Anyone else concerned by the amount of Blueshirts?

TreeFiddy · January 25, 2017

Ideally, you use a BS on a guy that you were not recruiting, but is a high talent player that falls in your lap/late qualifier that you want to offer a scholarship so you are willing to steal a spot from next year's class.

The potential red flag is if we are using BS scholarships to just get extra bodies on the roster. If they don't work out, then it is a double whammy of not getting a guy this year that can help, and robbing yourself of a scholarship from the following year's class.

The signal that the coaches appear to be sending is that they feel they can upgrade the roster just by adding what appear to essentially be 'average' recruits (based on rating services and fact that most are not being heavily recruited by other schools).

UNTLifer · January 25, 2017

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

To me, if you believe a player is good enough to contribute/play for you, you offer him now.
If these guys don't pan out, all you do is hamstring 2018's class with their dead weight.
It seems a little short-sighted as well, since you don't really know who will be available, or break out this fall. What if you identify several players next fall you like better than the ones you just blue-shirted? Can't guarantee you'll have spots for them because you're already tied to these blueshirt guys in the 2018 class.

...That's the concern.

On the flipside, getting these guys in, and having their eligibility clock extended for an extra season, while redshirting/lifting/practicing is a nice tactic to take 'projects' and turn them into contributors without losing eligibility. If these guys turn out to be nice players, then it's worth it. But there's no guarantee of that.

...Certainly a risk/reward situation.

Thank you. The part in bold above is what I was missing.

Withers940 · January 25, 2017

Yes it bugs me a little but as long as they can turn these Blueshirts into contributors down the road and produce wins Im totally fine with it. I understand the need for Littrell to be blueshirting a bunch of guys because he has to get warm bodies in here since McCarney left the team in horrible shape. I drink the coolaide but i trust the process.

Cr1028 · January 25, 2017

2 hours ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

On the flipside, getting these guys in, and having their eligibility clock extended for an extra season, while redshirting/lifting/practicing is a nice tactic to take 'projects' and turn them into contributors without losing eligibility. If these guys turn out to be nice players, then it's worth it. But there's no guarantee of that.

I"m confused by this. As far as eligibility goes, their eligibility clock is no different from a 2017 signee or PWO. Are you thinking of greyshirt?

Also, are scholarships still an annual contract or are they locked up for 4 years? If it is an annual contract, what is a blueshirt promise besides a handshake agreement to a walkon?

Edited January 25, 2017 by Cr1028

MeanGreenTexan · January 25, 2017

2 minutes ago, Cr1028 said:

I"m confused by this. As far as eligibility goes, their eligibility clock is no different from a 2017 signee or PWO. Are you thinking of greyshirt?

Also, are scholarships still an annual contract or are they locked up for 4 years? If it is an annual contract, what is a blueshirt promise besides a handshake agreement to a walkon?

You're right. I am thinking of Greyshirting, which would be a better scenario.

So this is essentially 'kicking the can' (the issue of not having the full 25 scholarships to allocate each year), and banking on these guys being better than those you could find in the 2018 class.
Not really a reason to blueshirt someone unless you believe they're good enough to contribute NOW, or the coaches are EXTREMELY CONFIDENT their redshirt year in 2017 guarantees they contribute in 2018.