The Myth of Oversigning and Why Good Programs Must Achieve High Standards

Each year, fans across the country bicker that they lose a particular recruit to a rival or out of conference institution and raise the complaint that the opposition school did not have the proper number of scholarships to offer the player, yet offered the athlete a scholarship anyway.

The argument is then cited that the school in question will now have to cut a scholarship player to make room for the "oversigned" athlete.

Other casual observers of college football recruiting complain when they have fashionably reviewed a team's roster positions and notice that a team has signed more athletes than open spots available on the roster. It is their lack of in-depth knowledge and understanding of how a roster system works that causes them to start claiming foul. Not the system. In fact, the system works and for the best head coaches, it works to the advantage of the players and the program.

It is this lack of knowledge that is being addressed in this treatment of what has been referred to as the sin of "oversigning."

Just to review, so that everyone is clear on the so-called definition of "oversigning":

Taken from the website of the same name:

 Oversigning: We define oversigning on this site as the act of accepting more signed letters of intent on National Signing Day than you have room for under the 85 scholarship limit. 

There are varying degrees of oversigning, some not quite as bad as others. Regardless, we believe any time you sign more players than you have room for and you have to depend on either the player you signed to not be academically eligible or for a current player to be cut in order to stay under the 85 scholarship limit and bring in the newly signed commitments that it hurts the kids involved and the sport as a whole.

Oversigning is not just signing more than 25 players in a single recruiting class; it is going over the 85 scholarship limit. For example, if you have 65 players returning on scholarship on National Signing Day and you sign 23, you have oversigned by three because 65+23 = 88. Therefore, even though you didn't go over 25 in a single class, you have oversigned. 

Simply put, it is our opinion that there is no place for oversigning in college football.

What this says is that if a student is given a scholarship as a junior or senior in high school, then that scholarship should be his or her ticket for the next four years at the institution of choice, no matter what the effort or ability is on the field, or in the classroom. In this model, there is no room for attrition of the student-athlete.

Just how uninformed is that statement? This article is intended to educate the uninformed reader regarding this issue, and to enlighten those with some knowledge but no facts to base their opinion. It is not intended to make an appeal to those sidewalk fans who are convinced that "oversigning" is the hidden sin of college sports and persuade them to think otherwise.

All scholarship students, athlete or not, are required to meet certain standards in order to maintain their scholarship. Simply put, it you can't cut the mustard, you don't belong on the job. Accepting a scholarship is in fact a contract for work. If the scholarship is for athletics, music, academic, cheerleading or dance, the scholarship student is required to maintain a respectable level of performance in order to maintain their scholarship and benefits.

Football and other sports use a variety of avenues to keep athletes on scholarship when their ability to compete on the D1 level has run its course. Football just happens to be the sport with the largest number of athletes and the most violent sport on campus. Attrition happens, and you don't know as a head coach at what point in the kid's career it's going to happen, if it happens at all.

In addition, for the athlete, because of the "student" moniker, they must also achieve a certain level of academic achievement while on scholarship in order to fulfill their side of the contract. Lets take a look at the variable causes for student-athlete attrition.

Non-contribution attrition

If a player has been on the team for two or three years and has yet to hit the field of play, and his contribution on the scout team is less than what is expected at this juncture in his college career, the coaching staff has the duty, obligation and the right to discuss this lack of progress with the student-athlete.

There are players who have toughed it out for several seasons and are valuable as scout team players, but will never make it to the field of play because of the talent ahead of them on the depth chart. Some players come to this realization on their own, some consult their family members, friends, position coach or head coach for advice.

Many of these players will seek a transfer to a lower-tier school so they don't lose a season of eligibility, and they can then realize their childhood dreams by contributing on the field of play at another school. Other athletes transfer to another D1 school, losing a year of eligibility with the hope of challenging for a starting position at the second institution in the following season of play.

