So about that open WFNY Indians writer position…
February 18, 2015Browns may pursue QB Josh McCown
February 18, 2015Editor’s Note: Hey look, you guys. MGBode has his own byline!
Even though many of us are still basking in the afterglow of the Buckeyes’ championship , it is readily apparent that the college football dynamic between schools and players will continue to change. The movement for players getting better compensation started with the O’Bannon lawsuit against the NCAA and EA Sports and continued to evolve where the Northwestern players petitioned to be allowed to form a union .
B1G commissioner Jim Delaney may still like to state that college football will not go to a pay for play model , but the compensation package continues to evolve in favor of the student athletes. In 2012, that compensation meant providing iPads for players . In 2014, it meant offering four-year scholarships instead of the one-year scholarship model. Urban Meyer continued to push the envelope further by pushing to help pay for parents expenses to travel to the championship game.
Conference USA even joined the fray by recently announcing that they will offer “cost of attendance scholarships,” which means they will provide a stipend in addition to tuition, room, and board.
However, none of the above items1 shifts the power to the student athlete like Roquan Smith’s decision to not sign the National Letter of Intent (NLI).
You may be more familiar with the story of Mike Weber (RB, Detroit Cass Tech) from Ohio State’s national signing day. Weber was recruited and signed to Ohio State2 by Buckeye runningback coach Stan Drayton who left for a job with the Chicago Bears the day after signing day.
Roquan Smith had a similar story in that he was recruited to UCLA by defensive co-ordindator Jeff Ulbrich who left for a job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the day after signing day. The advantage that Roquan Smith had was that he had not signed his NLI when he heard about Ulbrich leaving UCLA. Roquan Smith then decided to take a route that no other college football player had yet taken and sign grant-in-aid papers instead of the NLI.
It will be interesting to see if this is a unique case or if more student athletes follow the path blazed by Roquan Smith to take place more power in their own hands as SI’s Andy Staples recommends.
34 Comments
After seeing the Jon was leaving, I turned to this page to see that mgbode is writing! It felt a little like this:
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/1150817/happy-baby-sleeping-o.gif
Congratulations! Don’t forget, as your head swells with bylines and your ego gets crushed by idiot commenters picking apart everything that you say, you were once one of us.
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I’ll get around to reading the article another time. I’m sure it’s great. Something about sports, is it?
Signing the financial aid package may start to become more the norm for the high-level blue-chippers, because it does not lock the player in to the institution. The NLI is a completely one-sided agreement that basically just means no other schools can contact your recruits. It doesn’t guarantee a scholarship or admission to the school. A a three-star might sign a NLI, but if the school convinces a five-star to sign at the last minute and there are no spots, which do you think the school is going to take?
HEY HEY HEY! Congrats MG!
Looking forward to being able to read more in depth stuff from you via articles versus just comments now.
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there needs to be something in the NCAA by laws that states if a coach (at least head coach) bails on his team fro the NFL or more $$, the school has to give a window of opportunity for the kids to jump ship as well. totallt unfair that coaches can move as they please without penalty but if these kids wish to, they have to sit out a full year (in 99.9% of the cases)
Dude. So proud.
Mgbode!!! Hooray!!!
Please tell us this doesn’t mean that you won’t be commenting as much any more. Or posting gifs and such. Or coolly eviscerating our misconceptions with a slew of facts.
Bittersweet. Very happy to see you penning articles. Sad you’re not down here with us rolling around in the muck and the mire. Congrats buddy and well done!
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Thanks all. I appreciate the kind words. I’ll still be around the comments.
Good for mgbode.
Agreed. It will be interesting to see how it ends up effecting those lower star recruits and if the NCAA puts restrictions on the combination of signings between the NLI and grant-aid. I could not find if the current signing rules cover both (only that there is a restriction on scholarships and scholarships per year).
“…and your ego gets crushed by idiot commenters picking apart everything that you say…”
The remedy for this is a bottle of scotch… and a sandwich. (or 2) 😉
Congrats Mgbode.
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For shame, man. That’s like soft-core porn. I can see the scotch, and it gets me, ahem, excited, but now I want to see what’s under those wrappers. Despite Jon’s farewell use of the fuc% word this morning, this remains a family-friendly site. BEFORE YOU COMMENT!
It’s hard to get away. I mean, look at me: I’ve gone through the complete cycle from reader to WFNY writer to WFNY retiree, and yet I’m still here every day being annoying about Michigan.
C’mon DP, you know Michigan is annoying all on it’s own. 😉
Seriously, it’s like one of us got that big promotion we’ve all thought about going after but never had the time to commit to.
What I deduce from this is that WFNY has a hard and fast “21,000 Comment Promotion Standard.” I better get crack-a-lackin’!
Oh! You want to see what’s under those wrappers, eh? NAUGHTY, but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until the Browns reveal their new logo next week:
http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2015/02/17/browns-to-unveil-new-logo-next-week/
Recently, Michigan has been more funny than annoying 🙂
And then we get to see the sandwiches?
All the way down to the mayonnaise, baby. Rawr!!
“Caribbean jerk chicken.”
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That and I think about 95% of us aren’t eligible for promotion due to conduct from the 2013 Christmas party. We must have had too much holiday cheer.
The annoying part is that I try to make you all talk about them in a serious manner, rather than only just pointing and laughing.
Christmas Ale is some dangerous stuff.
I told you that cropdusting Scott would have bad consequences.
And that’s cute. We appreciate it.
Excellent insight. I didn’t know that avenue existed even though i have always wondered why these guys were made to sign letter of intent.
So….what does the “G” stand for? Congrats!
So now does every comment get upticks?
“G” stands for generous with upticks. Or George. One of those.
Some college basketball players have been using the grant-in-aid papers for awhile now. It was only a matter of time before a college football went that route.
Congrats on earning this well-deserved platform Mr Bode, and I look forward to tracking your contributions. Just don’t go all Josh Gordon on us once the WFNY signing bonus clears 😉