Until There's a National Rule, CFB Satellite Camps Will Hurt SEC Schools

If you're looking for an issue that will rise to the forefront of the national conversation this offseason, it's here.

It's also very familiar. 

SEC head coaches voiced their frustration over satellite camps last offseason after coaches from Notre Dame, Penn State and others headed to the fertile recruiting ground of the SEC footprint and "guest-coached" at camps for smaller schools.

"Satellite camps," as they've become known, are back in the news this year. Several big-time schools have camps set up around the country with their coaches "guest-coaching."

New Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh set up shop in Prattville, Alabama, last month, according to the Detroit Free Press' Mark Snyder, and Nebraska has hooked up with Valdosta (Ga.) State of Division II and FBS toddler Appalachian State for a recruiting/camp tour.

Not surprisingly, SEC coaches—who can't guest-host at out-of-state camps outside of a 50-mile radius from campus—aren't happy. Alabama head coach Nick Saban was in Huntsville, Alabama, on Tuesday night, and Bleacher Report Alabama lead writer Marc Torrence was there to catch his comments:

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I think everybody's got to recruit the way that they should recruit. We're not allowed to have satellite camps in the SEC. I certainly think that we need to address this if it's going to be a competitive disadvantage and other people are going to have these kind of camps.

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It absolutely needs to be addressed, but it can't come from a conference level. The SEC doesn't want to budge on its stance because, ideally, it doesn't want coaches from around the country invading its fertile recruiting ground.

It has to be national, as Saban suggests:

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I think it's something that we'll probably address as a conference. I think it's something we should look at from an NCAA standpoint because I think it's best to have a rule where if people come to your campus, they can come to your camp. But if we're all going to travel all over the country to have satellite camps, how ridiculous is that? I mean, we're not even allowed to go to All-Star games. But now we're going to have satellite camps all over the country?

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He's 100 percent correct.

In the new age of an NCAA that has granted autonomy and has made a concerted effort to simplify the rule book, maybe one addition—or subtraction—needs to be made. As Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby—who's chairman of the new NCAA football oversight committee—told ESPN.com's Heather Dinich, it's going to be addressed soon.

This is essentially a legislative standoff. In a perfect world, SEC coaches want the "loophole" that allows coaches from other conferences to "guest-coach" closed, because players within its footprint were the primary reason the conference has elevated itself into the deepest football conference in the country.

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

That's what they're hoping to protect.

If they aren't successful, though, the SEC could just as easily allow their coaches to do the same thing that Notre Dame's Brian Kelly and Penn State's James Franklin have already done. After all, many SEC schools, including Alabama (as 247Sports.com's Barton Simmons notes), are already national powers:

Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Georgia and all of the SEC's heavy-hitters are national brands, and would absolutely kill it if allowed to travel to, say, Columbus, Ohio, and hold a camp in head coach Urban Meyer's backyard.

After all, as Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney—who can't "guest-coach" according to ACC rules—noted on Wednesday's ACC teleconference (via Bruce Feldman of FoxSports.com), they aren't really camps:

If the SEC and ACC can't win the fight to close the loophole, then open the floodgates.

Either way, it's not that hard for FBS to get on the same page. The Power Five conferences are already working together in the age of autonomy on a wide variety of different issues, and satellite camps need to be added to the list.

Until that happens, and the loophole is addressed on a national level, the SEC will be at a disadvantage due to its reluctance to change its stance and the free-for-all that currently exists for coaches outside the SEC footprint.

If only there was a true college football commissioner to address these issues in a swift and aggressive manner.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports' composite rankings.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.