NCAA Removes Signing Class Limits for 2 Years

[W.E.D 11,070]

This is a big enough topic for this board since it's such a major change.

 

[WarTim 3,456]

Wonder how the uaters will use this to cheat even more???

[au302 2,669]

47 minutes ago, WarTim said:

Wonder how the uaters will use this to cheat even more???

Charlie5 over on locked on said it well imo. Instead of wondering how it will benefit UAT, let's consider how it could benefit us. You can now process out any guys that aren't cutting it without losing their scholarship. Gonna be wild, but it should go both ways with the portal 

[AUcivE09 582]

Sign everyone and hold tryouts for the summer before making cuts. Willing to bet we see this.

[Tony4AU 386]

14 minutes ago, AUcivE09 said:

Sign everyone and hold tryouts for the summer before making cuts. Willing to bet we see this.

Is there a certain date the 85 ship limit kicks in? Still have that cap 

[GunsmithAU 383]

I love seeing Auburn fans bitch about Saban cheating to win instead of just being the best college coach if all time. 

Their shady dealings are no better or worse than ours or any other programs. 

Well except maybe the U, but that's just a wet dream to have gotten to be part of that. 

[80Tiger 899]

Sounds great except we can’t fill our existing slots now

[Didba 5,256]

1 hour ago, GunsmithAU said:

I love seeing Auburn fans bitch about Saban cheating to win instead of just being the best college coach if all time. 

Their shady dealings are no better or worse than ours or any other programs. 

Well except maybe the U, but that's just a wet dream to have gotten to be part of that. 

I don't see many of our players driving dodge chargers like the Bama players have been since Saban got there.

[ThurstontheWelshCorgi 576]

1 hour ago, GunsmithAU said:

I love seeing Auburn fans bitch about Saban cheating to win. 

 

Ftfy

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,641]

Yeah the idea of "cheating" should've left the door when the NIL walked in. Not to mention the difference b/t Alabama bending the rules for a couple recruits is going from some divine, far away #1 class to a #2 or #3. It's not like Auburn would've been rolling out more talented rosters if we had the same budget for recruiting that they did in the 2010s. 

[GunsmithAU 383]

1 hour ago, Didba said:

I don't see many of our players driving dodge chargers like the Bama players have been since Saban got there.

Then you aren't watching very closely. I've seen and know of mid tier baseball guys getting big money. Decent starters for football getting more than I made in a year. 

I knew the players. I knew the boosters who were giving the money, benefits. 

It was excessively obvious and noticable after 2010. 

Every major program has paid players for years. Saban is just a better coach than anyone else and was given the perfect situation between program history, control, money, etc to create something great. 

This perpetual cry if cheating is a terrible, head in the sand look. 

[Mikey 16,550]

5 hours ago, au302 said:

Charlie5 over on locked on said it well imo. Instead of wondering how it will benefit UAT, let's consider how it could benefit us. You can now process out any guys that aren't cutting it without losing their scholarship. Gonna be wild, but it should go both ways with the portal 

A team never lost a scholarship when a  player left. Someone over there isn't understanding what's been done. It's not all that drastic. We already had 32 scholarships available this year. We still have five open slots.

5 hours ago, AUcivE09 said:

Sign everyone and hold tryouts for the summer before making cuts. Willing to bet we see this.

The limit on signees is 32. You cannot "sign everyone". AU had 32 slots this season. We still have five un-filled slots.

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Mikey

[au302 2,669]

26 minutes ago, Mikey said:

A team never lost a scholarship when a  player left. Someone over there isn't understanding what's been done. It's not all that drastic. We already had 32 scholarships available this year. We still have five open slots.

The limit on signees is 32. You cannot "sign everyone". AU had 32 slots this season. We still have five un-filled slots.

 

May have mistated/understood. I was under the impression that if you theoretically lost 40 guys between graduation, transfer, etc., you could only bring in 32 max, so there were situations where you were guaranteed to be under 85. Now we can go over the 5 slots left and take like 7 or 8 to get to 85. Or, if we wanted to be ruthless, cut another 5 from the roster this summer and replace them, etc

[Mikey 16,550]

Just now, au302 said:

May have mistated/understood. I was under the impression that if you theoretically lost 40 guys between graduation, transfer, etc., you could only bring in 32 max, so there were situations where you were guaranteed to be under 85. Now we can go over the 5 slots left and take like 7 or 8 to get to 85. Or, if we wanted to be ruthless, cut another 5 from the roster this summer and replace them, etc

What they have done is raise the initial signee number from 25 to 32. That's all. This past year, it was 25 plus seven transfers for a total of 32. The new rule, as presented at this time, just makes it a total of 32 period without distinguishing between transfers and normal signees. The total number remains 32. If 50 leave, the best a team could do is be "only" 18 short of the 85 limit.

