WSJ: SEC Plans to Discuss Oversigning Reforms

[Water Pony]

Today's Wall Street Journal reported on the SEC, who is planning to discuss reforms concerning oversigning. I won't hold my breath, since I don't trust them to look out for the welfare of the student-athlete or threaten their FB dominance. Thoughts?

WSJ, 5/26/2011

The Southeastern Conference plans on discussing ways to address oversigning—the practice of signing more players than a team has room for—at its meetings next week in Destin, Fla.

According to a report in the Athens Banner-Herald, the proposed reforms include limiting schools to 25 signees each academic year, down from 28, and giving the conference more oversight in medical-scholarship cases. The SEC, whose teams have won the last five national championships in college football, was criticized this past season for how some of its teams manage their rosters.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that former Alabama players said the team encouraged some underperforming players to quit for medical reasons, thus freeing up roster space. Florida president Bernard Machen wrote a letter to SI.com criticizing grayshirting, the practice of delaying a recruit's arrival until the winter because there isn't room for him in the fall.

Georgia coach Mark Richt said these issues largely come down to schools being forthright with players during their recruitment. "If you sign more than you have space for on signing day—and if the young men you're signing know that if there isn't space for them, that they'll come in in January—I don't think there's a problem in oversigning," he said. "The problem comes in when players don't know. That's wrong."

—Darren Everson