Tulane University Law School Tackles the Oversigning Issue

Justin N. Fielkow has written a wonderful 3 part blog on the topic of oversigning that is definitely worth a read:

'Notional' Letter of Intent: College Football Offers More Than It Can Deliver, Part 1

'Notional' Letter of Intent: College Football Offers More Than It Can Deliver, Part 2

'Notional' Letter of Intent: College Football Offers More Than It Can Deliver, Part 3

His conclusion:

"Advocates of oversigning will claim that college football is a business, and there is nothing wrong with universities engaging in such competitive practices, so long as they are within the bounds of the law and NCAA guidelines.⁴²  However, such an attitude fails to take into account the persistent exploitation of young men who are dependent on coaches and universities keeping their promises amidst a flawed system. Athletic departments already exploit student-athletes for tens of millions in profit in exchange for a minimal price - the cost of an athletic scholarship. Yet, where players are deemed to have no further value to an institution and punished through the revocation of their financial scholarship, the line between college and professional football becomes blurred to the point where universities forget that they are first and foremost academic institutions shaping the minds of young individuals, regardless of the amount of money that is poured into their football programs. It is at that sad point where institutions championing higher learning allow the notions of fair play, morality, and ethics to be compromised in the name of winning a game played primarily by teenagers."

Comments on Grayshirting:

"According to the Collegiate Commissioners Association, the governing body of the NLI program, grayshirting is not supported, and a policy is in place nullifying the NLI if a coach or institution asks the student-athlete to grayshirt, thereby allowing the prospective student-athlete to enroll at a different university without suffering under restrictive transfer rules.¹⁵  Unfortunately, this is not much of a remedy since most schools have already filled up their recruiting classes by this point, leaving no scholarships available for the student athlete who was surprised by the grayshirt. Thus, many student-athletes decide to delay enrollment and accept the gray shirt, ensuring the NLI remains valid.

In the hyper-competitive atmosphere of big-money college football, coaches will wait until learning whether the oversigning gamble will pay off before informing recruits that they must accept the grayshirt offer to play football at the school, at which point many student-athletes are left with no other option other than to accept the grayshirt. It is such actions that have led to those with a voice, such as University of Florida president J. Bernard Machen, to label the practice of grayshirting morally "reprehensible" and unethical as coaches play Russian roulette with the lives of young men because of their football talents.¹⁶
 
Even where a school successfully slides under both the 28-signee and the 25-annual new scholarship limit per recruiting year, they are often in violation of the NCAA's 85-scholarship limit for the entire roster.¹⁷  Where schools are over the 85-scholarship limit, some student-athletes will see their annually-renewable one-year scholarship unilaterally "revoked." Yet, according to Alabama's Nick Saban, who has signed 133 recruits in 5 years, "[w]e have never gotten rid of a player because of his physical ability.""

Check out the links above and read the entire blog, it's really great stuff.  Great to see people all over the country talking about oversigning.  That is why this site was created.