For years and years there has been a “25 per year” limit.
However, for years and years many programs (including us) signed more than 25. I THINK the rule was you could sign as many as you wanted, you could only put 25 on scholarship come August. So if you signed 29, you might end up sending 1 or 2 to JC, you might “gray shirt” one, some might come but not be on scholarship, etc. I am right so far?
Then there got to be an uproar over “oversigning” and the rules were changed. (Not sure if it was an SEC Rule of NCAA Rules change). But I am confused as to what the current rules are:
Can you ONLY, with no exceptions, sign 25? If a kid signs and does not make his grades, you are just out of luck? I think that is the rule but hasn’t Tennessee signed a whole lot more than 25 several times since that rule was put in place?
What about “counting back”? Lets say we only sign 24 in a given year. I THINK “counting back” would let me take a kid coming in in January as part of that class. Correct? Does it have to be a JC guy or can it be a high school guy who came in early? Also, lets say we signed 24 kids, but only 23 made it to campus. Do we have 1 or 2 sports to “count back?”
You can only sign 25, but you can count back to the previous class, if you signed less than 25, and have early enrollees. If you sign someone to a LOI and they don’t qualify, you lose that spot on your 25 initial qualifiers.
On counting back, is it how many you SIGNED or how many you got? Signed 25, but 2 didn’t make it to campus and 2 more announced they were transferring after the first semester (I don’t think for a second that the last part matters, but just trying to cover every situation). In that case can you count back zero, 2 or 4?
You can sign 25 initial qualifiers. If they don’t show up, or transfer, that would open up spots on your 85 number, but any recruit signed to a LOI counts on your initial qualifier numbers.