WTH is a Blueshirt ?

[ALion4Life]

A pair of sophomores are transferring from the Alabama football program.

Running back B.J. Emmons has left the Crimson Tide program, BamaOnLine has learned. And cornerback Aaron Robinson is also reportedly leaving Tuscaloosa, according to a report from AL.com's Matt Zenitz. Zenitz was first to report both transfers.

Emmons' freshman season was cut short by a foot injury that required two surgeries. The Morganton, N.C., native rushed for 173 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries in 2016. Emmons was one of seven scholarship running backs on Alabama's 2017-18 roster.

Robinson spent the spring at corner with the second-team defense after a freshman year as a reserve and special teams player. In 2016, the Deerfield Beach, Fla., native recorded five tackles and one tackle for loss. His transfer is a blow to UA's depth at corner.

The pair of transfers brings the Tide's scholarship number to 85, including blueshirts.

 

[GregInPitt]

A pair of sophomores are transferring from the Alabama football program.

Running back B.J. Emmons has left the Crimson Tide program, BamaOnLine has learned. And cornerback Aaron Robinson is also reportedly leaving Tuscaloosa, according to a report from AL.com's Matt Zenitz. Zenitz was first to report both transfers.

Emmons' freshman season was cut short by a foot injury that required two surgeries. The Morganton, N.C., native rushed for 173 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries in 2016. Emmons was one of seven scholarship running backs on Alabama's 2017-18 roster.

Robinson spent the spring at corner with the second-team defense after a freshman year as a reserve and special teams player. In 2016, the Deerfield Beach, Fla., native recorded five tackles and one tackle for loss. His transfer is a blow to UA's depth at corner.

The pair of transfers brings the Tide's scholarship number to 85, including blueshirts.

Probably something the SEC made up in order to further bend the recruiting rules. SEC schools by and large are the lowest rated institutions of the power 5 conferences, but they seem to be the most creative in subverting the original intent of the NCAA rules....

 

[bwifan]

A pair of sophomores are transferring from the Alabama football program.

Running back B.J. Emmons has left the Crimson Tide program, BamaOnLine has learned. And cornerback Aaron Robinson is also reportedly leaving Tuscaloosa, according to a report from AL.com's Matt Zenitz. Zenitz was first to report both transfers.

Emmons' freshman season was cut short by a foot injury that required two surgeries. The Morganton, N.C., native rushed for 173 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries in 2016. Emmons was one of seven scholarship running backs on Alabama's 2017-18 roster.

Robinson spent the spring at corner with the second-team defense after a freshman year as a reserve and special teams player. In 2016, the Deerfield Beach, Fla., native recorded five tackles and one tackle for loss. His transfer is a blow to UA's depth at corner.

The pair of transfers brings the Tide's scholarship number to 85, including blueshirts.

Saban churning the roster as usual ... it's pull scholarship time for some folks on bama

 

[Lion8286]

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/01/what_is_a_blueshirt_alabama_sc.html

 

[MtNittany]

You no produce as well as new guy. You go now. Go!!

 

[Tom McAndrew]

WTH is a Blueshirt ?

a little quirk in NCAA rules that is used by some teams that frequently oversign.

You can get a nice description of how it works at THIS LINK.

 

[Obliviax]

according to gridironnow.com:

While grayshirts are rare, it’s even rarer to see a “blueshirt.”

Because adhering to a 25-player scholarship limit per signing class can be tricky, schools find other (legal) loopholes to use to their advantage.

Take, for instance, three-star kicker Joseph Bulovas and three-star center Hunter Brannon. Both players were recruited and committed as part of Alabama’s 2017 recruiting class, but neither player signed Wednesday because the Crimson Tide had reached its limit.

So what does that mean for the pair, both of whom are still committed to Alabama?


While neither will be on scholarship when they presumably enroll this summer, they will be when they join the team in August for the start of fall practice as long as the Crimson Tide is under its overall 85-player scholarship limit. Neither will be able to play this season (though it’s unlikely either would have anyway), but both will be able to practice with the team.

Furthermore, as blueshirts, their scholarships will count toward Alabama’s 25-player scholarship limit for the 2018 class.

