed season. That is 21.9% of all 303,441 rostered players across D1, D2, D3 and NAIA.
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Major directoryYour major and your sport in one list Camp directoryID camps and showcases at college programs Conference directoryEvery conference and its member collegesWe read the current roster of 11,964 college programs across every sport we track to count every senior and graduate student, by division, sport and position. The result is a program-by-program picture of where college roster spots are opening up for the class of 2027.
Published October 2026 · Roster data from official athletics websites · Free to cite with a link
The short version. Every figure below is calculated from current rosters, and each one is explained in full further down the page.
players on 11,964 active college rosters are in their final listed season. That is 21.9% of all 303,441 rostered players across D1, D2, D3 and NAIA.
of D1 roster spots belong to seniors and grad students, against 19.5% at D3. 763 D1 programs (17.2%) have at least 35% of their roster in a final season.
of D1 departures are graduate students. At D3 the figure is 3.7%. In D1 football it reaches 30.8%.
team sports have every position turning over within five points of each other. Openings follow roster shape, not position: baseball loses 5.3 pitchers per program and 1.0 catcher.
of women's basketball programs lose no center at all, and so do 60.9% of men's programs. Specialists face the tightest market in college sports.
Across every sport, 25.1% of D1 rostered players are seniors or graduate students. D2, D3 and NAIA sit close together at around one in five. Rosters are similar in size everywhere, about 25 players on average, so the difference comes from who is on them.
Share of roster spots is total final-season players divided by total rostered players in that division. "Programs at 35%+" is the share of programs with at least 35% of their current roster in a final season.
Graduate students make up 19.5% of D1 departures, compared with 3.7% at D3. At D1, a roster read that only counts seniors misses roughly one departure in five.
Share of each sport's D1 final-season players who are graduate students. In D1 football, nearly one departing player in three is a grad student.
Baseball has the highest share of players in a final season at 26.8%. Women's Wrestling has the lowest at 13.7%. Most sports land between 20% and 24%.
Sports with at least 40 programs in the data. "Per program" is the average number of final-season players on each roster. D1 men's basketball has the highest D1 rate of any sport at 28.3%, and football has the widest gap between D1 (26.9%) and D3 (16.3%).
Families often ask which position has the most openings. The rate barely changes by position. In 10 of the 13 team sports we measured, the fastest and slowest positions are within five percentage points. What changes is how many players each position carries.
Pitchers and catchers are in a final season at nearly the same rate. Because a typical roster carries 18.3 pitchers and 3.9 catchers, a program loses about 5.3 pitchers and 1.0 catcher. Only 2.4% of programs lose no pitcher.
Each bar runs from the position with the lowest final-season rate to the highest. Utility and designated hitter groups are left out because few rosters list them.
When a roster carries only two or three players at a position, many programs have nobody there in a final season. Six of the specialist positions we measured have no final-season player at half of all programs or more.
A goalkeeper, setter or center needs a longer list of schools than a field player.
If 44% of women's soccer programs lose no goalkeeper this year, a keeper who targets ten schools may find that only five or six have a real opening. Check each roster at your position before you build the list, and widen it if your position is on this chart.
Check rosters at my positionFor each sport: the share of players in a final season, the rate and volume at every position, how many programs lose nobody at that position, and links to the roster openings pages for every division.
Football has the widest gap of any sport: 26.9% of D1 players are in a final season against 16.3% at D3, and grad students are 30.8% of D1 departures. Quarterbacks and running backs are the most stable groups, and 29.6% of programs lose no quarterback.
Baseball turns over faster than any other sport at 26.8%. Pitchers bring the volume, 5.3 per program, while 31.4% of programs lose no catcher.
Catcher is the tightest spot in softball. Only 19.4% of catchers are in a final season and 50.0% of programs lose none. Outfield opens fastest at 25.9%.
