irishroo: "Frankly I have zero problem with this. Big Ten scholarships are guaranteed, so even the kids who more or less get cut can stay at Ohio St. on a full ride and get their degree. The argument against over signing that I've always found most persuasive is that it's completely incompatible with any sort of commitment to academics, but with guaranteed scholarships that's no longer valid. What are you guys seeing that I'm not?"
From the coaches and school's perspectives, they are paid to succeed. The coach's livelihood depends on his success. Outside of the comparison of different conferences having different rules, those colleges that commit to a four year scholarship have promissed the recruit a chance to earn a degree at their institution.
Oversigning can mean filling your roster based on known attrition. Or oversigning can pressure the players already on the roster. Many don't think that's a problem since college football is big business and that's the way some businesses function.
What happens is that coaches have to find ways of reducing their roster numbers and either find an excuse (e.g. medical scholarship, greyshirt, blueshirt, pressuring for transfers or cutting players at those schools who do not have four year scholarships). Without an excuse like med scholarships, for instance, I don't think a player can transition to being a regular student on scholarship in a four year scholarship institution.
Others have their bubble burst when the coach tells them they need to move on, that they no longer have a scholarship that pays their way.
Since Meyer was hired in November, 2011, The Ohio State football team has had nineteen transfers, twelve placed on medical scholarships and three players quit football over those three years. More are in the works to get them to eighty-five.
In his last three recruiting classes, he has signed seventy-four recruits. The numbers and the attrition rate deserve some scrutiny. From a player's standpoint, Cardale Jones gave his opinion in a Tweet: "Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL. We ain't come to play SCHOOL classes are POINTLESS." Arguably, the player makes the university a lot of money, and is treated like an employee in a profitable business and risks loss of their job due to the pressure of oversigning and not performing as well as other players. The conclusion on the players' parts may well be paying athletes, especially if the courses and degrees are worthless.