2013 WR Earnest Robinson Signs With Auburn, Fails to Qualify

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

TIDE-HSV said:

I'm trying to remember when schollies went from four years to being one year renewable. It's not one of Coach Bryant's better-known quotes, and it's about as blunt as his sportswriters quote, but it went something like this - "Doctors can bury their mistakes; I have to feed mine for four years." The assumption back then was scholarships were always for four years. I don't know if that were just custom or if there was a change in the NCAA rules sometime...

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When you and I were in school, NCAA rules dictated that athletic scholarships were for four years and could not be revoked except for major disciplinary reasons. Barring that, the scholarship could only be voided if the holder left the program. This was changed by vote of the presidents/chancellors in 1973 (or thereabouts) to the current one-year scholarship. Prior to the change, when a new coach came into a program, the off-season practices tended to be pretty grueling in order to motivate the deadwood to leave and hence, "voluntarily" give up the scholarship they occupied.


Decided to check the year just to be sure. The following statement appears at the top of page 7 of the linked document:

"Over the years, the NCAA has done much to undermine its own idea of the student-athlete, including
when it changed the four-year athletic scholarship award to a one-year renewable scholarship in 1973(Sack & Staurowsky, 1998; Smith, 2011)."

http://assets.usw.org/ncpa/The-Price-of-Poverty-in-Big-Time-College-Sport.pdf

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

definitely disappointed we missed out on this kid at this point...

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

bama61 said:

When you and I were in school, NCAA rules dictated that athletic scholarships were for four years and could not be revoked except for major disciplinary reasons. Barring that, the scholarship could only be voided if the holder left the program. This was changed by vote of the presidents/chancellors in 1973 (or thereabouts) to the current one-year scholarship. Prior to the change, when a new coach came into a program, the off-season practices tended to be pretty grueling in order to motivate the deadwood to leave and hence, "voluntarily" give up the scholarship they occupied.


Decided to check the year just to be sure. The following statement appears at the top of page 7 of the linked document:

"Over the years, the NCAA has done much to undermine its own idea of the student-athlete, including
when it changed the four-year athletic scholarship award to a one-year renewable scholarship in 1973(Sack & Staurowsky, 1998; Smith, 2011)."

http://assets.usw.org/ncpa/The-Price-of-Poverty-in-Big-Time-College-Sport.pdf

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That is a little bit earlier than I thought, but generally the same basic time frame.

Interesting that this all happened in 1973, though. I wonder if there was any relationship between this and granting freshmen eligibility, which I remember off-hand was put into place in 1973-4?

Also, I do wonder about enforceability prior to that change. I notice that in your link (great find, by the way) that even under the old regime scholarships could be voided. I wonder exactly how strictly that language was interpreted? I assume based on some of the turnover that took place at the time that most coaches had a relatively free hand in that regard.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

ohiotide14 said:

definitely disappointed we missed out on this kid at this point...

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don't be. academic issues seems to be the culprit on why Bama backed off. auburn doesn't care hence their outrageous attrition rate. IIRC, Bama didn't have a firm offer for 2012 Memphis RB Jovon Robinson (auburn commit) for the same reason.

Coach Saban does not waste a scholly on borderline academic recruits unless he truly believes that you are that good to take a gamble, i.e. signed and place.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

In a year where Alabama needs a bigger-bodied WR, I was hoping one of the in-state guys would commit (Earnest Robinson or DeAnde Woods). However, I really like Ahmad Fulwood from Jacksonville, Florida.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

CapstoneGrad06 said:

In a year where Alabama needs a bigger-bodied WR, I was hoping one of the in-state guys would commit (Earnest Robinson or DeAnde Woods). However, I really like Ahmad Fulwood from Jacksonville, Florida.

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Its always good to have big WRs (Julio), but we have some nice size WRs coming in, Amari Cooper 6'1 and Eddie Williams 6'4

from the 2011 class, Woodson 6'2 and Shinn 6'3. hopefully they will all pan out.

Michael Bowman at 6'4 has been disappointing due to his off the field antics have put him in the doghouse.

Kevin Norword at 6'2 came on strong for Bama in the BCSNCG. I look for Norwood to be one of the studs in the passing game for 2012.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

CapstoneGrad06 said:

In a year where Alabama needs a bigger-bodied WR, I was hoping one of the in-state guys would commit (Earnest Robinson or DeAnde Woods). However, I really like Ahmad Fulwood from Jacksonville, Florida.

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Have you ever heard of Marvin Shinn, Eddie Williams, or recent commit 6-4 Raheem Falkins?

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

sanjosecrimson said:

don't be. academic issues seems to be the culprit on why Bama backed off. auburn doesn't care hence their outrageous attrition rate. IIRC, Bama didn't have a firm offer for 2012 Memphis RB Jovon Robinson (auburn commit) for the same reason.

Coach Saban does not waste a scholly on borderline academic recruits unless he truly believes that you are that good to take a gamble, i.e. signed and place.

