Subscribe to the NCSA BlogOversigning by the SEC
June 1st, 2009 - byThe days of football coaches signing non eligible athletes and steering them to nearby junior colleges are over. . On Friday the SEC officially dropped the hammer on its institutions common practice of oversigning players, and most expect the rest of the NCAA to follow. The SEC officially capped the number of players able to sign National Letters of Intent at 28. This comes after a recruiting season where Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt signed 37 players and later joked, “there’s no rule that says we can’t sign 80.”
While he is technically correct, there is no rule on the amount signees only a limit on the size of the actual recruiting class in camp, the practice rubbed many the wrong way. Many of these players were signed when they were knowingly ineligible. Most would prefer schools sign only players that they feel at least have a good chance of making the grade.
How will this affect the overall recruiting landscape? In all likelihood the number of offers made to recruits will decrease. Recruits will also have to prove to coaches that they aren’t a risk of not making the grade and using up a valuable slot.
Receiving a scholarship offer will only become more difficult, recruits need to be prepared to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity.
