Blueshirt

[Garret]

I just scanned PF and saw that SMU has some potential transfers but might not have enough (or any) scholarships available. I wasn't sure if this was posted already, but blueshirt is a term that seems to be a legal way around scholarship limitations.

New Mexico State used blueshirts to get JUCOs to play for them right away while having their scholarships counting towards the *next* year's recruiting class. Technically, a blueshirt is a walk-on who has been promised a scholarship and gets one when they arrive in the Fall. The NCAA forbids *written* promises of a scholarship to walk-ons...but it is apparently legal to verbally promise a walk-on a scholarship.

In the case of Pankey and Williams, both arrived on campus in the fall and were put on scholarship mere weeks later, at the conclusion of New Mexico State’s fall camp.

What’s the advantage for a program? Above all else, the process of assigning a blueshirt pushes a recruit’s scholarship number to the ensuing class, regardless of when he joined the program. Look at it like this: it’s like a greyshirt, but one where the recruit can actually play during his initial semester. A player is part of the 2010 recruiting cycle, for example, plays during the 2010 season yet counts towards the 2011 recruiting class. That’s a blueshirt in a nutshell.

N.M.S.U. found a loophole in the how the N.C.A.A. polices scholarships. Greyshirts were just the beginning; with these blueshirts, the Aggies show how it’s possible to get players on campus, forward their scholarships to the next cycle yet still use them on the field, which is a tremendous development.

http://www.presnapread.com/whats-a-blue-shirt-anyway/

[Stallion]

yeah but at SMU they would need to pay 1/2 year tuition/board which would be about $25,000. Some Pell grant and other scholarships availiable to general public could reduce that bite but a private school like SMU has difficulty using those kinds of strategies.

[Stallion]

hmm been reading up on this new term Blueshirt which seems to have gone viral in the last few months. Maybe you can get a kid in that way and not force him to pay that first year walkon amount. Its raises the eyebrow test though as far as the NCAA is concerned and SMU couldn't promise the kid a scholarship when other schools might be able to. I could imagine some pretty ugly situations if the school didn't come through as "[not-wink wink] promised". A team could be buying an NCAA violation. This may be one of those rules that SMU shouldn't be the first to test.

[Garret]

yeah but at SMU they would need to pay 1/2 year tuition/board which would be about $25,000. Some Pell grant and other scholarships availiable to general public could reduce that bite but a private school like SMU has difficulty using those kinds of strategies.

I agree that it is easier for public universities to use this type of strategy...but it is an option that some recruits may consider. Tuition is a big difference, but board is similar in many cases.

One semester of additional expense for the higher quality of education is the message I'd sell if I was trying to use the blueshirt term.

For transfers that have to sit out a year anyway, a grayshirt may be a better option.

[Garret]

hmm been reading up on this new term Blueshirt which seems to have gone viral in the last few months. Maybe you can get a kid in that way and not force him to pay that first year walkon amount. Its raises the eyebrow test though as far as the NCAA is concerned and SMU couldn't promise the kid a scholarship when other schools might be able to. I could imagine some pretty ugly situations if the school didn't come through as "[not-wink wink] promised". A team could be buying an NCAA violation. This may be one of those rules that SMU shouldn't be the first to test.

NMSU has tested the rule and their compliance department has been all over this. The NCAA has clarified that blueshirts cannot be promised a scholarship *in writing*, but verbal promises do not violate the rules. If a school made a verbal promise for a blueshirt and got the player to go through fall camp and then went back on the promise, things would get messy.

[Stallion]

...but the point I'm get at-and I've now read 3-4 articles all published in recent weeks on blueshirts-does SMU pick up the scholarship for the players first year on campus on "credit" so that they end up not paying for that first $25,000 for the "walkon year at all? Man that could have really kept Dave Bliss out of trouble.-that what Bliss did at Baylor-pay for transfers "out of his own pocket" because Baylor had already exceeded NCAA scholarship limits.

[Garret]

...but the point I'm get at-and I've now read 3-4 articles all published in recent weeks on blueshirts-does SMU pick up the scholarship for the players first year on campus on "credit" so that they end up not paying for that first $25,000 for the "walkon year at all? Man that could have really kept Dave Bliss out of trouble.-that what Bliss did at Baylor-pay for transfers "out of his own pocket" because Baylor had already exceeded NCAA scholarship limits.

I thought I read that NMSU on at least 2 cases paid for the tuition from the initial fall that the players were on campus. Technically, they are "walk-ons" that are awarded scholarships at the end of fall camp.

However, I read a little (and talked with some people I know at NMSU) and there seem to be other cases where a player was just guaranteed a scholarship after fall camp but didn't get it until the spring.

If schools are allowed to give immediate scholarships to "walk-ons" and count the scholarships for the following year's recruiting class, then they basically get to borrow from the next class to beef up their current year's team. With NMSU using this with some JUCOs, the long-term scholarship effects aren't that great because the players are gone after 2 years anyway.

[Stallion]

yeah who cares when NMSU steals a player from North Texas State-but you wait until the SEC starts playing with this rule. All these rules are screwing the player-and reducing academic integrity. When the schools of the SEC sign 30% over the schools from another conference then its simply a football factory where simple math shows kids are going to get run off for the Coaches' own recruiting mistakes. One day the NCAA will even things up and we'll have a lot better idea who the best coaches are and which schools still really believe in the concept of the student athlete.