If you wandered over to the various recruiting sites on signing day you probably noticed big banners proclaiming Alabama's return to power via the nation's top recruiting class. This is due in large part to the enormous number of recruits that put pen to letter of intent for Nick Saban: 32, a full seven more than the NCAA's yearly limit of 25. Only Miami managed to stretch the boundaries of the rule further, signing 33. Both classes are top five but in are overrated by sheer quantity. Alabama's #1 class is actually #6 by star average; Miami's #4 class is 14th by that metric. Both contain large numbers of players with no chance to qualify this fall; it's all smoke and mirrors.
That's irritating, but Tim Gayle's piece on the massive 'Bama oversigning is disturbing. Gayle crunches the numbers and comes to these conclusions:
- Four to six guys are not going to qualify.
- Four more guys who are marginally useful can plausibly be given medical scholarships and removed from the team.
- Six more scholarships need to be forcibly extracted from somewhere.
Some might argue that no one's really hurt by the practice of oversigning, but this shocking assertion from Bruce Feldman's latest post($) argues otherwise?
One administrator I spoke with said schools also can make it so some player doesn't qualify if they don't need him to, which may sound surprising, but it probably shouldn't at this point.Jesus. That's truly filthy. When this happens a kid who manages to get qualified is shuffled off to a JUCO or prep school because there's not enough room for him. The school who signed him to a letter of intent is screwing him out of a chance to play at an actual D-I school for purely selfish motives.
The NCAA really has to do something about this. Feldman makes a point that the new APR restrictions do impose a cost upon teams that cycle through players willy-nilly, but your APR isn't affected when a kid who signed a LOI with your team doesn't qualify.
The 25-kid limit is a great idea that hurts schools who experience extreme attrition, but it's a paper tiger. Anyone who comes in for the winter semester, either via grayshirt or early enrollment, can count against either class. It's time to stop that and count kids against the class their high school teammates are in. And it's time to limit the number of LOIs schools can accept, and do away with these fictional classes of 30+ that do nothing but prop up egos and damage the careers of kids at the bottom of them.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 3)
1. Seems that "coach" has committed fraud by selling more than he has in stock. He took away their ability to sign with a legitimate program where the intentions are pure. Clearly, according to this article, his intentions are to be sure 6-12 do not make it. Where's the Bear in all of this?
Posted at 10:20AM on Feb 13th 2008 by awshucks
2. Hold on now, isn't there some responsibility on the player to know if 1) he qualifies to be enrolled and 2)where he factors into the class such as depth chart etc?
Don't get me wrong, Saban is setting up some of these kids but the kids have to have some responsibility too.
Posted at 11:08AM on Feb 13th 2008 by Hugo Chavez
3. First of all, Brian, over-signing is a fact of life. It happens every year by every team that can, and it comes down to statistics: some of these players just are not going to qualify. Auburn executed it perfectly last year and over-signed but ended up qualifying exactly as many as they needed.
As for this "star average" metric... you seriously don't think that has any merit, do you? A school gets exactly one recruit to sign, but he's a five star, so they must have the best class in the country? I'm sure in four years when they have players playing both ways they'll be doing really, really well.
You know better, Brian. I'm not sure what you have against Saban, especially given the similarities between him and your new head coach (key difference: Saban didn't try to weasel out of the early termination clauses in his contract.), but this post is embarrassingly naive.
Posted at 11:19AM on Feb 13th 2008 by Pete Holiday
4. I've been reading Fanhouse for a while, and it seems like Brian Cook's writing has gotten ridiculously slanted against the SEC over the past six months. Although he's always provided a slanted perspective (due no doubt to his ties to UM), I really think the quality of his writing has been effected now.
His recent articles make scathing claims about the SEC in the title and first paragraph, but there usually isn't anything unique to teams in the SEC. I'm sorry UM hired a coach marred in scandal, but nobody is fooled by you trying to stir up shit about the SEC to cover this up
Posted at 11:24AM on Feb 13th 2008 by Patrick
5. It is the responsibility of the kid to know whether he qualifies. As far as I can tell that's the really scummy part of what's alleged here. The school tells a kid that he can qualify, and then, when they don't need him, they change the rules so he doesn't qualify.
Otherwise, caveat signer. But notice that coaches specialize in telling seventeen year olds what they to hear. So if a kid winds up buried in the depth chart (or shunted off to a JUCO), it's on him, but it's also on the system.
Rich Rodriguez (or Saban) is forty-four and knows the system he's lived in for all his adult life. The kid he's recruiting is seventeen/eighteen and has been a seriously better athlete than everyone around him all his life. Who bears the bulk of the responsibility in this situation? The adult or the kid.
