With the SEC’s oversigning legislation now a done deal, coaches are doing their best to adapt to the new rules that place a 25-player cap on each signing class -- which now extends from Dec. 1 to Aug. 1.
Georgia coach Mark Richt is one of the coaches who has been on the fence about oversigning, only admitting that shafting a player once their on campus is “an awful thing to do”.
However, despite those feelings, Richt -- along with the SEC’s 11 other coaches -- was opposed to reducing the aforementioned player cap from it’s previous 28-player limit. During a Peach State Pigskin Preview in Macon, Georgia, Richt expanded on his concern of placing a hard cap on scholarships:
“I’ll just say this, you guys can figure it out. 85 on scholarship. If 15 guys leave, how many do you have room for? It’s not a trick question. How many do you have room for? . . . [A media member responds “15"]. . . Is 25 more than 15? So I don’t know if you’re catching my drift of what I’m trying to say, but . . . all I’m saying is you could still oversign with 25. If you only have room for 15 and you sign 25 you’re still signing more than you’ve got. The question is everybody’s integrity. That’s the question. Are we all going to do things in the right way? And I think everybody’s trying to do that.
“But it’s not an easy thing, it really is not. Because on Signing Day if you sign right to the 85 number by the time August rolls around you might have only 79 because of the attrition that happens from Signing Day to August, and that’s what everybody’s trying to figure out. How can we start the season at 85 and not oversign, you know what I mean? And it’s not as simple as everybody makes it out to be.”
A couple things to consider:
First of all, the legislation drafted by SEC commish Mike Slive, despite Nick Saban‘s lamenting, is not as stiff as some have made it out to be; there is still a “soft” cap on the 85 scholarship limit. As Richt mentioned, coaches can continue to oversign as long as they don’t exceed the 25-LOI limit. Grayshirting and back-counting -- or, not counting academically ineligible players who re-enroll later toward the following year’s signing class -- are also still allowed.
Secondly, I think the primary concern SEC university presidents have addressed is protecting players once they’re on campus. That’s a different story from oversigning solely to deal with roster attrition, which coaches have to tackle every year.
But, as Richt said, it’s about making sure every coach is willing to recruit the right way. Considering how lethal SEC competition can be, that’s far from a certainty.
(Thanks to DawgSports.com for the quotes)