Per ESPN, Tennessee has 36 commits, NC State has 32, Arizona has 31 and several have 29 including Okie St and Florida St. Rivals numbers are slightly lower. How can a school have so many commits? I thought the NCAA limited the number of new commits to a max of 28 per year with no more than 25 counting toward the current year. The excess would be counted toward the previous years limit as long as it fell under 25. Plus the overriding total limit of 85 must not be exceeded. It may be that they are including greyshirts, players that will enroll but will not participate until the following January at the earliest thus not counting until 2015. Or are they signing players that will not qualify and will not actually enroll this Fall? Butch Jones at Tennessee is pushing the limits of rule interpretation as are a few others.
Tennessee signed 31 today not 36. I assume at least three of them either won't qualify or won't enroll until January.
anything above 25 have to early enroll so they count towards last year I think. gray shirt is what they call it?
Theoretically, it does mean **** since being able to take a larger class in a particular year can be advantageous especially if you are trying to get your program out of a ditch. Further research indicates that a few schools are attempting to utilize some unintended loopholes in the "oversigning" rules instituted a couple years ago. That gives programs that are willing to stretch the rules an unfair advantage until the NCAA adjusts its regulations. It has something to do with the date that financial aid documents are signed. Also, there is a new term, "blue shirts", that covers a new class of players that allow rule stretching. Even though the 85 total limit still applies, the new tricks allow overhauling or catching up faster than intended by the rules.
zork, I am pretty sure that gray shirts are delayed enrolles not early enrollees. Signees can be counted against a previous year if the previous year's count was less than 25 and the 85 total limit is not exceeded. Found this: Grayshirt: A term used in the recruiting process to describe situations in which a student-athlete delays initial enrollment in a collegiate institution to the winter or spring term after the traditional academic year begins. Students who grayshirt often use the fall to take classes part time or choose not to enroll in college at all.
Thanks, OH. The math in the article was confusing but apparently a few coaches understand it. I am constantly amazed at how complicated the scholarship limits are to understand and enforce. No wonder you need a large Recruiting/Personnel staff to keep track of all the regulations to avoid infractions. Blue Shirts - sheesh!!! Maybe they will name the pre-Dec 1 aid signees "Orange Shirts" in honor of the Tenn Volunteers advances in recruiting science.
