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"The numbers represent players who were ruled out with injuries before the start of the spring (center Will Noble, quarterbacks D'Eriq King and Kyle Postma) and others who have been hurt at some point (defensive end Jerard Carter, receivers Linell Bonner and Marquez Stevenson, left guard Mason Denley) since workouts began March 6.

This offseason, the Cougars had four players - wide receiver Ra'Shaad Samples, offensive lineman Josh Thomas, linebacker Kobe Idumwonyi and tight end Chris Johnson - who were forced to retire due to concussions.

Roster reaching critical mass
In the past two seasons under former coach Tom Herman, the Cougars had 25 players leave the program either as transfers, medical casualties, kicked off the team, never qualified academically or left voluntarily. That list includes, to name a few, tight end Rusty Clark, wide receiver Tren'Davian Dickson, running backs Javin Webb and Tyreik Gray, and defensive end Tyrell Thompson.

As a result of roster attrition, Applewhite is preparing to be considerably below the NCAA-maximum 85-man scholarship limit when the season begins Sept. 2.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/ ... er-premium

Meanwhile SMU has had the best retention rate among players recruited by Morris that we've seen around here for awhile. This will trend SMU being an older/more experienced team than UH in next few years. Note this is part of the "total rebuild" master plan.

Hopefully the concussion folks get a reprieve from their pain...

Perfect number two deep across the board

All the physicality seemed to pay off in big games but took its toll in the long run. It will be interesting to see if similar numbers emerge at UT now that Herman and crew moved to Austin.

We'll get up to around 80 in the fall with banged up players back and freshmen/transfers.

Is Houston at 44 players really an issue or is it fake news? Like are they going to suck because of their small roster or won't it matter much?

I only ever needed 23 players in NCAA Football 14 (Offense, defense, place kicker) so they have a lot of room for error over there.

A 45 scholarship limit would bring parity, would allow more schools to field better teams and allow more good players to get quality playing time. Blackie Sherrod went so far as to champion the single platoon game. I don't understand the guys who are happy playing back-up or special teams for their entire careers when they could have started somewhere else.

Topper wrote:A 45 scholarship limit would bring parity, would allow more schools to field better teams and allow more good players to get quality playing time. Blackie Sherrod went so far as to champion the single platoon game. I don't understand the guys who are happy playing back-up or special teams for their entire careers when they could have started somewhere else.

Would really help cut down on some of the silly Title IX sports too - that's 40 fewer scholarships schools would have to match.

44 is way too low-every year you are going to have 8-10 players who are hurt-plus you're going to kill some true freshman if they have to play as boys against 4th-5th year Senior Men. The lowest you could possibly go is about 68 (3 strings plus specialists) -but that's really stretching it and won't be happening because Coaches realize some players need to be developed. Quality of play I think would be significantly compromised even at 68

Stallion wrote:44 is way too low-every year you are going to have 8-10 players who are hurt-plus you're going to kill some true freshman if they have to play as boys against 4th-5th year Senior Men. The lowest you could possibly go is about 68 (3 strings plus specialists) -but that's really stretching it and won't be happening because Coaches realize some players need to be developed. Quality of play I think would be significantly compromised even at 68

But everyone would be in the same boat. Quality of play would be compromised in that we wouldn't have a bunch of P5 teams hogging all of the talent. Reduction in scholarships would raise the waters on the low end of the totem pole because they would be starting a bunch of quality guys that would be warming the bench elsewhere.

I know it is apples to oranges to compare high school to college, but practiced against the varsity as a Freshman and I started the varsity as a sophomore in high school and I wasn't an all state player by any means. Didn't devestate me.

The real problem with your idea is the high water folks are not going to let the lower level drain the swamp

Going to 85 scholarships was a huge deal. UT, OU and the like used to hoard all the good talent. When someone got hurt or passed over, they just rode the bench the rest of the way. Going to 65, like FCS, would sure help relieve FBS (non-P5) University budgets. 20 * $50K = $1M per year. Not dramatic but every bit helps and non-P5 competitiveness would also improve.

In my days most of the swimming, track, baseball, etc. scholarships were used for football at the big boy schools. Very hard for the small privates to compete.

mrydel wrote:The real problem with your idea is the high water folks are not going to let the lower level drain the swamp

I'm sure that if I was from Arkansas that would make some sort of sense to me.