Link: TE Brenden Scales Decommits from Alabama, Signs With Missouri

Re: TE Brenden Scales Decommits from Alabama, Flips to Mizzou

First things first: I believe our coach is an honorable man. I also believe that as a football coach, he gets commitments from kids and then tries to find better players at those positions. Mere coincidence, I'm sure, that Scales and Cole were told their offers had been changed to gray shirts right about the time Smith and Juarez looked like good bets to join the class. And while they were told they had a spot next year, no one in the coaching complex is shedding tears that they went somewhere else instead of taking a valuable spot in 2017.

In the end, most gray shirt candidates opt out. And don't think for a second that our coaches don't know that.

Re: TE Brenden Scales Decommits from Alabama, Flips to Mizzou

CrimsonEyeshade said:

First things first: I believe our coach is an honorable man. I also believe that as a football coach, he gets commitments from kids and then tries to find better players at those positions. Mere coincidence, I'm sure, that Scales and Cole were told their offers had been changed to gray shirts right about the time Smith and Juarez looked like good bets to join the class. And while they were told they had a spot next year, no one in the coaching complex is shedding tears that they went somewhere else instead of taking a valuable spot in 2017.

In the end, most gray shirt candidates opt out. And don't think for a second that our coaches don't know that.

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But why would you or the recruits in question have an issue with that when they're told that's a possibility up front? If you don't like the stipulation, you don't have to commit in the first place.


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For all we know, might have been more than three who had the gray shirt discussion.

B1GTide said:

I agree with this - all of it. All three Alabama commits who were offered grayshirts chose other schools. If I were any of them, I would have stuck with Alabama. But I am almost 50 years old. I have no idea what I would have done at 17-18. I was an immature punk who probably would have made the same type of mistake.

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Re: TE Brenden Scales Decommits from Alabama, Flips to Mizzou

RedStar said:

But why would you or the recruits in question have an issue with that when they're told that's a possibility up front? If you don't like the stipulation, you don't have to commit in the first place.

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I think that this is a legitimate point, and it is the reason that I support Alabama here. Yes, they might have received a very late notification, but they should never have assumed that the 2016 scholarship was theirs. If they had questions, all they had to do was ask. It sounds like all three of these families just kept quiet and hoped, then got upset when the word came down.

If I were to give any advice to kids with this type of offer - an offer that could turn into a grayshirt - it would be simply this: Be your own advocate. Ask for updates regularly about the availability of that scholarship. If the uncertainty becomes more than you can bear, start looking elsewhere before it gets too late in the game for you to have acceptable options.

This happens too often in college football for someone who has been warned of the possibility of a grayshirt to claim that they were blindsided. If they didn't have a backup plan, that is on them.

Re: TE Brenden Scales Decommits from Alabama, Flips to Mizzou

Red, read the Al.com story in the post above. Christian Bell says the gray shirt talk came only two weeks before signing day. Is he lying, too? Or, is there a pattern or a part of the process in which the coaches make one last clear-eyed, albeit cold, appraisal on how to build the best class possible and then change the terms of the contract for an unlucky few?

Re: TE Brenden Scales Decommits from Alabama, Flips to Mizzou

CrimsonEyeshade said:

Red, read the Al.com story in the post above. Christian Bell says the gray shirt talk came only two weeks before signing day. Is he lying, too? Or, is there a pattern or a part of the process in which the coaches make one last clear-eyed, albeit cold, appraisal on how to build the best class possible and then change the terms of the contract for an unlucky few?

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As fans I think that this is when we have to decide who to trust, and why. I believe Saban when he says that all of these kids were warned a long time ago. Saban said it in a very public way, and he knows that these kids and their parents can and will call him on it if it is a lie. None have.

Yes, their initial comments make one believe that they felt betrayed. I certainly felt that way when I read them. But Saban's willingness to address this publicly makes it more likely that they were warned and simply had an emotional response when they were asked to wait.

We have heard both sides now. Both sides tell slightly different stories. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. But I do believe that they were warned, even if that was so long ago that they might have totally put it out of their minds as a possibility.

Re: TE Brenden Scales Decommits from Alabama, Flips to Mizzou

CrimsonEyeshade said:

Red, read the Al.com story in the post above. Christian Bell says the gray shirt talk came only two weeks before signing day. Is he lying, too? Or, is there a pattern or a part of the process in which the coaches make one last clear-eyed, albeit cold, appraisal on how to build the best class possible and then change the terms of the contract for an unlucky few?

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Take this with a grain of salt, but I've been told by someone who works in the Athletic Department that this is how it works:

When these kids are initially recruited, the word "greyshirt," is never mentioned. Instead the staff uses words like "possible delayed enrollment." Then, nothing is mentioned again for as long as it takes to get to NSD. Sometimes that's a year or longer, sometimes it's just a few months, either way, the kids and their parents don't ever hear those words again and suddenly start to think "hey, maybe I'm going to get to enroll with everyone else!"

It's a double edged sword and I'm not sure which way is the correct approach. If a coaching staff brings this up monthly, or weekly whenever they check in with the recruit? The recruit starts to feel like the staff is actively pushing them away and likely decommits and looks elsewhere. If the staff doesn't bring it up again until a few weeks to a week before NSD, the recruit feels blindsided because this hasn't been discussed for up to a year, and a year in the mind of a 17 year old kid is basically an eternity.

In the past, around 2011, or 2012 and before, Saban and his staff constantly told these recruits that it was a possibility. None (or very few) of them ever signed and they typically ended up decommitting in November or December. Constantly checking in with the recruit about the possibility of a greyshirt yielded little to no results. They changed that process in 2013. They began telling the recruits up front about the possibility and then never mentioned it again until a week or two before signing day. This method has typically yielded around 1 or more greyshirts per class.

Unless or until the NCAA lifts or changes the 85 total scholarship rule, this will continue to be an issue. (FWIW, I think anywhere between 96-100 total scholarships is the sweet spot. At 24 positions, 11 on defense, 11 on offense, kicker and a punter, 96 scholarships allows a staff to have 4 deep at every position, that's one per class, which is more than reasonable. 100 even allows for a long snapper or two along with some wiggle room.)