Oversigning Recruits

[Legacy]

Riley Cole didn't have his scholarship pulled. He was told a couple of weeks before NSD that he might have to grayshirt and chose to go somewhere else with a guaranteed scholly instead of waiting to see if Bama would have a spot for him after NSD or ask him to wait a year.

Josh Perry decommitted after being told he'd probably be asked to grayshirt.

Tyler Simmons flipped his commitment to UGA before NSD.

I have no idea who Bo Scales is. Never heard of him.

You implied that these players were on campus on scholarship, and Bama just pulled their scholarship to make room for someone else. That's simply not true at all. These were recruits who were told there might not be a spot for them in this year's class and they should expect to grayshirt (and btw, Bama has honored every one of their grayshirts during Saban's tenure).

It's extremely common at all schools that they offer a LOT more kids during the recruiting process than they have spots for. In fact, I don't know of any school that doesn't do it. They know that to get 25 kids in a class, they have to offer several times that number. As NSD approaches and a school has a better grasp of how many of those offered kids are actually going to sign, they "cull the herd" and let a few of them know the offer is no longer on the table or that if the kid does come to their school, they're probably going to be buried way down the depth chart and encourage them to look elsewhere. Bama does that, ND does that, USC does that, and so does everyone else. If you want to call that "pulling a scholarship" go ahead, but it's a far cry from actually pulling a scholly from a kid who's in your program and in school.

Alabama 2016 Football Decommits (9)

Brendan Scales, TE, three star - flipped to Mo (from Mo). Bama did not get a TE in '16, when Nauta chose Georgia.

Others that had not been mentioned:
Benito Jones, DT, five star - flipped to Ole Miss (from Miss) Grades? Enrolled at Ole Miss.

Shyheim Carter, CB - decommit in August, signed LOI with Alabama on NSD

Jaquan Yulee, ILB, four star - decommit in January, signed with Marshall. Bama pursuing Ben Davis, ILB, at the time, who committed and signed with them on NSD. Silent? Class filling up?

Khalid Kareem, SDE, four star - to ND

Demetris Robertson, Ath, five star - we know the saga.

A 2015 late decommit was T.D. Moten, who committed to Miss St (from La.). Grades? Did not enroll at Miss St, grades, to JC, and has signed and enrolled at A&M. Bama signed Jonathan Taylor and Daron Payne, who is now a starter.

I don't see a lot of pulling scholarships or notification of grayshirt, etc. outside of those you mentioned and except perhaps Scales, Yulee and Moten. But Moten had academic difficulties.


ND and USC doing it?
ND had no decommits in 2016, two in 2015 (Blake Barnett - to Alabama, and Prentice McKinley (from Dallas) - committed to NC St after decommit from ND, then signed with Oklahoma.

USC had two decommits in 2015 -
David Sills, QB, three star (from MD) decommit in June 2015. USC took Sam Darnold and Ricky Towns, QBs. Darnold committed to USC July, 2014. Towns committed to USC in Jan 2015 after decommitting from Alabama.
DeSean Holmes, WR, four star - decommits on Dec 4, commits to Hawaii, signs with San Diego. USC took two WRs and one blueshirt WR that year.

In 2016, USC had six decommits - Mique Juarez, five star OLB; Daelin Hayes, four star OLB; Melquise Stovall, four star APB; Velus Jones who decommits and signed with USC on NSD after committing to Oklahoma; Keyshaun Camp, four star DT; and Keanu Saleapaga, SDE who committed to BYU. Mormon? USC did take one DE that year.

Nothing stands out as far as pulling scholarships or grayshirt offers for ND or USC.

 

[Bishop2b5]

As always, excellent info, my friend! I get more recruiting and roster news from you than from anywhere else.

 

[Legacy]

Beyond the Signee Numbers - SEC East, Georgia

Beyond the Signee Numbers - SEC East, Georgia

(Florida numbers in post 882)

Georgia
Signees in the past 4 (5) years - 106 (125) - ave 25.15 (25)
Enrollees in the past 4 (5) years - 101 (120) - ave 25 (24)

Scholarship numbers for 2015 - 84 (Class of 2015 - 28 enrollees)
Scholarship total for 2016 - 79 (includes 3 transfers in with scholarships, 0 Special Teamers on scholarship) (Class of 2016 - 21 enrollees)

So, despite averaging classes of twenty-five for four or five years, Georgia - like Florida - still falls short of eighty-five. New head coach, Kirby Smart, has scholarships to give to walkons and for the Class of 2017. Georgia recruiting classes are a roller coaster of signees with the last five classes totals - 19, 34, 21, 30, 21.

Attrition
Attrition with the Class of '13 (Seniors and RS Juniors this year) was especially high, cutting their class from 32 enrollees to 14 this year. (Only five of the fifteen are starters.)

Attrition after '15 regular season, before NSD - 3 - 1 Early Entrants, 1 Graduate Transfer, 1 Transfer to JC
Attrition after NSD, before fall camp - 7 - 2 Dismissals, 3 Transfers, 1 Not on roster, 1 Medical Scholarship.
One transfer In.

Total Attrition since end of regular season - 10 (Florida's attrition since end of regular season was also 10.)

For 2017, fourteen Seniors will graduate. (Four Juniors with eligible for fifth years in 2017 are not starters in 2016.)

So, adding the six scholarships short in 2016, Georgia has a baseline of twenty scholarships to give in Smart's first real class. Counting the four non-starter Juniors would give them twenty-four. Normal attrition should up that to twenty-five at least. Georgia currently has fifteen commits, ranking fourth nationally.

