If there were a time to over-commit, i.e. sign more recruits than scholarships available, this would be the year. I understand the BCS schools do it all the time. How does that work? Let's say we have 10 scholarships available as of signing day and we sign 13 players. By what date do we have to assign the scholarships to 10 specific players and what happens to the other 3 guys? If some signees end up without a scholarship what does that signed letter of intent mean? What's the difference between this and "preferred walkons"? Someone please enlighten me.
You can never have more then 85 guys on scholarship or sign 25 guys in the same class.
I don't think it's allowed to have a commit sign a LOI and not have a scholarship. That'd be an NCAA violation, wouldn't it?
Here's an article that answers part of my question:
http://www.kickoffzone.com/default.aspx?...rticle=444
Apparently those without a chair when the music stops "at the end of the summer" have to grayshirt or enroll in junior college. I would still like to see someone compare and contrast this with the preferred walkon approach. Which is better?
Zook has been doing this each of the last three years at UI and almost everybody else does it. You just force out a few guys that do not cut it each year. Not a nice business, but that is how it goes.
Some schools oversign players because they know they are taking on academic risks. For example, they sign 28 players when they have 25 schollies to give, knowing that a few of the them will never make to campus due to grade issues. Two schools I can think of that are known to do this is Akron and USF. I'm sure there are many more.