I was going to say the same thing. I actually posted the rule back in the summer. Interested to see how this plays out and how will the gumps exploit it because they don't have many entering the portal
Just some clarity: Universities have a hard limit of 85 scholarship athletes total for football. A school cannot under any circumstances have more than 85 football players on scholarship in any given year. Schools have a maximum of 25 scholarships they can offer per recruiting year but that can be limited by the 85 scholarship ceiling in the point above. As an example, if a university has 70 football players on scholarship going into a year, then the maximum number of players they can offer a scholarship to is 15 (85 - 70 = 15). Schools can add up to 7 additional scholarships to the 25 annual limit for players that enter the transfer portal but there are some caveats there: Right now this is a one year waiver that only applies to the 2021-2022 academic year. The overall 85 total scholarship limit still applies so if a school has 60 players on scholarship and sign 25 players in their recruiting class, they cannot add any scholarships for players that previously transferred to another school through the Portal because they have reached that 85 player ceiling. In order for a university to get an additional scholarship for a student that transferred via the portal, that transfer has to have happened AFTER the school's fall term or AFTER December 15th (whichever is earlier). You don't get an additional scholarship for players that transfer prior to that date. So - Eli Ricks screwed us by entering the Transfer Portal in November unless LSU's fall term was over then (which I don't think it was because students had classes and finals after November 22nd). For LSU to get additional scholarships to offer recruits, the players those scholarships "replace" have to leave after football season is over (basically). In order to get an additional scholarship for a player that left via the transfer portal, the transferring player must be academically eligible at the school they transfer to. Moral of the story: do your math and check your calendars before adding up all of the chickens waiting to be hatched.
The wording I saw says it's when they enter the portal, not when they transfer, according to the articles I've read. https://theathletic.com/news/ncaa-d...waiver-to-account-for-transfers/rO2GwQvo6YDt/ https://www.on3.com/news/ncaa-approves-one-year-waiver-roster-relief-transfer-portal/ Ricks and others ENTERED the portal before the season was over, before Dec 15th, and before the fall semester was over at LSU.
I also think the "7 extra" scholarships can't be used for incoming high school kids, they have to be used on either other Portal transfers, JUCO transfers, or Graduate Transfers. I'm not 100% firm on that one, but if someone wants to research that it would settle that point as well.
Herb, This is very confusing. The wording from the NCAA announcement (below) states “The Division I Council this week approved a one-year waiver of the annual signing limit and initial scholarship limits in football to allow schools to replace up to seven scholarship student-athletes who leave school after the first term.” So if Ricks stayed enrolled and LSU cancelled his scholarship after the term, it seems that they could replace it. https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/...s-one-year-waiver-football-scholarship-limits
I hope you're right. I'd hate to have us get screwed on a technicality because Ricks and others "entered" the portal before Dec 15th but "leave" the program after the fall term. It is indeed very confusing.
