http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/01/what_is_a_blueshirt_alabama_sc.html#incart_river_home
Alabama schools are utilizing a little-known recruiting loophole to get around NCAA recruiting class size rules.
College football programs have long redshirted players and the "grayshirt" has become common too, but it is the "blueshirt" that's the latest step in big-time recruiting. While the grayshirt delays a player's enrollment until the following January after a recruit signs in February, the rules for a blueshirt are a bit different.
A player taking a blueshirt cannot officially visit a school and won't be listed as a signee this coming Wednesday for National Signing Day. Much like a walk-on, he can't be visited by the head coach and can only unofficially visit on his own dime.
What's the catch? He can go on scholarship in August and be a freshman with the rest of his committed class. His scholarship will go toward the 85 allowed, but counts as an initial qualifier scholarship in the following year's class. This allows programs to get around the 25 scholarship player limit per signing class.
Bill Taylor, a long snapper from American Christian Academy in Tuscaloosa, confirmed to AL.com that he is going the route of a blueshirt. He committed to Auburn last summer and took an unofficial visit this weekend.
Auburn coaches explained the blueshirt situation to Taylor and his family from the start.
"We definitely did (understand) and since I've been an Auburn fan my whole life, we had to take that offer," Taylor said. "I definitely was grateful for it and really appreciate it."
Alabama could have two commits blueshirt. Offensive lineman Hunter Brannon and kicker Joseph Bulovas have not taken official visits to Alabama. Bulovas said that he will be in Tuscaloosa in May. A blueshirt can pay his own way for summer classes and then his scholarship will go into effect in August.
Both Brannon and Bulovas have said they'll be enrolled this summer. There's a chance they could be listed as signees on Wednesday. That probably happens if other uncommitted targets don't choose Alabama and initial spots are still available. Same for Taylor at Auburn. But, the path is there.
Schools can use as many blueshirts as they need to in order as long as they stay at or below the 85 scholarship limit. UAB head coach Bill Clark, whose team will play this fall after a two-year absence, could blueshirt four or five recruits this cycle.
"When you're in a situation like us, you've got a chance to move numbers forward and guys still get put on scholarship," Clark said. "I think we're going to have some guys that are blueshirted this year just to get us to the 85 number, because we were limited on the initial counters. It's a great tool to use."
UAB defensive back commits Dyjonn Turner (Florence) and Kobe Griffin (Charles Henderson - Troy) could go that route.
Just like Alabama with Bulovas and Brannon, UAB didn't bring Turner or Griffin on official visits, leaving the blueshirt route open. But these players could be listed in the signing class in February if there is room among the 25 new players who go on scholarship in the class of 2017.
Lee Dufour, a current UAB offensive lineman, was a blueshirt in 2014. He took an unofficial visit to the school and his high school, Saraland, celebrated his signing. But he wasn't listed as a UAB signee that February although he went on scholarship in August, counting as part of the 85 that year but his initial counted toward the 2015 numbers. He started two games that fall at center.
South Alabama added four blueshirt receivers this season: Sa'Mory Collier, Jordan McCray, Kawaan Baker and Ralphael Barr.
McCray and Collier both played this year, Baker redshirted and Barr had to sit out as a transfer along with offensive line transfer Tyler Grimsley (Miami) and defensive end transfer Rocel McWilliams (Missouri). South Alabama used a blueshirt on Barr, an Illinois transfer, so he could go ahead and enroll.
"At receiver for sure, we were loaded with seniors coming into last season (2016)," South Alabama head coach Joey Jones said. "We knew that we had to get some guys into our program as quickly as possible. So we signed four blueshirt receivers, so they would be ready for this coming year. If we had waited for them to enroll (the following) summer, we'd have had a bunch of freshman. That's one position where we got our numbers a little out of whack. We had so many seniors."
The transfers were also able to count as blueshirts as they did not take official visits to South Alabama before enrolling in August. All of these players were able to come in as blueshirts because while their scholarship didn't count as part of the 2016 signing class, they did count towards the 85 allowed on scholarship each year without going over that number.
It means that South Alabama won't be able to sign the full 25 this February.
"Those guys will probably start next year," Jones said. "We knew they would have to sit out, but they were tremendous players so we wanted to go ahead and sign them now."