 

[NorCalcLion]

http://www.athleticscholarships.net/2012/07/26/ncaa-rules-help-penn-state.htm


Blue-shirting
There’s no shortage of “shirts” in football: red-shirts, medical red-shirts, and grey-shirts are the most common. But New Mexico State’s football and compliance staffs invented a new one: blue-shirts.

The short answer to “what is a blue-shirt” is any football player awarded a scholarship using this NCAA rule:

Bylaw 15.5.6.3.3 A student-athlete not recruited (per Bylaw 15.02.8) by the institution who receives institutional financial aid (based in any degree on athletics ability) after beginning football practice becomes a counter but need not be counted as an initial counter until the next academic year if the institution has reached its initial limit for the year in question. However, the student-athlete shall be considered in the total counter limit for the academic year in which the aid was first received.

New Mexico State used the provision mostly to award scholarship to junior college transfers, but it could be used for any prospect. The school simply has to keep the athletes un-recruited (as defined above) and then award them scholarships after they arrive and start football practice. They will still count toward the total scholarship limit, but will not count toward the initial counter limit until the following year.

The most important year for Penn State to use this will be in the final year of their sanctions and the following year in order to quickly get back up to full scholarship numbers. After getting 15 recruits in the last year of the sanctions, if Penn State still has room under their 65 scholarship limit, they could use this provision to bring in more recruits, and count them against the following year’s normal limit of 25.

The challenges are twofold though. First, Penn State has to convince better athletes to not be recruited. That means no official visit, no home visit, and they do not get to participate in signing day. Second, Penn State needs to be careful about how they use initial counters on what is essentially credit. Take too many each year and it will seem like the sanctions are extended even longer.

Penn State faces many challenges in fielding a respectable football team over the next few years. But they have ways to ease the burden a little bit. The NCAA’s sanctions were designed to combat the football first culture at Penn State. In a way they might work, since to field the best football team possible, Penn State will need to run its football team more like one of its non-revenue sports.

Do you think Penn State can work around the rules enough to field a respectable team over the next four years? Tell us what you think in the comments section below, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+!

 

[BobPSU92]

I thought that was a guy who worked at Best Buy.

 

[psuro]

I am looking to the day that the NCAA has a "plaid shirt" rule.

 

[BobPSU92]

I am looking to the day that the NCAA has a "plaid shirt" rule.

For Ivy League eligibility.

 

[psuro]

For Ivy League eligibility.

Or lumberjacks.

 

[BisbeeMike]

Didn't Alabama basically invent a special scholarship called the "Paul Bryant Scholarship" or something like that? So that they could sign one extra kid per year? I don't really know what that was all about, or even if it gave them an extra scholarship, but in the back of my mind I seem to recall some kind of scholarship they just conjured up, named after someone important, maybe it was the "George Wallace scholarship", or the "Muscle Shoals Scholarship" or the "Rhett Butler scholarship". Who knows?

 

[BobPSU92]

Or lumberjacks.

They're O.K.

 

[PSUMATT85]

They're O.K.

Sleep all night, and they work all day

 

[OldTiredLion]

What ever happened to that whole NCAA mantra about simplifying the rules?

 

[CF LION]

It's what I wear with khakis. AKA "the man uniform".

 

[gamblepsu]

Didn't Alabama basically invent a special scholarship called the "Paul Bryant Scholarship" or something like that? So that they could sign one extra kid per year? I don't really know what that was all about, or even if it gave them an extra scholarship, but in the back of my mind I seem to recall some kind of scholarship they just conjured up, named after someone important, maybe it was the "George Wallace scholarship", or the "Muscle Shoals Scholarship" or the "Rhett Butler scholarship". Who knows?

i always assumed that was legit. I'm pretty sure most programs have their scholarships paid for by donations. They just name some of theirs... thought I read once that Kerry Collins endowment funds all the QB scholarships here.

 

[BisbeeMike]

i always assumed that was legit. I'm pretty sure most programs have their scholarships paid for by donations. They just name some of theirs... thought I read once that Kerry Collins funds all the QB scholarships here.

Maybe you are correct. I am just sort of going off of something I read a few years ago. There seemed to be some kind of question about it. Probably not a big deal either way. It's not like Alabama is winning titles 5 of the last 9 years from just one extra scholarship.