Transfers for personal choices related to offensive or defensive schemes

Transferring is a personal choice, the choices may or may not work out as expected for the athlete in question. Three relatively recent high profile D1 transfers in and out of the Southeastern Conference involving the University of Arkansas and the University of Alabama detail how this might occur and how these particular examples played out over the past few years.

Current NFL prospect Ryan Mallett requested a transfer from the University of Michigan in 2007 because of the unexpected retirement of Lloyd Carr and subsequent hiring of Rich Rodriquez.

Mallett realized quickly that Rodriquez had an offensive philosophy that did not suit his particular skill set. In addition, Mallett, a pro-style quarterback, realized that he did not have the ability nor the desire to develop the skill sets necessary to succeed in the spread system that Rich Rod intended to install at Michigan. Mallett had no intention of changing positions.

Mallett transferred from Michigan and appealed for immediate eligibility. The appeal was denied by the NCAA, yet Mallett still elected to transfer and sit out a year while learning the Bobby Petrino pro-style offensive scheme. It was a difficult decision but one made without regret. It cost Ryan Mallett's family hard-earned cash to forge a legal appeal to NCAA, money that was not reimbursable.

The rest is history for the University of Arkansas. Petrino and Arkansas fans ended up with the top passer in college football after his third year of eligibility. Mallett, with the blessing of his head coach and fanbase, is now preparing to leave Arkansas for the NFL with one year of eligibility left.

Mallett alone accounted for player attrition at Michigan by transfer, and attrition at Arkansas by early decision to leave for a professional career, and he still has one year of eligibility.

His legacy is forged as the leading quarterback in Arkansas football history after just two years of play. He is a legend in the Natural State, beloved by the fans and the institution.

The second athlete that comes to mind is Mitch Mustain. Mustain was the top-ranked quarterback in the country during his senior year of high school in Northwest Arkansas. He accepted a scholarship to the University of Arkansas under coach Houston Nutt over nearly 30 offers from other D1 schools.

Without going into the full history of Mustain's freshman year under Nutt and coordinator Gus Malzhan, suffice it to say that there was enough turmoil to fill the pages of sports magazines and psychiatry journals for the next three years.

Things did not work out for the high-profile freshman quarterback and he transferred to the University of Southern California during the summer following his freshman year. Remarkably, his transfer made room on the roster for Ryan Mallett.

While at Arkansas, Mustain started eight games and had eight wins as a starter. Following the transfer to USC, he did not start a single game, and saw only limited playing time behind Mark Sanchez and Matt Barkley during his remaining years of eligibility. He is a casualty in college sport, yet will post his name in the NFL draft and he leaves Southern Cal with a degree in hand.

For Alabama fans, the transfer of Colin Peek from Georgia Tech to Alabama comes to mind. Peek was a high-profile tight end prospect who accepted a scholarship to Tech while Chan Gailey was head coach. When Gailey was fired and Bobby Johnson hired as head coach, Peek saw that his role as a tight end receiver would not work with Bobby Johnson's offensive philosophy.

Peek valued and enjoyed his role as a receiver, and transferred to the University of Alabama, losing a year of eligibility in the process. He too made an unsuccessful appeal to the NCAA and lost money in the process. In 2009, Peek was a starter for the Crimson Tide, was considered a team leader and was an instrumental player in Jim McElwain's offensive scheme. His contributions on and off the field helped his team secure an SEC championship and BCS national championship for the Crimson Tide.

Medical setbacks-injury attrition

Injuries contribute to attrition, as well. Some high school athletes come into the programs with known injuries and the opportunity to overcome the setback by the first or second season. Many coaches take that gamble.

Other athletes incur injury on the practice field or on the field of play. Medical scholarships are available to those who are injured on or off the field, allowing the student to finish their diploma, without having to contribute in their sport any longer. They are still considered team members by the coaching staff and players, but are not included on the roster.