As a UM grad, I was pleased that the worst UM football team since the mid-eighties beat Florida this year to further pad its record against SEC teams, and I'm really pleased to note that UM is one of the two best public university in academics. But I don't pretend that any university engaged in big time college sports isn't a part of a corrupt system that exploits teenagers to make adults millions of dollars.
Good on you, Brian.
Posted at 11:56AM on Feb 13th 2008 by Patrick Dolan Jr.
6. All of you Bama haters need to back off this issue. Worry about your own program. Without going into specifics about who has already agreed to pay their own way (state tuition in Alabama is extremely cheap) or attend Bama on another type of scholarship (which would make said player a walk-on, no limit to those) Saban has a plan that is perfectly legal. Don't you dumbasses think he has it covered? He has done nothing wrong. Bama has done nothing wrong. Piss off! Stop speculating about what you don't know and trust that Nick Saban is managing HIS team legally and fairly.
Posted at 11:56AM on Feb 13th 2008 by Mike
7. It's "affected", Patrick, not "effected". And you should take Brian's point in context. Out of the six BCS conferences, the SEC is the worst when it comes to oversigning and attrition to account for oversigning. Brian and Orson (EDSBS) did the research a while back:
http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2007/02/23/coming-or-going-southeastish/
http://mgoblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/coming-or-going-westnorth-ish.html
You'll note that Orson's the one who looked at the SEC and found that the SEC is the worst offender. And you're right, oversigning/attrition isn't unique to the SEC. The Big 12's not so great, and neither is the Big East. And Oregon State's sketchy as all get out. But Alabama's far from clean, as is the rest of the SEC (save Vandy).
Pete - just because "over-signing is a fact of life" doesn't mean it's a good thing, or immune from criticism. And, by the way, saying "some of these players just are not going to qualify" is the same as saying "some schools have less-than-the-minimal-standards for recruiting" and should be criticized for chasing recruits who can't qualify. That the SEC seems to do it more than other conferences is something that deserves to be pointed out, highlighted, and criticized.
Posted at 12:14PM on Feb 13th 2008 by G
8. Firstly, the whole premise of this article is incorrect. What makes you think that a team with 25 available scholarships oversigns anymore players than a team with 15 available scholarships? I know for a fact that USC and OSU dont intend for 19 players to show up in the fall. Therefore, arent they as guilty as Saban is in this case?
Posted at 12:44PM on Feb 13th 2008 by James
9. Tisk, tisk. I believe you do protest too much and for illogical reasons.
Fact: Division I football scholarships are rewenable on a yearly basis. The fact that you had one this year does not automatically guarantee one for next year. Same for academic scholarships. If you can't meet the requirements that each type of scholarship entails, then you risk losing your ride. These players can either attempt to walk-on and earn their scholarship back, or pay their own way.
Was it unfair that I came form a lower class background and ended up having to join the Army to fully remove myself from a bad situation? Perhaps, but then again I could have been born into a much better or far worse situation. Life is neither fair nor unfair. It just Is.
Posted at 12:45PM on Feb 13th 2008 by bamagrad
10. Pete, are you a moron or are you just stupid? there isn't a single class in that metric that has less than 15 players. If you get 15 5-star players and no one else, you're doing better than a team with 30 3-star players or 20 4-stars
Posted at 1:53PM on Feb 13th 2008 by Drakoi1
11. bamagrad: "Division I football scholarships are rewenable on a yearly basis. The fact that you had one this year does not automatically guarantee one for next year."
Yeah, that's the attitude prevalent in the SEC that isn't as prevalent in the rest of the country and that deserves criticism. In other places - whose treatment of these guys is better than in the SEC - recruitment of a young man means that you keep him on scholarship for at least four years unless you have to medical scholarship him (Prothro, for example).
James: "What makes you think that a team with 25 available scholarships oversigns anymore players than a team with 15 available scholarships? I know for a fact that USC and OSU dont intend for 19 players to show up in the fall. Therefore, arent they as guilty as Saban is in this case?"
How do you know for a fact that USC and OSU don't intend for all of the players they've inked to LOI's to show up in the fall? Care to back that up? Also, the post's premise is not incorrect, because Nick Saban got 32 LOIs. That's seven over the maximum. Seven. You asserting that USC and OSU intend for seven of the guys they've signed not to show up? If not, then even assuming you're correct that they're playing the over, they're not nearly as bad as Saban.
