| FTBL Scholarship numbers/attrition and the Bama roster update

TerryP

Staff
As we head into the summer, the big question mark for the Alabama football is not one that has to do with finding talent for a specific position on the field. Instead, the Crimson Tide coaching staff will have to find a way to fit 98 guys into 85 scholarship positions.

A similar situation existed last summer, and Nick Saban managed to get the numbers low enough to actually award three scholarships to former walk-ons.

So don’t mistake this post as a wailing cry of, “how will this ever work out?!” I have no doubt that things will work, but because this is a hot topic for discussion already, it’s time to take a look at the roster.

The basic information that you need to know if you are new to this:


  • Every football team in Division 1 Bowl Sub-Division is allowed to have 85 student-athletes on scholarship.
  • No group of incoming football scholarship student-athletes can exceed 25 players.
  • Alabama’s 2008 signing class consisted of 27 players, meaning the Tide had to get that number down to 25.
  • At the close of the 2008 season, it appeared as though Alabama would have 73 scholarship players returning for competition in 2008.
  • Adding 73 and 25 gives you 98 - obviously way too many for the 85 limit.

The easiest thing to start with is the incoming class of freshman, and how that 27 is going to squeeze it’s way into the limit of 25. Here’s how that stands now:


  • Kerry Murphy and Jermaine Preyear are both new to the Tide team, but they both enrolled in January. Because Alabama had two spots open from the 2008 siging class, these two guys will count there, and not impact the 2009 incoming limit.
  • James Carpenter and Chance Warmack also enrolled in January, but with Murphy and Preyear filling the remaining two spots from 2008, they do have to count towards 2009’s limit of 25.
  • Signee Quinton Dial, a defensive tackle from Clay-Chalkville High School, has announced that he will not qualify. He plans to enroll at East Mississippi Community College, take a redshirt year, and graduate in three semesters.
  • If he pulls that trick, he will be eligible to report to Alabama in time for spring training in 2011, and would have three years of eligibility. Nikita Stover took this exact course of action a few years back.

Dial not coming in this summer puts the number of guys remaining at 26 - just one over the limit on incoming players. There are still several guys that have academic work to do in order to qualify. While there has been speculation about several guys’s academic status since signing day, interestingly enough Dial was not one of those.

The guys most frequently mentioned as possible academic casualties are Eddie Lacy, Michael Bowman, Rod Woodson, and Anthony Steen. In the last few weeks Steen has indicated that he received a qualifying ACT score, and he should be good to go. Bowman and Woodson have indicated that they feel good about things, and Lacy claims to need one summer school course. If all of these guys do qualify, the other option appears to be a medical deferment for offensive lineman Kellen Williams who had reconstructive knee surgery this spring.

So it looks as though Alabama will likely bring in a full class of 25, though there are frequently surprises when it comes to qualification issues. Barring one of those, and a full class of 25 guys coming in, that would have Bama’s number at 98 - or 13 too many.

Attrition has already begun, though.


  • Immediately after A-Day kicker Corey Smith left the team. It appears as though he’s returning to his home state of West Virginia, and will play for the Mountaineers.
  • Earlier this week it was announced that linebacker Jennings Hester was being given a medical hardship scholarship. That means that while he can no longer participate in football, he does continue to receive his full scholarship to the University. Because of the hardship, however, he does not count against the 85 limit.
  • On Friday the word finally came down that Prince Hall has left. After being suspended for the third time under Nick Saban, this was pretty much expected. The official word finally came down, though, and Hall is headed to Central Washington.

So with those three guys out of the mix, Bama is now only 10 over the limit. That’s still a hefty number of guys to lose over the course of the summer, though something tells me that we’ll see that number decrease pretty rapidy over the course of the next few weeks.

So how will it work? That’s a great question, and one that no one, not even Nick Saban, has an answer to today. Coach Saban doubtless has a series of plans in place, but there is no way of knowing how things will shake out. What are the possibilities?

Medical hardships like the one that Hester just took advantage of. There are several guys who have had their careers impeded by injury, and anyone of those guys could take this course of action soon. It’s tough to really guess here, because sometimes these injuries are not noticed by the casual fan. We know that Earl Alexander and Roy Upchurch have had very public injuries, but both of these guys are expected back.