One of the leading causes of injury attrition in college football is recurrent concussions, or head injuries resulting in memory loss or chronic debilitating headaches. But there are many other types of injury that lead to attrition, including spine injuries, recurrent sports hernias, heart disorders, strokes, fracture non-union, and chronic infections.

Chronic joint injuries involving the elbow, wrist and ankles can lead to a disorder called reflex sympathetic dystrophy. In turn, this can lead to chronic pain and disuse. In an athlete, disuse can lead to atrophy of the musculature and will eventually lead to a prolonged rehabilitation and eventual medical hardship. This list of injuries is certainly not exhaustive but highlights the main contributors to attrition.

Pre-season injuries: spring practice and fall camp attrition

National Signing Day occurs in February each year. In March, spring practice begins. Each year, several athletes who are fit and ready for spring practice end up with a season-ending injury as a result of spring football. This can happen to an early admission freshman athlete or JUCO transfer, just as well as it could happen to a seasoned college player.

In addition, there are athletes who accepted a redshirt the year before because of injury, hoping that they have participated in rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, enough to compete by the spring practice. But in many cases each year, it doesn't work out for the student athlete and they must choose to quit, transfer or accept a medical scholarship. Many of the athletes come to this decision on their own, some are coaxed by family members, and some are counseled by coaches.

Non-matriculation attrition

A certain number of athletes are susceptible to failure in the classroom. After all, the student has accepted an education scholarship and performance in the classroom is a prerequisite to maintaining that bounty. Simply put, if an individual cannot maintain his status as a student, he cannot continue as a student-athlete.

Behavioral issues

Every year, students are removed from campuses across the country for behavioral issues. Battery, drugs, repeat offenders for underage drinking, DUI, etc. They are young adults and therefore struggle with these issues more than a mature adult. For better or worse, society has rules that place a youth with marginal behavioral issues at risk for becoming a social deviate.

Athletes are no exception to the slings and arrows thrown at youths in our society, they too run into the same problems incurred by young adults in other walks of life, and thus may suffer the consequences of society's legal system. The penalties incurred will vary from city to city, state to state. It is the way of the legal system in America.

The penalty can be higher for a high-profile athlete because the spotlight is so much brighter. At times, the penalty is not as tough as one would expect because the system is likely to give the motivated youth a chance to recover from the incident and move on to finish his education. After all, considering the position they are in as 18-22 year olds, they are highly motivated, productive members of society with a chance to do much more with their lives than most their age.

Community service is often the route of least resistance and generally helps the youth understand more about how fortunate they are to have the benefits of a scholarship provided through an institution of higher learning. In addition, they are usually in the doghouse with the coaching staff and have to earn the right to be back in good graces with the staff and team.

In many cases, these educational institutions are the best the state has to offer. The institutions have special programs available to student-athletes to overcome these obstacles. The athlete has to take advantage of the available resources or they are likely to fail once again.

Behavioral issues are a major contributor to college athlete attrition. But there are other legal situations that arise that are sometimes unexpected, untimely and detrimental to the matriculation of the college athlete.

Legal/eligibility related issues

The following is an example that has nothing to do with behavior, yet has everything to do with the system in place for D1 level college football and college entry. These eligibility issues come to the forefront of every signing class. The recent movie The Blind Side highlighted just one of the many kids affected by college eligibility issues. The following example occurred at the University of Alabama just last year.

Alfy Hill was a stellar athlete from West Brunswick High School in Shallotte, North Carolina. Hill was ranked sixth in his position as a defensive end and 61st in overall rank for the 2010 high school football class. He accepted a scholarship to the University of Alabama last February.

Following high school graduation, he enrolled early in the summer of 2010 at Alabama. After his summer enrollment, receipt of passing grades for all classes during his college summer session, and following participation in fall football camp, the NCAA ruled that Hill's high school coursework was insufficient for D1 college entry.

Remember now, Hill signed with Alabama in February, graduated in May from West Brunswick High School and attended summer classes.

