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Post by sdcoug on Feb 5, 2015 12:29:34 GMT -8
Not sure how many people caught this but a new trend is "Blue shirting". As most know, "Gray shirting" is simply asking someone you've recruited & signed to delay enrollment, pushing them into the next recruiting cycle. They can still sign elsewhere, but usually they'll come around mid-year on scholarship, and all is hunky dory.
Blue-shirting is relatively new, and a loophole around the 25-man limit. You can invite a kid you "did not recruit" to "blue shirt", which simply means you make a promise to him that if he comes as a "walk on" for fall camp he'll have a scholarship available to him either for the fall or at sometime down the road, and instead of counting against your current class it's against the NEXT class (2016). Since USC is way under the 85-man limit due to sanctions, but still limited to 25-man class, they can invite kids they 'didn't recruit' to come to fall camp & get a scholarship when school starts, and be counted towards 2016. Next year they can either sign 24, OR do the same thing until their 85 man is full.
Again, the kid must NOT have been recruited, meaning he a) couldn't have come for an "OFFICIAL" (e.g. paid) visit; b) has not had an "in home" visit from the school and c) not signed a LOI. Instead, they sign a "AD promise" agreement, so the kid can still have a signing party, etc., but it's not a LOI nor is it binding for either party.
Anyway, interesting way of skirting around the 25-man limit IF you have less than 85 on scholarship AND if you have local area kids who can visit your school & meet with coaches on their own dime. Really hurts teams like OSU/Boise/WSU/Wyoming because who's going to trip there on their own dime, unless they're from the country...
What can happen, why brought it up, is that kids could get to camp & not find a scholarship available to them, and then they'd have the freedom to go anywhere they want, as long as any other school has open scholarships. I doubt USC loses anyone this way, given their lack of scholarships, but some may. So someone could bounce to us IF (which we don't know but may) have any open scholarships.
Personally, I think this was VERY SMART of Sark & his team at USC. They landed 2 very, very good players this way, and it allows them to reach their 85-man limit faster (maybe by year 3) after all the sanctions & early pro guys.
Rocky has said there's a lot more talent in SD next year than this year (maybe 20+ D1 players vs. 12 or 13), so if we have good relationship with a local kid (or Temecula/LA), but he's more borderline this is a potential strategy to incorporate. |
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Post by standiego on Feb 5, 2015 12:40:20 GMT -8
Are there any guys you would suggest do it with the Aztecs this year ?
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Post by sdcoug on Feb 5, 2015 13:34:10 GMT -8
Are there any guys you would suggest do it with the Aztecs this year ? The only blue shirts I'm familiar with right now are those going to USC, who I can't see backing out of giving out the scholarships. Plus, I believe we're at the 85-man limit, so don't think we can "promise" anyone anything until we know if academic casualties.
However, it seems if you monitor those being offered as PWO's at other good programs you could reach out to them when the times right & identify those who didn't "recruit" & see if they'd be interested in going BS vs. PWO & having a scholarship.
I just thought this was very ingenious, even if slightly sleezy. : )
The kid USC "signed" - Burnett, is a heck of a player so for a program to a) not 'recruit" him at all, and b) still get him to trust them with a promise vs. LOI & pull him from several P5 schools is pretty impressive.
Think this practice becomes more common in situations where teams are short of the limit. I could see us identifying some kid at a SDSU camp & saying "son, we like you & think you're good & can eventually play here, but you're not quite on our primary target list. Instead of asking you to walkon how about we 'not recruit you' (wink) & still give you a scholarship in the fall rather than ask you to WO....." Seems like a good way to get marginal players, at least relative to your primary targets. USC's primary targets are just 4/5 stars, so landing a good 3-star via BS to fill your roster is pretty damn good!
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Post by Luchador El Guerrero Azteca on Feb 5, 2015 14:23:15 GMT -8
The only blue shirts I'm familiar with right now are those going to USC. I just thought this was very ingenious, even if slightly sleezy. : ) This is the BLUF that I got from your report.  |
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Post by myk13 on Feb 5, 2015 20:39:51 GMT -8
Are there any guys you would suggest do it with the Aztecs this year ? The only blue shirts I'm familiar with right now are those going to USC, who I can't see backing out of giving out the scholarships. Plus, I believe we're at the 85-man limit, so don't think we can "promise" anyone anything until we know if academic casualties.
However, it seems if you monitor those being offered as PWO's at other good programs you could reach out to them when the times right & identify those who didn't "recruit" & see if they'd be interested in going BS vs. PWO & having a scholarship.
I just thought this was very ingenious, even if slightly sleezy. : )
The kid USC "signed" - Burnett, is a heck of a player so for a program to a) not 'recruit" him at all, and b) still get him to trust them with a promise vs. LOI & pull him from several P5 schools is pretty impressive.
