Hey, Tuco, just for us slow people, would you mind walking through why Riley said 15 scholarships only, and how, if at all, we could "over sign" by 2-3 scholarships for gamechanging players/a QB that some argue we don't really need? What is the deal here?
Basically, I'm confused by the low number paired with the idea of "oversigning" by two scholarships being permitted by the Big Ten or NCAA. How many does that mean we actually take? This part gets a little arcane to me, and I know you know your stuff on this topic.
Thanks!
The Big Ten allows schools to oversign 3 players and basically get to 88 on signing day, with the understanding that, at least 3 players will not be on scholarship when players report in June/ July. At that time only 85 scholarships can be used.
What Riley is saying is that he isn't expecting any atttrition after this coming season, so he is sticking with the 15 number. I think that is ambitious but he is the one in charge and has a much better knowledge of the situation than I do. I could see a couple leaving.
So right now, we are sitting at 81 scholarships and we have 11 seniors. So if you take the 81-11, you get 70. Then add 15 to get you to 85. If The staff knew of some future attrition, they could sign up to 88 or 18 players in the class, no questions asked. But As I said Riley is indicating that he isn't expecting attrition so he isn't counting on using the 3 oversigning provision.
As far as my comments about numbers being fluid and taking Avery or the Moore twins. I would have to not take an additional safety for Moore and not take a QB for Avery. So my breakdown would be
1 RB
1 WR
1 OT
1 DL
1 S
1 CB
Instead of
1 QB
1 RB
1 OT
2 S
1 CB
I hope that I clearer.