You're gonna have to emotionally get over this nasty habit of envisioning things that never happened. Not the definition of a greyshirt.
So what is the big deal with that? Teams can still recruit and players can sign with anyone they chose. Level playing field. A greyshirt last year held the kids in limbo. The young man said it was just to show that coach Saban really wanted him. Way too much emotion and conspiratory stuff for the sum total of that. Word to the wise on all articles coming out of Atlanta. Alabama is harvesting top recruits out of Georgia at a pace that is scaring the Bulldog faithful. Much to do about nothing, again.
Im sorry I have to disagree with you on this. This is a big deal. The kid committed to Alabama for a long time and when the "something better came along" he was pushed to the side for someone else. I dont agree with kids not keeping there word and I dont agree with coaches not keeping there word. Regardless of where the article came from, it is a truth and a sad truth that has come out and is coming out more and more with recruiting by coaches as the social media is exposing more of it.
We were discussing the merits of coach Saban assuring Taylor he was interested in him. Not the greyshirt. It was just as important when Les Miles clipped Porter's wings. I've given my personal feelings about it and it is a big thing. It's also a big thing when Davis jilts LSU at the alter. It's a big thing when Gunner Kiel does everything but show up for LSU orientation. Lot's of big things that leave a big mark.
I agree it seems like when you give someone your word, obviously it doesnt mean anything and thats a shame
your claim is bogus, and so is your data. The fact that you've been unwilling to answer the question regarding the source of the data further undermines your credibility. reaching back "10 years" is a weak attempt by the university of alabama to cloud the current oversigning issue. It fails to illustrate the problem in the same way that saban doesn't release his roster numbers to the public - alabama is the only SEC program that fails to make it's roster public and they do that by design. Lack of transparency covers a variety of unethical transgressions. As recently as 5 years ago, it was perfectly acceptable for SEC programs to sign kids that they suspected would be unable to qualify (NQ's) or partial-qualifiers (PQ's). So if a coach wanted to sign-and-place to a juco it was an opprtunity to provide a prospect with assistance that could lead to them having a future opportunity at any D-I program. In the overwhelming majority of cases, those signings weren't real but they inflated a program's "star count" for a particular recruiting class. Today the NQ/PQ kid is simply on his own, and programs are no longer willing to take the risk of "signing" them early given the soft cap implemented following the Nutt rule. If you want an accurate portrayal of the current problem with oversigning, you cannot include NQ/PQ and similar players in the total ... plain and simple. Attrition is an altogether different subject than oversigning. There are legitimate forms of attrition - loss of schollie due to grades, bad behavior, career-ending injury. There are also illegitimate forms of attrition such as those that are cut or unethically placed into a medical hardship in an effort to manage a roster and disguise the fact that a program is doing so. Besides, attrition is completely irrellevant if a program is legitimately beneath the 85-limit in March .... they can attrit as many as they want and are only hurting themselves. Much different story if a program is significantly above 85 and is cutting players between March and August in an effort to comply with the limit. The mere suggestion that an alabama fan would attempt point the finger at any other program when it comes to this matter is laughable.
Not after the PR disaster of a couple of years ago when every one of the 27 signed LSU recruits were academically eligible (two had been expected to not make grades). Les was forced to pull scholarships from two recruits in mid-summer. One accepted the gray shirt and enrolled on scholarship the following spring. The other got angry, blasted Les in the press and took an offer at Ole Miss. The national media blasted Les, too. One writer called him the scum of the earth. Nick is about to receive the same treatment. The back story is that the spurned recruit was unhappy within months at Ole Miss and transferred to LSU where he walked on last year. If he had taken the gray shirt, he would have played on scholarship last year.
PR disasters are unavoidable at this level of success. The issues will come and go and they will be varied. A certified disaster would be those that affect recruiting and winning football games. Short of some missing textbooks that Saban inherited and had to sweep up, not much collateral damage that I can see. Interestingly, a number of high school coaches have publicly spoken highly of coach Saban's recruiting methods, the last few days. I'm sure there is a reason for the timing. They are making it clear he doesn't negatively recruit or choose to take cheap shots at other schools or coaches. Does it matter, will it make a dent in public perception? Of course not. Bama is winning too many games and continues to bring in top tier classes. When that changes, so will I.
This is a long distraction from the fact that Saban is getting criticized for pulling scholarships late from players already offered. Which is exactly why the SEC started limiting signing to 25. We will end up with Big Ten rules if Nick keeps skirting the intent.