Posted at 1:57PM on Feb 13th 2008 by G
12. So, Brian, the topic of your article is oversigning. In your first paragraph, you state that Miami is the most guilty of this "offense", yet you don't even mention the practices of Randy Shannon.
Your focus on Saban reveals how threatened you are....you and all the other haters out there with unwarranted attacks on Nick and Bama. You can at least mask your fear by bringing up other and more relevant coaches/schools.
Posted at 2:02PM on Feb 13th 2008 by BamaATL
13. Miami's class does not contain "large numbers of players with no chance to qualify this fall"
Miami ended up enrolling 9 kids in the spring semester, many of whom will count against the previous class (which only featured 18 signees). So, at most Miami stands to lose 2-3 players to qualification issues.
Posted at 2:10PM on Feb 13th 2008 by Kevin
14. Man, let a conference dominate college football for a few years and watch all the jealous "little brothers" show up to bitch and moan about why the big "bully" doesn't play fair!! You guys are pathetic! How many kids are recruited from up north to SEC schools and how many northern schools recuit kids from southeastern states. Hell, there are more kids from Fla. alone recruited by northern schools than ALL SEC schools recruit kids from up north. Why is the SEC better? You figure it out...geniuses.
Posted at 2:33PM on Feb 13th 2008 by Mike Ward
15. If you (the writer) knew your facts you would know that rating services only use the top 25 recruits in their team rankings.
Posted at 5:16PM on Feb 13th 2008 by T D Sanders
16. It's obvious you don't know how Rivals conducts their rankings. They only take into account the top 20 recruits in their rankings. In fact, oversigning actually hurt Alabama in overall points, so your point is null. Nice try though.
Posted at 6:09PM on Feb 13th 2008 by Nick
17. Fact: 2 of the recruits graduated early from HS and are enrolled at UA now. They counted against last the 2007 class. Of the 5 remaining 2 will be grayshirted to count against 2009. Expect 2 to come in on a Bryant scholarship available through the Bear Bryant Foundation for kids of former players (many kids have been educated on a Bryant scholarship, including non athletes, male and female, and the son of TCU player Kent Waldrop who broke his neck against Bama in 1970's). The 1-2 may not qualify. These recruits have exceptionally high grades -- check the record. Most are from private schools. The football team had the highest cumulative GPA this year ever - thanks to Saban's emphasis on academics. Shula had a dismal record on academics -- and check out Shula's non qualifiers.
Posted at 6:43PM on Feb 13th 2008 by Optimist
18. You've got a lot of nerve talking about another school's coach being a snake oil saleman when you've got coach rod coaching your team. I'm amazed he found time to recruit between shredding files and trying to weasel out of paying his agreed to buyout in his contract. Stick to blogging about the maze and blue. This just makes you look like a whinny poor sport.
Posted at 6:43PM on Feb 13th 2008 by Clay
19. As a Michigan fan, I am insanely jealous of Alabama's successes. I assume all the others are, too.
Posted at 7:35PM on Feb 13th 2008 by gonoles36
20. Nick Saban is the most evil man in college football? Really! What exactly has the man done that qualifies as evil in Feldman's esteemed opinion? Feldman is so hell bent with his hatred of Bama, Saban, and the SEC in general that he loses all credibility with the rest of the article. Every program oversigns. Show me one program over the last 10 years that hasn't oversigned at least once. You can't! Also, of the 32 Bama signed 2 are early enrollees and that brings the number to 30. 2 players likely will go on medical scholarship due to a heart condition and diabetes and then the number shrinks to 28. This was done with Tyrone Prothro and every year teams have players that go on medical scholarship due to injuries or health conditions that end their careers. But I digress. Out of 28 signees there is no way all of them will qualify. We already know that one player who signed with his brother will not qualify and is already planning on his juco route. So realistically Bama will probably have less than 25 and more likely 22-23 players that will actually qualify, 2-3 under the yearly 25 man limit. In any event we are left with 27 recruits to qualify after the early enrollees, the 2 med qualifiers, and the 1 obvious juco route player. If all 27 qualify(and they won't)then the worst case scenario is if 2 or 3 players have to grayshirt or pay their own way for 1 stinking semester. So what's the big deal? And even this is likely to not happen. The bottom line is that Nick Saban, Randy Shannon, and all other coaches and their assistants know a hell of a lot more about what the hell their numbers are in their own football program than this guy Bruce Feldman. Who the hell is this guy to have the arrogance to believe that he knows the numbers better than a program's own coach? Unfreakingbelievable!
Posted at 8:51PM on Feb 13th 2008 by bama12