The decision by the NCAA was a travesty, and an example of subpar execution of policy by NCAA officials. Yet Alfy Hill became the victim and had no recourse in the short time he was given to make an appeal. It was a legal nightmare and Hill did not have the resources to fight a legal battle with the NCAA.

Alabama was left with a vacancy on the roster after fall camp was complete. Hill was prepared to play during the 2010 season for Alabama, he had earn a spot in the player rotation.

Because of the decision made by the NCAA, Hill's scholarship was retracted and Hill was forced into a decision to transfer from the University of Alabama to a junior college for the purpose of completing remedial high school work. School work he had already completed at the high school level, received his high school diploma and had once been cleared by the NCAA clearinghouse.

These are not isolated examples. They repeat year in and year out. The NCAA is at fault, as much as the high school administrations and the NCAA clearinghouse. Colleges have no recourse once the NCAA has made their decision, rarely does an appeal from a university overturn an NCAA decision.

Non-qualifier attrition

Some of the signed athletes from the incoming class run into problems with grades and are not prepared to enter college by the time fall camp starts or fall classes begin. The universities have no control over this particular kind of attrition and in fact will be penalized if they are found to be assisting the athlete in any way with qualifying for entry.

Early matriculation from high achievement

For better or worse, some athletes mature faster than others and are ready for a professional career by the time they reach their junior year of college. Some athletes are not only physically and mentally prepared to enter professional leagues, they have completed their degree and have fulfilled their commitment to the university in all aspects of the agreement. Such was the case of 2009 Butkus Award winner Rolando McClain.

This can be the best for both worlds, but at times the team may suffer by losing an athlete that is usually a leader and always a high performance contributor on the field. It is particularly tough on a team if they lose three or four junior athletes to the NFL draft in the same year.

In addition to these high performance contributors, the coach and team lose a certain number of senior athletes as well. Years with such prosperity for the NFL from one college team leaves a void of senior leadership. In the following year, this void generally results in mistakes on the field, mistakes that can cost the team and the coach championships.

High rates of attrition are bad and not desired for college football

Having said all this, the maturity of a team is essential to win championships. People that think "over-signing" is an advantage have no idea what it takes to win championships. No coach wants to have a high attrition rate for any reason, no coach in their right mind encourages attrition.

To have high turnover on a regular basis defeats the main goal of developing a team with depth, knowledge of the game and strength at each position. It is an indicator of a staff that is not getting it done in the trenches. Not preparing freshmen and sophomores to lead as juniors and seniors is unacceptable as a college coach. It is a measurement that can lead to an assistant or head coach eventually getting fired.

It is the mature college team that brings home the crystal trophy. Not a team heavily weighted with freshmen, sophomores or JUCO transfers. In college football, youth on the field in high numbers is a prescription for disaster. Penalties, missed assignments, fatigue and inexperience all figure into a subpar performance by youthful starters.

Anthony Lucas, a starting WR for Arkansas in the late 1990s, said this: "If my coach can find an athlete that can contribute to the team with the possibility of winning a championship, I want the coach to go and get that player. If I have a teammate that is not giving a full effort at practice or during the game, I would rather that athlete not be on my team and for that athlete to give up his scholarship for someone who wants it more."

In his career at Arkansas, Lucas had 137 receptions, 2,897 yards, 21.1 yards per catch and 19 TDs. He suffered an injury during his career and accepted a medical redshirt in 1996, the year following an All-Freshman SEC performance. He ended up as a two-time All-SEC first team selection and is a member of the 1990-99 Arkansas All-Decade team.

Lucas added: "Attrition happens, coaches have to prepare their team for a championship run and need to do whatever it takes to make that happen. It is in the best interest of the team, and as a player, we expected it and wanted it to happen if it would make our team a championship contender."

