I suppose everybody knows this, but what Kiffen is doing numberswise is "creative" but legal [saying nothing about whether it's right]. He has a previous class which had only 17 [19?] scholarships, so by signing 8 early enrollees he counts them back against that class and gets it to 25. Transferring athletes have paradoxically helped him here. Then by appealing the sanctions, the NCAA allows him to move forward on recruiting as if there were none until the sanction appeal is settled. So, he signs 25 more. 8+25=33.[I think that these are the numbers; it might be 6+25=31, but you get the idea]. I do not believe that he will have to give any of those up whatever the NCAA rules.
This is still a somewhat undesirable situation for these guys, as it makes the team hugely bottom-heavy, and overly competitive down there. That's asking for somewhat disorganized play and plenty of new transferring. [both of which we can applaud]. It shows that he knows he's got real trouble and is hoping to ride his future on this class plus whatever blue chips he'll pick up when he's on short rations later. If teams like ND, Stanford, Oregon, Washington, et al kick his butt the next two years, those new blue chips may be tougher to get. So we need to do our part in making the sanctions actually work.
I am hoping that the comment I heard yesterday about the Tennessee investigation will be true: that the NCAA will lay down restrictions on Kiffen [and the other coach] at their PRESENT schools, thus putting another layer of grief onto him.