[Mikey 16,550]

PS: It was on ESPN that I saw the initial signee limit was raised to 32. If they are wrong, I'm wrong but they don't normally end up with egg on their face, at least to this extent. @au302

[au302 2,669]

11 minutes ago, Mikey said:

PS: It was on ESPN that I saw the initial signee limit was raised to 32. If they are wrong, I'm wrong but they don't normally end up with egg on their face, at least to this extent. @au302

Thanks. Know you put a lot of time into being on top of these crazy scholarship rules

[Didba 5,256]

2 hours ago, GunsmithAU said:

Then you aren't watching very closely. I've seen and know of mid tier baseball guys getting big money. Decent starters for football getting more than I made in a year. 

I knew the players. I knew the boosters who were giving the money, benefits. 

It was excessively obvious and noticable after 2010. 

Every major program has paid players for years. Saban is just a better coach than anyone else and was given the perfect situation between program history, control, money, etc to create something great. 

This perpetual cry if cheating is a terrible, head in the sand look. 

Its times like these I am reminded that I haven't stepped foot in Auburn since 2016, feels not so long ago.  Thanks.

[keywest 138]

6 hours ago, AUcivE09 said:

Sign everyone and hold tryouts for the summer before making cuts. Willing to bet we see this.

This is basically what Saban has done at bammer from day one. If a bammer player doesn't make the 2 deep chart after his second year on campus, he is processed OUT!

[Tony4AU 386]

7 hours ago, Mikey said:

PS: It was on ESPN that I saw the initial signee limit was raised to 32. If they are wrong, I'm wrong but they don't normally end up with egg on their face, at least to this extent. @au302

 

Well, ESPN may be wrong. Articles I have read say it is now unlimited for two seasons. The 32 limit was the change last year but now changed to unlimited. Guess we need clarification!

[Tony4AU 386]

NCAA article

Division I football teams will not have annual signing and initial counter limits for the next two academic years, the Division I Council decided Wednesday.

Members issued a blanket waiver to allow schools to award scholarships based on the overall counter limit of 85. In the Football Championship Subdivision, the annual equivalency limit of 63 also remains in effect.

The change is intended to address the impact of the one-time transfer exception in the sport and the extended seasons of competition students received due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A short-term solution put in place last fall was scheduled to expire at the end of July. It allowed schools who lost student-athletes to replace seven of them if they left during specific time periods.

"Some schools hadn't given out all their scholarships and felt constrained by the annual limit," said Council chair Shane Lyons, athletics director at West Virginia. "This temporary change provides schools more flexibility and adds opportunities for incoming and current student-athletes to receive aid."

The Football Oversight Committee will collect and review recruiting data during these two years, as well as monitor transfer trends to inform potential future rule changes.

Additionally, Football Bowl Subdivision conferences will no longer have requirements to annually exempt their conference championship game from the maximum number of games a team is allowed in a season.

The Council also made it easier for FBS teams that play FCS opponents to allow the win to count toward its bowl eligibility. Council members reduced the financial aid requirement an FCS opponent needs to satisfy for a win to count toward the FBS team meeting the definition of "deserving team" for bowl eligibility. Instead of 90% of the maximum scholarships per year during a rolling two-year period, the requirement will be 80% of the maximum number of scholarships per year during that rolling two-year period. In 2020, the Council had granted a blanket waiver to allow the 80% requirement to be used.