Alabama schools are utilizing a little-known recruiting loophole to get around NCAA recruiting class size rules.
College football programs have long redshirted players and the "grayshirt" has become common too, but it is the "blueshirt" that's the latest step in big-time recruiting. While the grayshirt delays a player's enrollment until the following January after a recruit signs in February, the rules for a blueshirt are a bit different.
A player taking a blueshirt cannot officially visit a school and won't be listed as a signee this coming Wednesday for National Signing Day. Much like a walk-on, he can't be visited by the head coach and can only unofficially visit on his own dime.
What's the catch? He can go on scholarship in August and be a freshman with the rest of his committed class. His scholarship will go toward the 85 allowed, but counts as an initial qualifier scholarship in the following year's class. This allows programs to get around the 25 scholarship player limit per signing class.
Bill Taylor, a long snapper from American Christian Academy in Tuscaloosa, confirmed to AL.com that he is going the route of a blueshirt. He committed to Auburn last summer and took an unofficial visit this weekend.
Auburn coaches explained the blueshirt situation to Taylor and his family from the start.
"We definitely did (understand) and since I've been an Auburn fan my whole life, we had to take that offer," Taylor said. "I definitely was grateful for it and really appreciate it."
Alabama could have two commits blueshirt. Offensive lineman Hunter Brannon and kicker Joseph Bulovas have not taken official visits to Alabama. Bulovas said that he will be in Tuscaloosa in May. A blueshirt can pay his own way for summer classes and then his scholarship will go into effect in August.
Both Brannon and Bulovas have said they'll be enrolled this summer. There's a chance they could be listed as signees on Wednesday. That probably happens if other uncommitted targets don't choose Alabama and initial spots are still available. Same for Taylor at Auburn. But, the path is there.
Schools can use as many blueshirts as they need to in order as long as they stay at or below the 85 scholarship limit. UAB head coach Bill Clark, whose team will play this fall after a two-year absence, could blueshirt four or five recruits this cycle.
"When you're in a situation like us, you've got a chance to move numbers forward and guys still get put on scholarship," Clark said. "I think we're going to have some guys that are blueshirted this year just to get us to the 85 number, because we were limited on the initial counters. It's a great tool to use."
UAB defensive back commits Dyjonn Turner (Florence) and Kobe Griffin (Charles Henderson - Troy) could go that route.
Just like Alabama with Bulovas and Brannon, UAB didn't bring Turner or Griffin on official visits, leaving the blueshirt route open. But these players could be listed in the signing class in February if there is room among the 25 new players who go on scholarship in the class of 2017.
Lee Dufour, a current UAB offensive lineman, was a blueshirt in 2014. He took an unofficial visit to the school and his high school, Saraland, celebrated his signing. But he wasn't listed as a UAB signee that February although he went on scholarship in August, counting as part of the 85 that year but his initial counted toward the 2015 numbers. He started two games that fall at center.
South Alabama added four blueshirt receivers this season: Sa'Mory Collier, Jordan McCray, Kawaan Baker and Ralphael Barr.
McCray and Collier both played this year, Baker redshirted and Barr had to sit out as a transfer along with offensive line transfer Tyler Grimsley (Miami) and defensive end transfer Rocel McWilliams (Missouri). South Alabama used a blueshirt on Barr, an Illinois transfer, so he could go ahead and enroll.
"At receiver for sure, we were loaded with seniors coming into last season (2016)," South Alabama head coach Joey Jones said. "We knew that we had to get some guys into our program as quickly as possible. So we signed four blueshirt receivers, so they would be ready for this coming year. If we had waited for them to enroll (the following) summer, we'd have had a bunch of freshman. That's one position where we got our numbers a little out of whack. We had so many seniors."
The transfers were also able to count as blueshirts as they did not take official visits to South Alabama before enrolling in August. All of these players were able to come in as blueshirts because while their scholarship didn't count as part of the 2016 signing class, they did count towards the 85 allowed on scholarship each year without going over that number.
It means that South Alabama won't be able to sign the full 25 this February.
"Those guys will probably start next year," Jones said. "We knew they would have to sit out, but they were tremendous players so we wanted to go ahead and sign them now."