With all of this information, and this only scratches the surface of what college coaches have to deal with on a daily basis, there is no wonder why it is reasonable to have few extra letters of intent on national signing day than roster spots. In fact, those who do not aren't preparing their team properly for the tough road ahead.

There will be attrition prior to spring training, more attrition prior to fall camp and a few that may not make it to the first game of the season. You need to have a built-in cushion. It is an absolute necessity for a team that intends to win a championship.

A coach has 85 scholarship players on his roster. He must be sure that he is spending the public university resources efficiently, and preparing his team for a fall campaign. If the coach is at an institution that has a high interest in becoming a champion by season end, he must pay attention to the details in his roster. He must know his players and know that they are working within the framework of the program to do things correctly while they are on his watch.

In the words of Nick Saban: "It is important to have a group of players that are responsible for their own self-determination, in terms of doing their jobs. At Alabama, we have a demanding program, not just with regard to football. There is a personal development aspect to our program with principles and values that develop a personal philosophy."

Saban adds: "These programs are in place to develop athletes with the right kind of habits, thoughts and priorities that are going to help them make good decisions. Whether it's with peer intervention, behavioral issues, drugs, alcohol, gambling, spiritual development, how to treat the opposite sex or running your mouth, our programs are designed to help our young men make the right decisions."

College coaches at major institutions generally have bonuses attached to their contracts that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, directly connected to the graduation of student athletes from their program. In addition, bonuses are attached for league championships and national championships. Championships in college sports at this level are won with mature athletes, not freshmen.

It is in the best interest of the coach and the institution to have the athletes matriculate with diplomas in hand. A high graduation rate for the student athlete is the best tool to use in recruiting the high school athlete with regard to conversations with parents and guardians. As the commercial for college athletics states, most athletes will become professionals in something other than professional sports. A degree is worth more in the end.

But athletes as well as academic scholarship students are made aware that attrition occurs. They are warned of this up front and educated on the avenues for prevention at institutions such as Alabama. 

Many of the obstacles that lead to attrition are avoidable by the astute student and good institutions have programs in place to help the students of all varieties, particularly the student athlete, avoid these pitfalls.

Addendum to article on 2/5/11 a few days after Saban addressed the issue of over-signing during his post signing day press conference:

Saban directly answering the issue of over-signing:

On how the numbers will work out with the incoming players:“I think that there has been quite a bit written about over-signing so to speak, but we have never gotten rid of a player because of his physical ability. Any player that has left this program prematurely has created his own exit route. He’s created his own conditions for leaving, if that makes sense. Whether they are academic in terms of not doing what he needed to do academically, whether it is some violation of team or school policy, some of those things we are not allowed to talk about.

We have so many seniors; we have some guys going out for the draft. Nobody really knows how many guys we had on scholarship last year, but it wasn’t 85. I can tell you that. We have some people that could not finish the season that will probably not be able to continue to play, that will be replaced and we have several players that can graduate and may not come back for their fifth year, who have been redshirted.

When you add all those things up, plus guys we have that may not qualify, it is not fair to criticize the numbers. When you look at the numbers without knowing all the facts and internal information, I think that is a little premature and unfair. Then for people to go out and use that against you in recruiting is even more unfair. This is the number of players that we could take and we could add one or so to that if the opportunity presents itself in the future and we do have some guys that may greyshirt.

“Let me address that too, because I think there is a lot of criticism in greyshirting that is unfair. First of all, we have never greyshirted a guy here who when he decided to come here didn’t know the circumstances that we were going to take him at The University of Alabama.

The reason is sometimes academic, the reason is sometimes physical development and maturity, but never has a player not known (they might be greyshirted.) We have never not done it upfront, so the player comes here with the idea that I’m going to start school in January. Now I don’t think that is a bad thing. If we were not able to do that, those players would never have the opportunity to come here. So we are actually creating an opportunity for a guy to come here, not taking one away.

That is why I think there is some disconnect out there and understanding about what greyshirting is all about.”