"Can someone explain to me how football and basketball players reclass to the grade ahead of them? Have seen a few NCAA basketball and football programs announce kids reclassing from 25 to 24 and its making my head explode"
They just graduate HS earlier in the winter usually so they can get on campus in the spring to participate in the spring workouts (football usually). Basketball is if they have pretty much all the requirements and instead of stretching it for a year and playing a season of HS they can graduate early also like lacrosse they could have reclassed and are going back top their original class