WVU Recruiting: Bill Stewart's Version

Bill Stewart is changing the way WVU approaches recruiting.

According to Stewart , WVU will no longer allow verbal commitments to leak their status until their parents have visited the Morgantown campus.

WVU’s new recruiting coordinator, Chris Beatty , is on board with his coach’s new policy.

On the surface, the new recruiting policy appears to be a knee jerk reaction to the departure of former recruiting coordinator John “Doc” Holliday. However, for WVU fans to accept that premise as fact is to do a great injustice to the current coaching staff.

The reasons for the new recruiting tack go deeper. Bill Stewart wants to sign 16 to 18 players each year to letters of intent.

The NCAA has established 85 as the total number of scholarship players its FBS schools may have at the start of fall practice in August.

Oversigning the practice of some FBS schools signing more recruits than they actually have available scholarships to provide within that 85.

Basically, a school signs 25 recruits to letters of intent, if that same school already has 65 players on scholarship they have signed five too many.

Sometime between signing day in February and the beginning of practice in August, the school in question must shed five players that have been promised scholarships.

No matter the angle you observe this situation; the forced reduction in roster is morally and ethically wrong. The primary goal of a university should be to graduate the players they offer scholarships and receive letters of intent. Over signing crumples that concept and sends it to the proverbial dumpster.

The number of players an institution signs to letters of intent should equal the number of open scholarships available within the allotted 85. After all, we are talking about student athletes.

Assuming that an FBS school applies a three deep roster at each offensive and defensive position, 66 players will need to be on the team to fill that roster. Add one player each for punting, kick-off, and extra point/field goal duties. Of the 85 allowed scholarship players, 69 are used for this roster, leaving 16 scholarship players remaining.

There is no limit to the number of players a school may invite to walk-on. Keep in mind that a walk-on must pay their own tuition, and associated expenses, for the right to play for their respective school. For the purposes of this discussion, we will set the total walk-ons for our team at six, bringing the total roster to 91.

In essence, our hypothetical FBS team has a four deep roster with three additional players as kickers. Keep in mind that a 91-player roster would be considered small in the FBS.

By comparison, an NFL team has a game day roster of 45 players, with an additional eight practice squad players for a total of 53. Further, the NFL has set its training camp number at 80, five less than the allotted FBS scholarship number.

FBS schools regularly have twice as many players on their roster than NFL teams carry.

When is enough, enough?

Bill Stewart is beginning to address that very question at WVU. By beginning to limit the number of players, he issues letters of intent. Stewart, through Beatty, is targeting specific areas of need for his football team in recruiting.

Stewart has developed a habit of making a statement that at first appears absurd. However, once an individual delves deeper into the statement they find Stewart’s moral and ethical compass is pointed in precisely the proper direction .

The Bleacher Report’s own Bryan Kelly posted an insightful slide show into the practice of oversigning. In Kelly’s slide show, he listed WVU as the number nine worst offender of oversigning. By the numbers, WVU deserved that ranking.

What Kelly did not know and could not know unless he was a follower of WVU football, is that Bill Stewart is a man of his word. When Stewart says he intends to do something, he does it.

Attrition is a fact in college football in particular and all sports in general. Where is the moral and ethical high ground in dealing with that attrition within the FBS?

Keep an eye on Oll Billy Stewart at WVU, he will undoubtedly find it.