NCAA outlaws Ezekiel Elliott’s crop top jersey look

The NCAA on Thursday passed several new rules including one that will prevent Ezekiel Elliott from wearing the crop top jersey look he has become known for.

AN NCAA Rules Committee met via conference call and made tweaks to personal foul penalties, helmets rules, instant replay, and more. One rule change relates to the uniform/equipment:

Officials will treat illegal equipment issues – such as jerseys tucked under the shoulder pads or exposed back pads – by making the player leave the field for at least one play. The equipment must be corrected for the player to return to the game. The player may remain in the game if his team takes a timeout to correct the equipment issue.

The new rule will most notably affect Elliott, who broke out down the stretch and led Ohio State to a national championship with three straight 200-plus yard games and eight touchdowns in the final three games. Elliott wears his jersey rolled up and joked in October that he does it because he likes to show off his stomach, saying, “I like to have a little midriff showing.”

The real reason is that he doesn’t like defensive players having something to grab onto for tackles.

“I don’t like how long the jerseys are,” Elliott explained. “I don’t want people to be able to grab onto me.”

The way Elliott had his jersey rolled up would violate the rule because it exposes his back pads.

You can see the difference here, which is from the National Championship Game:

OSU RB Ezekiel Elliott's jersey: Crop-top in 1st half, full-length in 2nd half. pic.twitter.com/f2D7Z6Rg0p

— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) January 13, 2015

The abs might be gone next season, but the talent will remain. Elliott rushed for 1,878 yards and 18 touchdowns as a sophomore last season. He proved over the second half of the season that is probably the best play-maker in college football.

H/T Ben Axelrod