Here's another interesting twist to this topic that seemingly doesn't get discussed or considered much... a real and unbiased scenario...
D1 school does their typical recruiting. Most athletic $ goes to P's and select few others (as someone else pointed out above). So, most returning and new position players are relying on academic $. The roster sits at 40 in the fall. The staff did not nail it this year in their recruiting efforts. A few freshman were assured a roster spot but no athletic $ and it turns out they are not as good as expected. The staff will have to get the roster down to 35 by spring. They will have to let go a few upperclassmen who are better players than those freshmen and more likely to contribute but are no longer part of the new group that was assured a roster spot.