NCAA Rescinds Satellite Camp Ban: Latest Comments, Reaction

Less than one month after banning satellite camps for FBS teams, the NCAA has had a change of heart on the matter. 

Per an official release from NCAA.com's Michelle Brutlag Hosick, the NCAA board of directors rescinded the ban on satellite camps and directed the Division I Council to "conduct a broad assessment of the FBS recruiting environment."   

Satellite camps became a topic of conversation this spring when Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh took his team on a seven-state, 11-camp tour last year. 

On April 8, the NCAA Division I Council announced any camps being held off campus were being shut down effective immediately.

Board of directors chair Harris Pastides said about Thursday's decision that the NCAA wanted to take "a holistic review of the football recruiting environment, and camps are a piece of that puzzle."

B/R's Barrett Sallee passed along a statement from the SEC regarding the ban being lifted, noting the league would lift its own ban:

The ACC will do the same, per ESPN's Brett McMurphy. 

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott released a statement on the decision as well, per Kyle Goon of the Salt Lake Tribune:

Harbaugh told Larry Lage of the Associated Press the decision was "Good news. It's good for prospective student-athletes, fans, coaches and competition."

Michigan's traveling camps drew their share of criticism from other schools and coaches. Last April, per ESPN.com's Heather Dinich, ACC Commissioner John Swofford said he would support a national ban on satellite camps because he felt they were unfair:

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We just don't feel like it's a healthy part of the recruiting process in college football. We may have to ultimately reconsider it if the rules continue to allow it, because we're not going to put ourselves at a competitive disadvantage in recruiting if we were to feel like we were disadvantaged, but our primary purpose right now is to try to gain support for a national rule that prohibits it.

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Per AL.com's Michael Casagrande, Alabama head coach Nick Saban called satellite camps "ridiculous." Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen told HeadtoHead Radio (via ESPN.com's Josh Moyer) Harbaugh's camps were a "recruiting fair."

Per USA Today's George Schroeder, Harbaugh described his satellite camps as a way of "sharing a love for football."

Not surprisingly, the schools and coaches who were opposed to Michigan's satellite camps are in states where the camps took place. It's all a game of one-upmanship, with Harbaugh recognizing a potential loophole that would allow the Wolverines to have some presence in football hotbeds such as Mississippi, Alabama and Texas. 

College football is built on recruiting. Harbaugh is a master at exploiting loopholes and trying to get in an opponent's head, as he did with Pete Carroll during his time at Stanford. He appears to have won this battle against Saban, Mullen and everyone else who tried to stop the camps from happening.