Well That Didn’t Take Long

Auburn is trying to distance themselves from their rivals to the west with regards to this topic.   It appears that it is all Tommy Tuberville's fault that Auburn is near the top of the board with 253 signed LOI's since 2002.

"When the negative media storm that is building over this explodes, Auburn will be assumed to be doing the same things.  While we are used to negative national media for our upstate rivals rubbing off on us, this is one we truly do not deserve."

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/342237-auburn-football-unexpected-fallout-from-previous-bad-recruiting

We believe there might be some correlation between oversigning and coaching turnover (maybe schools are oversigning because coaches leave them high and dry and the new coach coming in has to oversign to fill holes) - we're going to get into that on this site and see if we can connect the dots.  Thus far, we know this much: the SEC has a very high oversigning rate and a very high coaching turnover rate (head and assistant coaches).  Maybe doing away with oversigning will help curb some of the turnover in coaching positions.  Just a thought.

Did the SEC Really Ban Oversigning?

Or, did the SEC just put window dressing on the problem by capping the number of players that can be signed to a single class at 28?

http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/1843/over-signing-may-be-a-thing-of-the-past-in-sec

We have already seen that Auburn signed 32 players this year and a total of 3 SEC schools signed more than 28 players (Auburn, Alabama, and LSU).  How can they do that?  If they have room in their previous class (meaning they didn't sign the max of 25) then they can get players to enroll early and count towards the previous year.  Auburn did this with a number of players.  The problem is that eventually you can't keep doing this, and furthermore, if you sign the max of 25 every year you will run into the 85 player limit.  25 * 4 = 100.  One way schools find a way around this is the use of JUCO players that only have two years of eligibility; this dovetails into the practice of signing and placing players.  Schools in the SEC have a history of signing players they know will have to go to JUCO in hopes of getting them back in two years. 

By definition, oversigning is not simply taking more than 25 players (or in the SEC's case 28).  It's the practice of taking more than you have room for under the 85/25 rule.   As we pointed out in Alabama's case in the "Recruiting Budget" section, they signed 10 more players than they have room for, despite somehow staying within the 28 players signed /25 players enrolled limit.  If a school only has room for 18 players (meaning going into recruiting season they have 67 players on scholarship)  and they sign 22, that's oversigning.   67 + 22 = 89.  89 > 85.  The loophole here is that schools have until August to get their roster down to 85.  In the example above, 4 of the 89 players would have to leave the team in order for the school to stay compliant.  In Alabama's case this year and last, the number was more like 8-9 players each year.  This is a bit of a contrast from schools around the country that stay within their budget to keep from going over.  Mark Richt has been an advocate against oversigning and does not use this practice, and when you look at his numbers you can see that the only other school that signs less players is Vanderbilt.

The SEC has simply eliminated what Houston Nutt was doing, which was the practice of "signing and placing" (we'll get into that more later).  Nutt signed 37 players the year before last and placed a good bit of them in junior college, essentially creating a farm league for Ole Miss.

Many people are confused about this, including this blog where they state that:

"Oversigning is simply more kids than the 25 available slots, then finding spots for those overages"

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports/college/fau/blog/2009/06/oversigning_how_troy_reloads_a.html

If the SEC really wanted to put some teeth into their regulations on recruiting numbers, they would required that SEC schools report their recruiting budget by a certain date (sometime between the end of the season and signing day) and then require that each school stay within their budget.   That would put an end to the oversigning, completely.  If Alabama had to report that they had 66 players returning on scholarship before signing day, then it would be known publicly that they have room to take 19 players and stay within the 85 player limit.

What about academic casualties and injuries???

If you look at the chart on the recruiting numbers page, you will find that a number of schools are already operating this way.  Granted, none of them have to report their numbers, but a good bit of them know exactly what their numbers are and they stay within those numbers, period.  If they can do it, so can the SEC.