Reading Ubben’s latest article, and ran across these numbers on Tennessee’s roster attrition. I knew it was bad, and that we were thin at places, but didn’t realize just how bad. QB: 1 OL: 6 RB: 2 WR/TE: 7 DL: 1 LB: 4 DB: 3 That’s 24 players - just shy of an entire class - that we’re missing. And it will likely only get worse after the season. It seems to me that the NCAA’s rule placing a hard cap on the number of recruits you can sign in one class is not only arbitrary, but needlessly hurts teams who may have a legitimate need to sign additional players, so as to fill out a roster. And as transfer rules continue to be relaxed, and schools continue to become less tolerant of knuckleheads, the problem is only going to worsen. At some point, it’s a detriment to the health & safety of the players, IMO. I’m not sure what the answer is, and I’m not for allowing an unlimited number of signees, but I think that there needs to be some set of criteria that would prevent unintentional abuse, but still provide an established allowance to sign more than 25 in a given class. Does something like this already exist? If so, what? And I still hate Houston Nutt’s stupid ass, for his signing 40+ kids in his first class at Ole Miss, causing the NCAA to put these rules in place, and which are now killing Tennessee, and other schools in a similar predicament.
Yeah, unfortunately transfers also count as an "initial counter" and you're limited to 25. I'm hoping that the medical retirements give us a chance to do some creative math.
The hard 25 closed that loop hole, though. Now, it's a lot harder and goofier to get around. I'm of the opinion that a medical retirement should give you an extra spot to use.
they have to do something. Maybe the holdup is coaches running players off to get 30+ in a class, but when you have a coaching change, plus the new redshirt rule, they need to give those situations some thought. Players are even more at risk down the stretch when their bodies are worn down
so will the Maryland transfer not count against the 25 if he gets a scholarship next year after walking on?