 

[Legacy]

Beyond the Signee Numbers - SEC East, Tennessee

Beyond the Signee Numbers - SEC East, Tennessee

This is a good article on how the SEC recruiting restrictions which went into effect for the 2012 football season has impacted signing numbers for the past six classes. It also has a table for non-SEC signing numbers. But as the numbers with Florida and Georgia have shown, this just keeps up with making it under 85 total. The restrictions effectively limit teams to twenty-five per year, though not strictly if their total number is less than eighty-five.

Five years later, SEC not hurt by its football recruiting signing cap

On to Tennessee, which has seen not only the usual attrition, effectively cleaning house, with Butch Jones, but the transfers have continued.

Signees in the past 4 (5) years - 108 (129) - ave 27 (24.75.0)
Enrollees in the past 4 (5) years - 104 (125) - ave 26 (25.0)

Scholarship numbers for 2015 - 83 with two blueshirts (Class of 2015 - 28 enrollees)
Scholarship total for 2016 - 79 (includes 2 walkons with scholarship, 3 Special Teamers on scholarship) (Class of 2016 - 22 enrollees with two late offers/signees in the summer)

So, despite averaging classes of twenty-seven for four or five years and a '16 Class of twenty-two, Tennessee still falls short of six scholarships short of eighty-five. You see when looking at the signee and enrollee numbers that, since SEC scholarship limitation rules, teams generally take only one potential signee who may not qualify. The rules have effectively eliminated the "Sign and Place" of players who would go straight to JUCO.

Tennessee's attrition rate is much higher than Florida and Georgia and most other schools with a coach who is entering his fourth year. From the 2014 class of thirty-two signees, twenty are left on scholarship for 2016. Why?

Attrition after '15 regular season, before NSD - 11 - 4 Transfer, 2 "Quit" (also transfers?), 1 Academic, 1 Signee did not qualify, 2 Medical, 1 Early Entrant, . (not counting one transferring out, then released and returned to Tenn)
Attrition after '14 regular season to fall camp '15 - 17 - 12 Transfers, 1 Grad Tr, 1 Quit, 1 Dismd, 1 Acad
Attrition after '13 regular season to fall camp '14 - 8 Trs, 1 Dism'd (1 Tr In)

Butch Jones has presided over a program that has seen forty transfers (including dismissals, quits, undergrad and grad transfers).

For 2017, ten Seniors and one Redshirt Junior with a the walkon scholarships will graduate.

So, before considering any further attrition or any potential fifth years offered, Tennessee could start with around twenty. Three RS Juniors for potential fifth years are not on their two deep. Their scholarships could be used for the '17 class. Tennessee's 2017 class stands at twenty-four verbals.

 

[Legacy]

Signee/Enrollee Numbers Comparison

Signee/Enrollee Numbers Comparison

Three SEC East teams above:
Florida
Signees in the past 4 (5) years - 102 (125) - ave 25.5 (25.0)
Enrollees in the past 4 (5) years - 98 (120) - ave 24.5 (24.0)
Current scholarship players - 83

Georgia
Signees in the past 4 (5) years - 106 (125) - ave 25.15 (25)
Enrollees in the past 4 (5) years - 101 (120) - ave 25 (24)
Current scholarship players - 79

Tennessee
Signees in the past 4 (5) years - 108 (129) - ave 27 (24.75)
Enrollees in the past 4 (5) years - 104 (125) - ave 26 (25.0)
Current scholarship players - 79

Notre Dame
Signees in the past 4 (5) years - 94 (112) - ave 23.5 (23)
Enrollees in the past 4 (5) years - 91 (108) - ave 22.75 (21.6)

Ohio State
Signees in the past 4 (5) years - 98(123) - ave 24.5 (24.6)
Enrollees in the past 4 (5) years - 96 (121) - ave 24 (24.25)

 

[Legacy]

Alabama has awarded four walkons football scholarships for the coming season (Jamey Mosley, Truett Harris, Brandon Moore and Levi Wallace).

Kendall Sheffield, former 5 star DB, is leaving Bama. No other roster announcements have been made, so Alabama is at 85 scholarships.

Former 5-star Kendall Sheffield reportedly leaving Alabama

"I think that a lot of young guys right now, they get really, really fearful of their future and it creates a lot of anxiety," Saban said after the first practice Aug. 4. "They think if they change environments that's going to help solve that anxiety and help them be able to get where they want to go. We certainly feel like we can help guys develop here, but if they think that there's a better way for them, another place, then we're going to support them in every way that we can to help them do the things they would like to do if they don't want to be in our program here."

2015 signee transfers
Adonis Thomas: Northwest Mississippi Community College
Shawn Burgess-Becker: Central Florida
Daylon Charlot: Kansas
Christian Bell: Wisconsin
Kendall Sheffield: TBA

Attrition for Bama has been higher than normal.

 

[Legacy]

Bama Attrition since the end of the '15 regular season

Bama Attrition since the end of the '15 regular season

Kendall Sheffield - Transfer (Full, except to SEC teams)
Dayton Charlot - Transfer
Christian Bell -Transfer
Adonis Thomas - Transfer
Maurice Smith - Grad transfer (to Georgia)
Shawn Burgess-Becker - Transfer
Charles Baldwin - Dismissed
Walker Jones - Not on roster/spring practice (Redshirt Junior)
Dee Liner -Transfer
Chris Black - Grad transfer (to Missouri)
Derrick Henry, A'Shawn Robinson - Early Entrants to the draft
Alec Morris -Transfer

Also,
Kendall Jones ('16) did not qualify

No grayshirts, no medical scholarships, no academic issues for enrolled players.
Two disciplinary issues - Cam Robinson, Hootie Jones (no charges)

How successful are players after transferring from Alabama? Tracking each departure