Players decide to simply move on. This happened prior to last season with Charles Hoke, who had already earned his degree, and decided to move on with his life outside of football.

Tyrone King, Baron Huber, and Evan Cardwell have all graduated already, and none of them appear to be primed for a lot of playing time in the fall. King is a heavy contributor on special teams, so that could keep him around. Huber changed positions to tight end in the spring because it does not appear that Bama will feature a fullback in 2009. Cardwell exited the spring outside of the two deep at center, or either guard position.

Transfers.

It happens all the time where a guy will simply decide to take his skills elsewhere. Some of the time it happens because of a lack of playing time, some of the time it is due to personality conflicts, and occasionally it happens due to family situations.

Two guys have already taken this route, and there will doubtless be other guys who can see the handwriting on the wall. Don’t always believe rumors here, as many folks on the internet had Terry Grant already enrolled elsewhere in January, and he’s still in Tuscaloosa. Look for positions where Bama is extremely deep, and you might locate a candidate or two.

Academics.

Some guys just can’t make the grades necessary and are disqualified. There’s no way to anticipate these situations, though I’m happy to report that every single player was in good academic standing at the end of the 2008 fall semester.

Discipline.

Things happen, and guys are told that their services are no longer needed. Discipline has not been a major issue for anyone since the Jimmy Johns situation, but college kids make mistakes. There’s no way to anticipate this kind of situation, and hopefully it won’t be an issue.

The other situation at hand is regarding three former walk-ons who received scholarships prior to the 2008 season - King, Leigh Tiffin, and PJ Fitzgerald. It is possible that the coaching staff could decide to not offer scholarships to these three guys again in 2009, though that would likely be a last resort situation.

Over the course of the next few days, I’ll break things down, and make guesses as to where the ten spots are going to come from. I’ll start with the offense, and then move to the defense.

As a teaser for that, I’ll address the special teams here.

Both Tiffin and Fitzgerald will almost certainly be on scholarship in the fall. They will be the only special teams guys with that honor, and the ten casualties will have to come from the offense and defense.

-From BamaSportsReport
 
Nice write-up as always at Bama Sports Reports, but I got one question for the figure gurus, Terry or anyone else... What would it happen if neither of those cases can remove a scholarship? in other words, everyone of your incoming recruiting class reports as eligible, none tranfers or medical hardships, etc... and as a result, you're over that 85 limit of student-athletes on scholarship, without any way to drop that number. Are you forced to cut those players over the limit? What would it happen with those kids and the institution? Thanks

RTR,
 
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I know its not the prettiest thing for a school but....what about simply cutting guys if all else fails? I mean, its likely the guys that do get cut can get scholarships elsewhere(transfer), and the possibility of being cut is something you sign into when you become an athlete.

Does the NCAA allow that?
 
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Nice write-up as always at Bama Sports Reports, but I got one question for the figure gurus, Terry or anyone else... What would it happen if neither of those cases can remove a scholarship? in other words, everyone of your incoming recruiting class reports as eligible, none tranfers or medical hardships, etc... and as a result, you're over that 85 limit of student-athletes on scholarship, without any way to drop that number. Are you forced to cut those players over the limit? What would it happen with those kids and the institution? Thanks

RTR,

Agreed. Those guys do a great job over there.

What would happen?

That's a question that really can't be answered Isra. It can only be guessed at.

But, one thing I can say, with confidence, is the staff had a plan in place on who would fall where a long time before National Signing Day.

Last year, as example, if we did run into a problem it was only going to be with a few players. Maybe three at the most. (as in we might have 87-88 eligible with only 85 slots)

Before that happened, there had already been discussions with the parents of several of our prospects. They had been told that it was our intent to honor their kids with their scholarship offer, but there was an outside change we might revert to having to offer a grey-shirt for their first semester.

In last years cases, all of the players and the parents agreed to this case scenario.

I'm sure the same conversations have happened with parents and players this year. I haven't not looked for, or asked about, which players may fall into this category. But, it wouldn't take much of a look to see a few that can, and would, take the grey-shirt route if needed.
 
A kid paying his own way is another possibility. I don't know about this year's class, but last year we did discuss that both Tyler Love and Barrett Jones were from affluent families.
 
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