Division I-A teams are allowed a maximum of 85 scholarship players on the roster and can sign a limit of 25 athletes each year, but the numbers are not adding up at North Carolina.
Butch Davis' team will lose 12 scholarship seniors after it completes the 2008 season by playing West Virginia in the Meineke Bowl on Dec. 27. But Davis and his staff already have 24 commitments for next season and are still recruiting. What gives?
Yes, Butch is probably going to run players who are not up to standard, bringing back memories of Nick Saban, who went ballistic in April when asked about his fuzzy math. But all is forgotten in Alabama after a 12-1 regular season.
In the case of Davis, he would appear to be on course to set a new standard for over-recruiting, even with tricks like gray shirting or medical hardships. The Tar Heel coach's tactics have caught the attention of rival North Carolina State and its recruiting coordinator, Jerry Petercuskie.
"We're not in the market of oversigning, unless there's a case where there are some borderline students who may not make it," he said. "And in that case, there's a plan for them."
This gets to the heart of the matter. Recruiting is about building trust. If you can't be trusted to honor a commitment, your reputation takes a hit.
Is this where Davis and his staff want to take the program?
Most accurate counts have UNC at ~97 scholarships reserved for next year. True, a couple of freshmen won't qualify (or will declare for the MLB), Nicks (junior) will probably go pro, and a player or two will transfer out of the program, but 12? That's a pretty big number. And they are still very actively recruiting more.
Of course, so far, no wrong has been done. But when August rolls around, we might see some pretty upset players, recruits, parents, and high school coaches.
Posted by: tl | December 12, 2008 at 05:24 AM
It's good to see people are finally paying attention to this. Noting will ever come of it, but hopefully high school coaches will start noticing too.
Posted by: The PIler | December 12, 2008 at 11:26 AM
here comes the Turk
Posted by: CW | December 12, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Coach needs to talk to you, bring your playbook
Posted by: muffin783 | December 13, 2008 at 07:18 AM
I think you are getting ahead of yourself at this point. Yes, there will be attrition and it will be a sizeable number.
But Butch waited until after his second year to start making room. That was the admirable thing to do. Remember, the State fans expected this much sooner. And now that it wil happen, they will make as big a hoopla out of it that they can. That's two years to show you can outperform the other guy for you new coach. That is MUCH better than what happens at most schools.
Posted by: Big Brother1 | December 14, 2008 at 04:15 PM