Despite the coaches’ opposing opines on the matter, all 12 SEC member presidents/chancellors have reportedly agreed to limit the number of players signed in each recruiting class to 25, according to various tweets from Cecil Hurt of tidesportsextra.com.
The conference currently legislates that members can sign as many as 28 players -- although they can only hand out a NCAA-mandated 25 scholarships each signing class -- between National Signing Day and May 31.
The proposed legislation by SEC commissioner Mike Slive was one of several items voted on during the final day of SEC league meetings in Destin, Florida. Slive’s legislation called for “Limiting the size of a football signing class in each academic year to 25, down from the current level of 28… The 25 limit would cover those who sign from Dec. 1 to August 1.”
“Slive: President’s vote to go to 25 limit was unanimous. Felt it ‘was fairest to prospects, while allowing flexibility,’” Hurt tweeted. “Slive: ‘No one wants to win more than I do, but we don’t want to win at the expense of our young people.’”
The new rule will still allow grayshirting, or the act of delaying the signing of a player until the following year, and the SEC Office will oversee medical scholarship exemptions. Back-counting players is also still a go. Theoretically, a coach could sign 25 players one class, have a handful not qualify academically, and still enroll them in January of next year without it counting against next year’s signing class.
But they would still count as part of the previous year’s signing class.
The SEC is also reportedly looking to get this new rule adopted as national legislation.
While the university presidents unanimously heralded the decision, Alabama coach Nick Saban has led a handful of SEC coaches who not only accept oversigning, but can’t for the life of them understand why anybody wouldn’t love it.
“You all are creating a bad problem for everybody. You’re going to mess up kids’ opportunities by doing what you’re doing. You think you’re helping ‘em but you’re really hurting ‘em. It took one case where somebody didn’t get the right opportunity. You need to take the other 100 cases where somebody got an opportunity,” Saban said Wednesday, referring to the media’s disdain *ahem* of oversigning.
Au contraire, Mr. Saban, it’s merely about protecting the players currently on campus. And the new legislation helps to do just that.
UPDATED 3:05 p.m. ET: Seth Emerson of the Bulldogs Blog has some updated info of the voting.
- The conference will now approve all requests for medical disqualifications. If necessary, it will seek an outside opinion.
- The exemption allowing graduate students to transfer in and not sit out a year was also eliminated, although it won’t go into effect until later. That means former N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson would still be able to play at an SEC school this year.
Additionally...
- The SEC will distribute $220 million to its schools, an increase of 5.3 percent over last year. The $220 million is for the 2010-11 fiscal year, with most of it ($113 million) coming from football television.
Looks like if the SEC decides to legally pay players, it won’t have to be out of Steve Spurrier‘s pocket after all.
UPDATED 7:22 p.m. ET: Some more notes from the Birmingham News’ coverage of the vote today.
- The SEC initially proposed summer enrollees immediately counting toward a school’s scholarship numbers for the upcoming year. But amid heavy push-back by the coaches caused, the SEC took a wait-and-see approach largely because of a new NCAA rule.
- Starting this year, football players must pass nine credit hours in the fall or potentially be suspended up to four games the following year. One way for players to avoid that suspension is to have earned 27 credit hours by the end of the next summer.