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^^^^^^
This. I read the article in the Birmingham News and this is obviously the situation. The coach was quoted as saying that Alabama had offered but Robinson had not heard from Bama in while and he was not sure if the scholly was still on the table. He was also quoted saying Robinson had a lot of work to do on ACT (15 or 16) and core to get eligble. As Sanjose states we are not going to waste one on a guy that most likely will not make it.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

Fulwood is definitely a priority over Robinson IMO but hate missing out on him, especially to Awbarn but given the situation oh well. This just means more time dedicated to Woods and Fulwood

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

Grades are a problem with Robinson and that is readily apparent. We seemed to back off of him slightly in recent weeks, but it's hard to say what happened. Clearly he has the raw size and talent necessary to get the job done. The academic situation doesn't look good now, but realistically he has three (and perhaps more) semesters left in high school and probably between 8-10 more chances at the ACT / SAT. Maybe the kid can't pass through the Clearinghouse in the end, but it's way too early to state that definitively. Lots of kids have pretty ugly academics at this point in the process and more than a few end up qualifying.

As for us, the priority at wide receiver for some time now has been Fulwood. We look very good there and I don't expect it to change any time soon.

A lack of size at WR was a big problem for us last year, but as of right now I don't think it's all that big of a deal simply because we have signed so many bigger receivers to address it (Carter, Shinn, Woodson, Williams, Cooper, and others). If a lot of those kids turn out to not get the job done, then obviously we've got a big problem on our hands, but at this point in time I don't think it's a major point of emphasis, especially if we can land Fulwood.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

DurdenTider said:

Fulwood is definitely a priority over Robinson IMO but hate missing out on him, especially to Awbarn but given the situation oh well. This just means more time dedicated to Woods and Fulwood

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Don't know that Bama "missed out" on Robinson. As others have noted Bama had already apparently backed off according to his HS coach.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

BigEasyTider said:

The academic situation doesn't look good now, but realistically he has three (and perhaps more) semesters left in high school and probably between 8-10 more chances at the ACT / SAT. Maybe the kid can't pass through the Clearinghouse in the end, but it's way too early to state that definitively. Lots of kids have pretty ugly academics at this point in the process and more than a few end up qualifying.

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I agree he has time to get it right but with us apparently backing off big time it makes me think that our staff may believe that mountain may be too high for Earnest to climb.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

BamaInBham said:

Don't know that Bama "missed out" on Robinson. As others have noted Bama had already apparently backed off according to his HS coach.

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If UA gives a recruit an offer and they don't come to UA then I consider it a miss. Doesn't mean it's a bad thing and considering that the staff seems to have backed off some indicates that ER wasn't a high priority on their boards. They did give him an offer though and he went somewhere else. UA could've been wanting to see what he would do in the fall of next year before they recruit him heavily if the grades improve but still consider it a miss. Congrats to ER though b/c he does seem like a really nice person and getting a 4 yr D1 scholly should be good for him

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

DurdenTider said:

If UA gives a recruit an offer and they don't come to UA then I consider it a miss. Doesn't mean it's a bad thing and considering that the staff seems to have backed off some indicates that ER wasn't a high priority on their boards. They did give him an offer though and he went somewhere else. UA could've been wanting to see what he would do in the fall of next year before they recruit him heavily if the grades improve but still consider it a miss. Congrats to ER though b/c he does seem like a really nice person and getting a 4 yr D1 scholly should be good for him

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Missing a recruit, IMO, is when a team has their eyes on a recruit and recruits him nonstop but fails to sign him. That's missing on a recruit. Offering a scholarship and then not signing the guy doesn't warrant the phrase "missing a recruit." If Bama backed off, how did Bama miss him? You miss on what you want, and Bama obviously wasn't wanting him in recent months.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

DurdenTider said:

If UA gives a recruit an offer and they don't come to UA then I consider it a miss.

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I believe I remember seeing on one of the ESPN specials (I think 2010 fall camp show) that we make offers to about 100 players every year ranked by their position and need. So I am going to have to agree more with RTR91 since I don't think we miss on 75 recruits every year

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

RTR251 said:

Have you ever heard of Marvin Shinn, Eddie Williams, or recent commit 6-4 Raheem Falkins?

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There's a difference in being talk and lanky and being talk and physically built.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

RTR91 said:

Missing a recruit, IMO, is when a team has their eyes on a recruit and recruits him nonstop but fails to sign him. That's missing on a recruit. Offering a scholarship and then not signing the guy doesn't warrant the phrase "missing a recruit." If Bama backed off, how did Bama miss him? You miss on what you want, and Bama obviously wasn't wanting him in recent months.

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This. Not to mention that anyone who follows recruiting should know that there are varying degrees of offers. I would find it hard to believe given his academic standing that Robinson had a "firm" offer from us. I think it's much more likely that he had either a verbal or conditional one at best.

Re: 2013 WR Earnest Robinson Update

CapstoneGrad06 said:

There's a difference in being talk and lanky and being talk and physically built.

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splitting hairs are we?