I wonder if this paragraph in the latest attack on oversigning’s Crown Prince of Darkness (as an aside, should we believe that Saban is completely honest about his signing practices with the kids he recruits – and even if he is, should that matter?) signals that a new front is being opened in the debate.
… Going from a 4-5 star recruit at one of the premier schools on track to get a quality degree from a great school to a spot on a FCS roster and degree from a lesser school is a soft landing, provided he even makes it that far…sounds more like a shattered dream. To be fair this isn’t all on the oversigning coaches; bogus recruiting services that attempt to rank these kids are just as guilty of contributing to the rise and fall of some of these student-athletes.
That’s actually a step past the stupidity Jay Paterno was peddling the other day when he argued that oversigning was the result of college coaches chasing better recruiting rankings. Now we’re being told it’s the services that delude the kids by putting stars in their eyes and the coaches are bystanders. Color me unconvinced.
In any event, this may be the new meme and so is worth watching. Of course, what’s left unsaid by either Paterno or oversigning.com is the source of the recruiting services’ popularity. And that’s one thing I don’t think anyone can lay at the feet of Nick Saban.
Get The Picture 
Why is oversigning so fascinating to follow and discuss for some people?
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I guess the kids are not at fault at all since they apparently can’t count to 25. If a team is loaded and still recruiting like mad then buyer beware.
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So, let me get this straight… I transfer from Bama to a FCS school, say, I don’t know… Furman. And the quality of my education deteriorated? Fun with assumptions!
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Which Alabama gray-shirt transferred to Furman?
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None. I didn’t say that anyone did. I simply challenged the generalization that FBS schools are better academically than FCS ones.
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I think that if you examine the Alabama transfers to FCS schools, you’ll find more kids heading to South Alabama or Alabama A&M than to Furman or William & Mary.
As for the generalization of FBS academics versus FCS academics, I think it may hold true. FCS does include the Ivy League, which will certainly bring up the averages there, but my guess would be that the FBS group is superior.
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As another aside, should we believe Saban is honest about his signing practices as long as Bama refuses to release the number of scholarships active at any given time?
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“To be fair this isn’t all on the oversigning coaches; bogus recruiting services that attempt to rank these kids are just as guilty of contributing to the rise and fall of some of these student-athletes.”
I have to disagree with your argument the above statement is bogus. While I admit my contact with high school athletes is limited, the kids I do know enough to talk to about this are concerned with both getting noticed by the Newbergians and about their individual star ratings. Granted since I live in Tennessee, not many of the kids I know either have been noticed or have stars, but to dismiss this outright is probably wrong.
I also know one high school football coach who is says he is harrassed by parents who follow the recuiting services, and blame him for their kids’ lack of “stars” and scholarship offers.
I would say a kid would have to be astonishingly mature not to have this stuff in his head.
You can’t blame all of the flops on the Newbergians, but, it seems to me they sure contribute to the increased expectations.
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As long as oversigning is allowed under the rules we can’t fault Saban too much. The fault lies with the SEC for winking at the problem. Untill the commish grows a pair this practice will continue.
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At your service.
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I don’t doubt that there are some shady things going on in the recruiting practices of certain coaches, staffs, etc., but the more I think about this issue, the less offended I am by it all. Especially now that it’s all coming to light. Anyone (parent or student-athlete) who doesn’t know that they run some risk of this by committing to certain programs is either stupid, deluded, or oblivious.
You can either commit to Kentucky (or some other middling program) and not ever have to worry about losing your scholarship, or you can roll the dice and commit to Alabama. The former provides greater security, but you likely won’t ever be contending for any championships, etc. The latter is more risky, but you could be contending for an SEC championship every single year of your college career.
In the face of a decision like that, if some kid commits to Alabama, only to be chewed up, spit out, and left for dead, I might feel sorry for the kid … but I wouldn’t feel that he’d been wronged. Even if Saban pumped him full of false confidence while recruiting him. As someone else has already said, presumably, these kids (and/or their parents) know how to count to 85.
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Yeah. And prostitution is a victimless crime, drugs should be legalized ’cause the addicts will all OD and the problems will work themselves out, the market sets stock prices so we don’t need no stinkin’ government regulation………Man.
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Yep. ‘Cause that any of that follows from anything I said.
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It does, I think, since it’s about information. You are assuming that the players recruited by schools which oversign think rationally and have perfect information on this issue.
The reality is that it’s a bit murkey. Our good host has pointed out that critics of oversigning haven’t agreed on a definition. Is it in one class? the overall numbers? Which is it?
Even our own athletic department (which limits the practice of oversigning – preferring the more traditional method of using attrition to reward contributions to the program by non-scholly players) doesn’t know our exact numbers all the time. How could a recruit? A recruit who, by the way, is being “sold” on a program (hence, constantly fed mis-information from the coaches he is supposed to trust once he signs.)
I think it’s a stretch to insist that the 18 year-olds in this situation (and their families who very often lack the skill and understanding to protect their son) be unprotected from the questionable practices of adults.
You’ve raised some good points as usual, but the bottom line to me is that college athletics should conduct itself at a higher standard than “the market.” It *should* (and trust me when I tell you I fully realize I’m naive) concern itself primarily with developing students into better people instead of using students and student/athletes as revenue streams.
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