Alabama has self-reported 19 secondary recruiting violations, five of them stemming from the football program.
By nature secondary violations are minor in nature. They’re the “you got caught jaywalking by a particularly ornery cop” rule-breaking incidents of the NCAA universe.
For example, three of the violations stemmed from coaches improperly calling or texting recruits. Penalties required the Tide to refrain from corresponding from said recruit for two-week to 30-day periods.
A third violation came when Alabama misplaced a trophy in an area where recruits could view it during an official visit. That’s the dreaded “impermissible recruiting decoration of an area” every coach is warned about when he starts his career.
The most “serious” violation came when a former Tide player provided training to current players free of charge. The players involved made restitution to the NCAA by donating the training fee to charity.
Alabama’s biggest crime here? Announcing the violations during a holiday weekend and the deadest time of the college football news cycle, meaning sharks like me sink our teeth into a piece of news that would be overlooked on a Tuesday in the middle of May.