This stuff always makes my head hurt but the general consensus is that we will be close to a full class next year. Anywhere from 23-26. We will take who we want and make room for others either way. It always works out.
In the signee press conference, Miles was asked about the 28 scholarship per year limit that is new this year in the SEC. He replied that eventually it could become an issue when you don't push hard for someone who is a 50-50 chance of committing and someone who is more likely to sign...doesn't at a late stage in the recruiting season. If this happens with several recruits, a team could really lose out and get caught short at the last minute. This got me to thinking that the SEC should review this rule and make exceptions in unusual circumstances. What would happen if a team had to repopulate quickly for one reason or another...like if, for example, Miles had to suspend 15 other players besides Perriloux. Or if a team was coming off a probation that cost them a lot of scholarships...or if some natural disaster caused a team to lose half of it's players. It's not that far fetched to envision extenuating circumstances which would cause a 28 player limit to be an undue, harsh burden on a team. Hmmmmm....:huh:.
Yes, but he was saying that they only signed 76 over 4 years. I was suggesting that there could have been 9 redshirts from the class 5 years ago in order to add up to the 85.
Wow, I just looked at the roster and we only have about 10 seniors leaving that are probably on scholarships by my estimation.:shock:
You're still restricted by the NCAA rule of only 25 per class. The SEC rule of 28 takes out some flexibility of signing and placing or early enrollments counting towards the previous class but it isn't that restrictive given the NCAA rule. It does prevent some of the ridiculous things like last year Houston Nutt signing so many players that he knew would never qualify.
True. It does take some number crunching by the coaching staff to stay in the limit. Somehow they all seem to manage the numbers though.
The 28 player limit is on signees on national signing day, not scholarships. There has been a 25 player scholarship limit for years. Over signing helps with players that fail to qualify, but it would do you no good with dismissals or scholarship restrictions. You get some leeway with early enrollees, but the NCAA says no more than 25 new scholarship players per year (not counting transfers or walk-ons).
You're right, I forgot about the 25/year rule. But still, what would happen if, God forbid, a terrorist attack caused a plane crash that decimated a team (like Marshall in the '70s). If there were exceptions, like for dismissals, I could see Kiffen/Orgeron and Saban exploiting the situation in strange and unusual ways.
Well, also don't forget that the staff has A LOT more info A LOT earlier than we do. So it's not like they don't have a solid plan and some alternatives set up well in advance. I'm sure they get surprised, but I don't think they often get surprised without having thought how to handle said surprise, or something similar. Sometimes the internet makes us think we have as much info as the staff...which obviously is a mirage...
