And if grad transfers are interested in those programs, I don’t see an issue.
Forcing legit research programs to accommodate an unqualified student athlete for the sake of athletic success? Yeah, there could be some problems.
If you haven’t done graduate research or independent research (empirical primary research or even secondary), its really hard to know how difficult it is.
Kinda like a person without kids commenting on how whatever they are doing is much harder than parenting. Just doesn’t work.