Some actual facts regarding an NCAA athletic scholarships for all sports,men and women’s.

(1.) The actual scholarship is reissued on an annual basis by the offering institution,

(2.) The student has to make measurable academic progress each academic year and maintain an NCAA approved grade point average, usually a 2.0 on a 4.0 scale. That is what makes an active redshirt program so viable. The kids get to let their bodies mature, hit the weight room, take deer antler, ( just kidding) and get their grades in line in their selected major. A young man I trained and coached is at KSU, a red shirt freshman with some snap, he went early, spring of last year. He placed out with 12 hours in AP courses, took 12 in the spring, 9 in the summer, 14 in the fall, and taking
14 this semester. That’s 61 hours before he even starts playing football next fall for KSU. With an
additional 9 this summer, he’s already at 70 hours with 4 years of eligibility. With luck, he’ll be going into his junior year in academics This is done at every major program

(3.) Leaving a program early or transferring out affects the issuing university’s graduation rates for a rolling six year average,

Bama, ND, PSU and every other every major college program does look out for their wards, they have to, it’s their product that they put on the field, in an arena or any other venue.

Truth be told, it’s a heck of an accomplishment just to get a scholarship from a school/program like Alabama’s. That alone far exceeds what 99.9% of high school football players will ever accomplish.

Unfortunately, he also wants to play. I’m sure that just like every other kid, his dream still is to play in the NFL. Can’t do that sitting behind a two-time national championship winning QB. I think he’s smart. He learned from Saban (and McCarron), and now he’s giving himself two years of playing at a decent program to showcase what he’s got to the play-for-pay guys. I wish him luck.

As the old saying goes: you are entitled to your opinions, but not to your own facts. In addition to what timothyf7 posted above, let me add that the graduation rate among football players has increased each year that Saban has been in Tuscaloosa, from just barely over 50% in Mike Shula’s last season to around 70% now. Also, the grayshirting is exactly about academics, as those are the ones who are being given the chance to improve their grades before being allowed to play football. So Saban not only does not deserve your shame for not caring about academics, he is just as concerned about his players’ classroom performance as he is their on-the-field performance.

Oh, and as far as the mandatory 4-year scholarships go: terrible idea. I know those who dwell in the land of unicorns and rainbows like to think that this is eminently fair to student-athletes and will end the “roster management” of people like Saban, but all it will do is guarantee that graduation rates will plummet across the board. If there is no risk of losing your scholarship, then why worry about going to class in the first place? Just hang out in your room all day playing your Wii and go to practice when you need to do so; no need to worry about those pesky lectures. And if students on academic scholarships are expected to maintain a certain level of performance in order to keep them from year to year, why shouldn’t those on athletic scholarships?

What I am is a fan of college football and a fan of the game.

And boy oh boy do people love to hate winners.

The NCAA, The University of Alabama, and even your favorite school are all businesses first and foremost.

If all they cared about was being an institution of higher learning our tuition rates wouldn’t all be through the roof and they wouldn’t charge an arm and a leg to see a football game.

Even if this poor man was “cut” it was because the man being paid to put his employers program in the best position possible to win saw fit to do so.

Don’t act like your guys have never done anything unpopular for the good of the program/team.

If other schools are sick of Saban and Alabama winning then they should beat them.

roltide 510 isn’t a Tide supporter. He is a troll.

He is one of those kids that never competed, got a trophy at the end of the season and sat on his fat a@@ drinking all the juicy juices and snacks so the other kids didn’t have any after THEY played and won the game.

Coaches crying about oversigning are not “doing it the right way;” that is nothing more than a cop-out for not wanting to work hard enough to get the recruits they need and/or keeping the verbal commits they have in place until National Signing Day. Coaches like this would rather spend their afternoons out on the golf course than on the phone with recruits or flying to visit them. Then they want to whine when they get their asses kicked by the Sabans and Meyers of the game because they got outhustled.

Coaching at the college level might be a fraternity, but it sure as hell ain’t a country club. Those that figure that out succeed; those that do not go back to becoming assistants–or ESPN analysts.

Sure, a QB at Ohio State might see a crowded depth chart and little chance to play and transfer to a smaller school, but at Alabama this means he was cut. Remember, the only reason Alabama wins championships is because they have the ability to manager the roster in such an unethical manner.

It’s doubtful anybody here follows USF recruiting, but since Taggart has landed on campus things are looking up.

Over signing and cut. Lie all you want Bama fans but sooner or later the kids will figure out that it’s not worth it to go to the Capitol of cheating.

No, that would be either the U, or the University of Southern California. Take your pick. Every quality football program does it. You think Urban Meyer going after the University of Oregon recruits isn’t causing a pucker factor in Columbus right now among existing signed football scholarship players? Every quality program does it., particularly second year coaches who want their recruits in their system as quickly as possible.

Even established coaches do it. Take Mack Brown at Texas. From 2006 through 2012, mack supposedly recruited top ten classes for the football field. Yet kids leave the program because of “oversigning” or “greyshirting” every year because they don’t fit the Texas system. Texas Quarterback Gilbert was a can’t miss 5 star recruit for Texas that transferred out because Mack over signed QB’s McCoy and Ash. It was and is all about competition. Texas passed on RGIII and Johnny Football because of the “oversignage” of QB’s and Mack wanted the last two
Heisman winners to play defense.

A Major program Head Coach that doesn’t sign an excess of skill player talent will soon have
one word describe his tenure,”former”.

Recruiting is crap shoot at best and you can really only evaluate a recruiting class by their junior year as to if it was a successful recruiting class.

If a coach goes lean at a position at a skill position and injuries happen, then the coach is a bum for not
covering his needs. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t

Over signing by position is a relatively new as a gripe against well coached, very successful programs. Over signing was a real problem in the 60′s when schools signed players to keep them from going to a rival. DKR was notorious for signing 120 recruits just to keep them from going to rivals. Read Gary Shaw’s “Meat on the Hoof” and you’ll see what actual over signing was like.

So I guess every kid that transfers is a victim of over signing? Best of luck Phillip!

It’s the same people that read an Alabama article and go down through the comment section giving a thumbs down to anything positive said about the Alabama.