Additionally, the Council established an exception to the contest status rule for years when the number of deserving teams is smaller than the number of bowl opportunities. If not enough teams qualify under regular criteria, teams will be selected using the following conditions. All teams that meet the first condition must be selected prior to teams that meet the second condition, and so on. The conditions are:

• Schools that would have met the FCS opponent exception but for the fact that one victory was against an FCS opponent that had not met the required scholarship average per year during the previous rolling two-year period (and the team's waiver request was denied).
• A school that participated in 13 regular-season contests and finished the season with six wins and seven losses.
• A school in its final year of reclassification from FCS to FBS that meets other requirements.
• A school that finished its season with a minimum of five wins that count toward the definition of a "deserving team" and a maximum of seven losses but achieved a multiyear Academic Progress Rate that permits postseason participation. Alternates identified pursuant to this condition shall be identified as eligible in descending order based on the multiyear APR.
  • If multiple teams have the same multiyear rate, the school with the highest single-year rate in the most recent reporting year shall be eligible first. A team identified as an alternate must declare whether it will participate in a bowl game. An alternate that declares an intention to participate shall select an available bowl game in which to participate.
  • If a school is unable to participate in a bowl game after accepting a bid, the bowl entity shall select an alternate from among the remaining eligible schools.

This model is similar to the blanket waiver that was approved for the 2021 season and to the legislation that expired in 2020, and it provides additional flexibility when teams are unable to participate in a bowl game after accepting a bid.

Council members also voted to allow schools to begin official preseason football practices 31 days prior to their first game. The decision affords additional flexibility in the preseason without changing the acclimatization period or the 25 on-field practice limit prior to the first game, providing schools the opportunity to provide student-athletes additional rest time.

Other legislative action

Council members also adopted proposals that:

• Prioritize treatment and education over punishment for student-athletes who test positive for cannabinoids during NCAA championships.
• Increase from 23 to 25 the members of the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport.
• Allow schools to provide recruiting materials and send electronic correspondence to women's basketball recruits beginning June 1 at the conclusion of the sophomore year in high school.
• Allow students who have graduated and are seeking a second undergraduate or equivalent degree access to any transfer exception that applies to undergraduate transfer student-athletes.
• Allow women's beach volleyball teams to participate in up to four multiple-day pairs tournaments during the nonchampionship segment and to eliminate the prohibition on missed class time and the restriction to ground transportation associated with the nonchampionship segment.

Additionally, the Council voted to introduce into the legislative cycle a proposal that would make stunt an emerging sport for women.

[Mikey 16,550]

1 hour ago, Tony4AU said:

 

Well, ESPN may be wrong. Articles I have read say it is now unlimited for two seasons. The 32 limit was the change last year but now changed to unlimited. Guess we need clarification!

Apparently what ESPN put out last night was incorrect. They must have been as incredulous as any other rational observer would be.

Thanks for the link. Now there's no limits other than the overall 85 and no holds barred. Why not just call college football "NFL Light" and drop all pretense of the student athlete concept?

[Zeek 16,615]

It is really just a common sense change. I am sure it will be abused in some way or another but teams are still limited to the 85 scholarship limit. What it does is save teams that have absolutely hemorrhaged players. Instead of using up spots that are meant for high school & juco players you're essentially removing the cap for incoming transfers. Auburn in particular benefits from this after losing somewhere near 20 players to the portal; regardless of what role those players played they still have to be replaced. You need depth, practice squad members, etc.

Right now Auburn sits at 78 scholarship players. There is some debate whether or not Jacob Quattlebaum will receive one or not since that was a promise made by the previous staff. Let's assume we're at 79 for now. Auburn can add six more players without having players roll over to the 2023 limit of 25 new "counters" or scholarships. Both high school players and college players were being hurt by these limits.

TL;DR Auburn benefits from this though I'm sure others will abuse it. 

[W.E.D 11,070]

3 hours ago, Mikey said:

drop all pretense of the student athlete concept?

This hasn't been a thing for 30 years if anyone was honest with themselves.  And especially over the last 20 with the proliforation of money conferences and schools got through TV deals and blocked any and all access to sharing it with the players.

[Win4AU 4,052]

As thin as Auburn is on talent from 2 so so recruiting classes and losing a bunch of guys during the transition I say load’em up.  See if you can’t get lucky with some 3 star kids you would have normally not recruited due to the limits.  It’s not really gonna affect the Bama’s and UGAs.  They’ll still rack up 5*s but you only have so many positions and kids will still look for better playing time.  

[IronMan70 3,277]

"Members issued a blanket waiver to allow schools to award scholarships based on the overall counter limit of 85."

That's good, I guess teams will now be able to get their scholly numbers up to 85 no matter how many they may need. I wonder what the date certain for each season will be. Maybe it's just left open.