Field positions sit within about one point of each other. Defenders and midfielders bring about 2.4 openings per program, goalkeepers 0.8, and 39.6% of programs lose no keeper. Grad students are 25.1% of D1 departures.
Rates are nearly flat across positions, between 22.2% and 23.0%. The squeeze is in goal: 44.4% of programs have no goalkeeper in a final season.
D1 men's basketball has the highest D1 rate of any sport at 28.3%. Most rosters carry only 1.6 centers, so 60.9% of programs lose none. Guards bring the most openings at 2.5 per program.
Two in three programs lose no center. Forwards are the most open frontcourt spot at 25.2%, and guards bring the most openings, 2.2 per program.
Setter is the tightest position in the sport: 20.3% in a final season and 47.3% of programs lose none. Opposites turn over fastest at 25.6%, but most programs carry only two.
Midfield is both the fastest-turning group at 26.0% and the deepest, about 5 openings per program. 28.4% of programs lose no goalie.
Defense opens fastest at 26.7%, seven points above midfield at 19.7%. That is one of the widest position gaps in any sport we measured.
Goalkeeper is the squeeze: 53.0% of programs lose none. Defenders turn over fastest at 24.1%, and D1 and D3 rates are almost identical.
Track has a wide division gap: 27.5% of D1 men and 26.8% of D1 women are in a final season, against 19.8% and 17.9% at D3. Distance groups bring the most openings, 4.2 per men's program.
Position groups come from the first position each player lists on the roster. "Per roster" is the average number of players at that position on a current roster. Positions listed by fewer than 40 programs are left out.
Four rules that come straight out of the data.
A program losing nine players may lose none at yours. Count the seniors and grad students listed at your position at every school on your list.
If you play goalkeeper, setter, catcher or center, assume about half the programs on your list will have no opening this year and add schools to cover it.
Graduate students are 19.5% of D1 departures. A senior-only read misses about one opening in five.
Some seniors come back for another season and some underclassmen transfer out. Check the current roster each year you are in the process.
Look up the openings for your sport and division, or run a free roster analysis for one school.
See where athletes from your state go to play, and how many roster spots go to transfers in your sport.
Pathley turns this data into a read built around one athlete. Delivered within 24 hours, one payment, and an expert checks every plan.
See the roster at your position, by class year, for 3, 8 or 15 schools you choose.
See the Roster ReportOne program covered end to end: fit, roster at your position, the coach to email and the outreach.
See the Target School PlanYour 20 to 25 best-fit schools with fit reads, real costs and a dated timeline. Complete adds a roster read and coach email for every school.
See the Recruiting PlanEverything on this page comes from public roster data, collected and cleaned the same way for every program.
Pathley. College Roster Turnover Study, 2026-27 season. Published October 2026. https://www.pathley.ai/college-roster-turnover-study
Journalists, coaches and counselors are welcome to use any figure on this page with a link back to this study. For a custom cut of the data by sport, division or conference, email contact@pathley.ai.
Across 11,964 programs, 21.9% of rostered players are seniors or graduate students in the 2026-27 season. At D1 the figure is 25.1%, about one in four. Some of those players return for another year of eligibility and some underclassmen transfer, so the real number of openings moves each year.
Baseball has the highest share of players in a final season at 26.8%, followed by men's basketball at 25.3%. At D1 alone, men's basketball is highest at 28.3%.
Within a sport, final-season rates are usually within a few points across positions. The positions with the most openings are the ones rosters carry the most of, such as pitchers in baseball, guards in basketball, and defensive backs in football. Specialist positions like goalkeeper, setter and center often have no opening at all at a given program.
Yes. Graduate students make up 19.5% of D1 final-season players, against 3.7% at D3, 13.9% at D2 and 9.0% at NAIA.
From the 2026-27 rosters published on each program's official athletics website, collected and cleaned by Pathley in October 2026. Only active programs with a current roster that lists class years are included.
Updated October 2026 with 2026-27 rosters. Pathley refreshes college rosters every year.