Much Ado About Nothing: What the SEC "Oversigning" Rule Really Does

The Merriam Webster Dictionary describes ado as 1: heightened fuss or concern :  2: time-wasting bother over trivial details.

And that sort of sums it up. All the fuss over this newest rule is simply a heightened fuss over something trivial. It is a PR stunt by the SEC meant to quiet the media and show that now the SEC "cares" about over signing. And it really doesn't take full effect until 2012.

You see, Slive and the SEC has come under pressure because of two totally irrelevant things. One that the Wall Street Journal wants to seem more of a "mainstream" newspaper, and that means including sports. Nothing sells papers like controversy, and they are creating one with this issue. They have made Nick Saban the poster boy of over signing.

Never mind that Auburn actually has signed more than than Alabama over the last 10 years, as have many schools. In fact here is Alabama's rating and those above it.

TEAMS              CONF. 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 TOTAL AVERAGE
Auburn                SEC     31      27      29      22     25      30     29      28     32     253         28.11
Miss. State         SEC     30      28      23     29      24      33     27      27     26     247         27.44
Iowa State           B12      27     26      29     27      30       25    25      26     28     243         27.00
South Carolina   SEC     27     28      29     28      24       31     23     29     23     242         26.89
Arkansas            SEC     23     25      32     24     26        27     26     31     25     239         26.56
Kansas State     B12      30     17      26     26     30        34     33      25    17     238         26.44
Ole Miss             SEC    18      21      25     28     30        22     31      37    25     237         26.33
Alabama             SEC    19     29      29     32     23        25     32      27    29     235         26.10

Obviously, having a team like Alabama, who has a 10-year average of signing 26.10 players a year is not going to be impacted by cutting that number to 25.  Alabama did have a spurt when they signed more than 25 because they were making up for the years they didn't sign that many because of NCAA restrictions and other factors.

The other thing to keep in mind is a lot of those signed kids never make it to campus to play one down because they don't meet scholastic requirements or other things. That has happened to Alabama and many other schools.

So they sign 28, but only 25 of those qualify and actually come to campus, but all you ever hear is the number 28.

The other irrelevant thing is that this is the crutch that the Big Ten uses every time it gets plowed under by an SEC team, that they are at a disadvantage because the SEC over-signs.

Now, lets look at why a team my even sign 25 players when it only has 18 seniors graduating. On paper, it looks like the team has "oversigned" by seven people.

But three players leave early for the NFL, so now you've only over-signed by four. But the coach has already heard grumbling that two players are going to transfer because they've realized that they're not ever going to make the starting lineup at this school and he knows that they are as good as gone, so now, you've only over-signed by two.

But there are a world of other possibilities out there to account why a coach would sign more kids than he has slots for, but the main on is insurance.

Should a player or two get hurt in spring or fall practice, they will have a full squad. The same for a players that become academically ineligible. break a team rule and be suspended from the team or any number of other reasons.

You can also "grey shirt" an incoming player who is determined to be a project to be worked on. Maybe he needs some time to mature, to muscle up, or any number of other reasons. Grey shirts don't count on the total roster of allowed players.

You can also "back date" players in years you have higher needs than others. For instance, for some reason, because you had a ton of seniors, a lot who left early for the NFL and other reasons, you lost 30 players. Does this mean your team will be five men short?

No, you sign 30, but count five of them against next year's class, and that year, you can only sign 20 new ones because five of them are already on campus being red shirted. And if you lose some to other reasons, then you're back to signing all 25 the next year.

Then there are the medical waivers, and boy, does the press love to point to those. They make it appear that some schools misuse this process to declare players who coaches have "misjudged" in bringing in and declaring them as medically unfit, thereby opening a slot for a "better" player.

At Alabama, medical hardships are never taken lightly, and no player has come forward saying that he was unfairly judged to be medically unfit. This despite much digging and interviewing.

A coach like Saban wants to play by the rules, and if the rules say it's OK to over-sign, he will. If they say you can only sign 25, then he will. But he will push everything to the legal limit to insure his team has a fully stocked roster, and that's why he's making the big money.