The changes see Glasgow Warriors' Scottish Rugby Fosroc Academy players aligned more closely with the club for the 2020/21 season.
A total of 15 Stage 3 Fosroc Academy players will be contracted to the club, enabling them to train daily with the professional players and helping them accelerate their development, by being immersed in the pro team club culture earlier and more often in their careers than in recent seasons.
This puts them under the eye of Head Coach Danny Wilson and will make them more readily available for pro team selection and enhance the squad depth.
Whilst being based in the pro team environment, the players will continue to receive specific Academy support through dedicated age-grade specialist coaches, S&C and physios, who will have responsibility to ensure the continued development of these players.
All of the players will have individual player plans and these will also see them training and playing with their Fosroc Super6 team.
The alignment of the Stage 3 players from the Academy to the pro teams creates opportunity moving forward in the national Fosroc Academy to bring in more supported Stage 2 players, who will continue to be selected to one of the four regional Academy hubs in the Glasgow & the West, Edinburgh, Borders & East Lothian and Caledonia.
Scottish Rugby’s Director of Performance Jim Mallinder said: "I think this is a logical and important step to take to further the development of our most talented young players.
"Spending more hands-on time in the pro team environment benefits both the younger player who is effectively learning on the job on a day to day basis and also the pro team which can more closely monitor player development and deepen their squads with home-grown players. This will also allow our next generation of players to be mentored by and learn from our top professional players.
"As we hopefully move into a post-Covid-19 season the reality is we will need to be more self-sufficient in developing our own players locally and ensure they can step up at the right time into the professional ranks. The Fosroc Academy has now got to the point where it can successfully produce players and we need to give them a clear pathway to further their careers and I think this is the right way to go."
Glasgow Warriors currently have 14 players aligned to the club for the season 2020/21 season with one more slot still to be confirmed.
The players aligned to Glasgow Warriors for the 2020/21 season are:
Glasgow Warriors (14 players + 1 still tbc) - club/school at the time of signing
Thomas Lambert - Sydney University*
Angus Fraser - Stirling County
Murphy Walker - Stirling County
Max Williamson - Dollar Academy*
Alex Samuel - Stirling County*
Gregor Brown - Boroughmuir Bears
Rory Jackson - Ayrshire Bulls
Ross Thompson - Ayrshire Bulls
Euan Cunningham - Stirling County*
Robbie MacCallum - Boroughmuir Bears
Michael Gray - Dollar Academy*
Finlay Callaghan - GHK (injured last season, previously at GHK)*
Ollie Melville - Sale Sharks*
Ollie Smith - Ayrshire Bulls
*2019/20 Fosroc Scottish Rugby Academy Stage 3 player