Think this practice becomes more common in situations where teams are short of the limit. I could see us identifying some kid at a SDSU camp & saying "son, we like you & think you're good & can eventually play here, but you're not quite on our primary target list. Instead of asking you to walkon how about we 'not recruit you' (wink) & still give you a scholarship in the fall rather than ask you to WO....." Seems like a good way to get marginal players, at least relative to your primary targets. USC's primary targets are just 4/5 stars, so landing a good 3-star via BS to fill your roster is pretty damn good!
The big get was SC getting 4* OL Clayton Johnston to agree to blueshirt in order to land DL Kevin Scott. Very unselfish of Clayton. One of my favorites in the class. Burnett is a question for me though considering how deep So-Cal is in WR talent next year. |
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Post by sdcoug on Feb 6, 2015 10:11:50 GMT -8
The only blue shirts I'm familiar with right now are those going to USC, who I can't see backing out of giving out the scholarships. Plus, I believe we're at the 85-man limit, so don't think we can "promise" anyone anything until we know if academic casualties.
However, it seems if you monitor those being offered as PWO's at other good programs you could reach out to them when the times right & identify those who didn't "recruit" & see if they'd be interested in going BS vs. PWO & having a scholarship.
I just thought this was very ingenious, even if slightly sleezy. : )
The kid USC "signed" - Burnett, is a heck of a player so for a program to a) not 'recruit" him at all, and b) still get him to trust them with a promise vs. LOI & pull him from several P5 schools is pretty impressive.
Think this practice becomes more common in situations where teams are short of the limit. I could see us identifying some kid at a SDSU camp & saying "son, we like you & think you're good & can eventually play here, but you're not quite on our primary target list. Instead of asking you to walkon how about we 'not recruit you' (wink) & still give you a scholarship in the fall rather than ask you to WO....." Seems like a good way to get marginal players, at least relative to your primary targets. USC's primary targets are just 4/5 stars, so landing a good 3-star via BS to fill your roster is pretty damn good!
The big get was SC getting 4* OL Clayton Johnston to agree to blueshirt in order to land DL Kevin Scott. Very unselfish of Clayton. One of my favorites in the class. Burnett is a question for me though considering how deep So-Cal is in WR talent next year.How so? Think Burnett is the perfect pick up for them. He's a little small, so a good RS possibility, but really the only truly experienced WR USC returns is Smith. He & Rogers are the only 2 receivers returning with more than 10 catches. They lost Agholar & Farmer, and Jackson is only a part-time receiver. They didn't bring in ANY HS WR's in this class - only JC guys, so to me Burnett's the perfect compliment.
Don't know much about Clayton, nor who actually recruited him (since USC couldn't)? But to have the under the table agreement with USC & knowing he has a scholarship in hand if he decides to go there is pretty sweet.
Definitely 2 good gets without spending anything out of your recruiting budget. Impressive.
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Post by myk13 on Feb 6, 2015 18:03:52 GMT -8
The big get was SC getting 4* OL Clayton Johnston to agree to blueshirt in order to land DL Kevin Scott. Very unselfish of Clayton. One of my favorites in the class. Burnett is a question for me though considering how deep So-Cal is in WR talent next year.How so? Think Burnett is the perfect pick up for them. He's a little small, so a good RS possibility, but really the only truly experienced WR USC returns is Smith. He & Rogers are the only 2 receivers returning with more than 10 catches. They lost Agholar & Farmer, and Jackson is only a part-time receiver. They didn't bring in ANY HS WR's in this class - only JC guys, so to me Burnett's the perfect compliment.
Don't know much about Clayton, nor who actually recruited him (since USC couldn't)? But to have the under the table agreement with USC & knowing he has a scholarship in hand if he decides to go there is pretty sweet.
Definitely 2 good gets without spending anything out of your recruiting budget. Impressive.
Ajene Harris was looking really good until he got injured and missed the rest of the year. Steven Mitchell returned from an injury and was is a promising WR. Sark will use the TE's a lot more with Dixon and now Pettite, also Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick will be eligible this season after being academically ineligible last season. Whitney and Hampton will be solid as well. Skill positions are not really a thing to worry about at SC. Its just WR talent in SO-CAL is off the charts next year and Burnett takes away one a scholarship that could be used on a very talented kid. I don't think SC ever had an under the table agreement with Clayton, its just one of those circumstances where the kid is local and visits so many times unofficially that it just worked out and luckily he didn't have an ego to go against it. Remember, a blue shirt doesn't necessarily mean he wasn't recruited, just that he never took an official or had an in home visit. "The catch is that to qualify, the player may not have been recruited, as it's defined by the NCAA. That means no official visit or in-home visit from coaches, no signed Letter of Intent or financial aid." |
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Post by myk13 on Feb 6, 2015 18:04:59 GMT -8
Are there any guys you would suggest do it with the Aztecs this year ? The difficult thing is you have to remain under the 85 limit still. Its easy for SC to do it since scholarships have been down for sanctions. |
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