One of the many topics that will be discussed next week during the SEC league meetings in Destin, Florida, is the oversigning legislation that conference commissioner Mike Slive has drawn up. Initially, Slive would not give the specifics of the legislation, nor would he give any indication about how he felt about oversigning at all.
However, the Athens Banner-Herald has received some initial details about what the legislation will include as it pertains to “roster management” issues. They are (in the Herald’s words):
- Limiting the size of a football signing class in each academic year to 25, down from the current level of 28. The NCAA adopted that SEC-sponsored legislation put forward in 2009. The 25 limit would cover those who sign from Dec. 1 to August 1. The rule now runs from the February signing day to May 31, which allows schools to exceed 28 by enrolling signees before or after those dates. An exception would be made for mid-year enrollees included in the current academic year’s initial counters.
- Making football signees who attend summer school on athletic aid before the fall semester count against a school’s scholarship numbers for that next academic year.
- There currently are no limits on how many can attend summer school, which can leave a recruit already on campus to be asked to delay enrollment until January if there’s no room. The proposal would go into effect in summer 2012
- Giving the SEC office more oversight in medical scholarship exemptions to review and determine outcome for cases. A team doctor, trainer and athletic director would need to sign off on each case.
- Keeping early enrollees from signing an SEC financial aid agreement until they are enrolled and attend class at the school. Currently, recruits can begin to sign a financial aid agreement after their junior year of high school, which keeps other SEC schools from recruiting them.
A quick overview of the proposed changes shows a concerted effort by the SEC to better protect the players who sign and enroll with a conference member. As was mentioned in the first point, there will be no more “buffer room” for coaches who choose to sign a few more athletes than the 25-player limit allows in order to deal with roster attrition.
Signing three more players to a class to counter that attrition was reasonable, but Slive clearly wants to change the way coaches recruit and sign players.
And while coaches deal in a game of numbers and turnover each year, the role -- at least in some way, shape or form -- of the university, conference and NCAA is to do their best to protect the players and oversigning only diminishes that protection.