The SEC Gets It's Way-And it Stings

[firemoose]

I know this has been out there for more than 24 hours but I've waited to say anything until App released a statement plus we've (site guys) have asked some questions to see what, if anything, App can do.

http://saturdaytradition.com/big-ten-fo ... tte-camps/

For those who don't know the SEC and their water boy (the ACC) have been pushing for a ban on satellite camps for football recruiting. And in typical NCAA fashion they not only caved to the mighty SEC, but they took it to the complete limit by banning all off campus camps completely. There could have been some restrictions placed on them (only in state camps, limited off campus events, limited out of state events, limited joint events, etc) but no, as usual it's one extreme or the other. For those that have been following, this mainly has to do with other P5 conference schools setting up camps in SEC, and to a lesser extent ACC areas, to see and evaluate recruits. The SEC, lead by Sabin, has been wanting to stop this for a while. And B1G/Big 12 schools like Michigan (Harbaugh had 11 satellite camps set for this year alone, most in SEC/ACC territory) have been rubbing salt in the wound of the SEC, which just made them more determined. But taking a close look at this situation it's the G5's like App who will be hurt the most by this ruling.

Most B1G/Big12 schools, even without the camps, will still get the 4/5 star players to come to them, just because of who they are. And a lot of the G5's that are in good recruiting areas will get the borderline P5 and and expected G5 players from their footprints. It's worth noting that the Sun Belt agreed with the decision.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... mmediately

People are trying to get specifics from the Belt concerning who supported the ban (we know App would not have supported it) but it's not a leap to expect that schools like our biggest buddies to the southeast, their in state friends in ATL, and even schools like Texas St and the AL/LA schools would be very much in favor because it makes it that much harder for outlier schools like App to recruit our most productive areas (GA/FL, and this year the plan was for AL to become even more of a target as we have been getting much interest from recruits in that area and we are planning to hit it even harder for 2017). Also, for those who haven't figured it out yet, this ban is for ALL camps not on a schools campus. This means even our NC camps (this year they were Charlotte and Greenville) are gone as well. We can't even set up a off campus camp in our own state.

Simply put, this is a fight between P5's that will wind up hurting the G5's in the end, especially those like App that are not in traditionally good areas for recruiting and that are more rural, thus making it harder for recruits to try and come here for a camp. Does anyone really think the satellite camps we had last year in GA/FL with Valdosta St hurt the SEC or the ACC even a little? And just a note, we signed players for the just ended 2016 class from every one of the off campus camps we participated in. And a majority of most of our recent signees in the past several classes either were found at or got on our radar at, off campus camps.

What this boils down to is that our recruiting just got harder. Given our traditional areas of GA/FL, and the new areas we're trying to expand to, it's now going to be a lot harder to get recruits to Boone for camps. It was A LOT easier, and much less expensive, for recruits from pretty much our entire footprint to get themselves in front of, worked with, and evaluated by our coaches at camps in GA/FL and even Charlotte and eastern NC. Now anyone who wants to put themselves in front of our coaches, or that we really want see and evaluate in person, is going to have to make the trip to Boone. Some will be able to do it (mostly local NC recruits and those in the closer parts of surrounding states) but most will not, which means we will be recruiting more based on film and attending games of targets than actually being able to have hands on work with them, putting them through drills to find any issues, etc. Just think how many recruits from dozens of different high schools that a group of coaches could see in one place. Now we will have to travel to many of those schools to see them, and those visits don't include a full day of drills and evals. More HS visits means more travel and more money spent. And for the recruits themselves that means the kids the G5s and below are signing won't get as much visibility to multiple programs as they would before. App signed 10 Florida kids in 2016, many of which started that process by competing at one of the joint events with Valdosta St. The staff's evaluation process just got that much more difficult and, more significantly, the recruits opportunities will be diminished. We also have to think about on campus events with the more local recruits, with parents who work on weekends and aren't comfortable with their kids driving all the way to App, but would've been fine with them getting to sites in Charlotte, Greenville, or other NC locations?

Bottom line. This is going to sting us. It's going to make our recruiting a lot more difficult in the areas where we've had a lot of success. And we're going to be just a little more blind in our evals of targets. To finish I'm going to quote David from over on Scout on his post on the subject, which we have discussed at length. "Who's speaking for the student-athlete? I thought that was the NCAA's primary purpose - to protect the kids. The most important link in this entire chain - the players - just got trampled, and all because guys like Saban, who can't have enough advantages to suit himself, and Harbaugh, who can't keep his Grand Canyon-esque ego and mouth in check, can push a worthless figurehead like (Mark) Emmert into a corner." Sums it up pretty well for me.

[WVAPPeer]

The NCAA sucks - but I don't like any of the Big 10 especially Harbaugh so I'm glad they can't pull this scam. I admit at this point I haven't read any of your attached threads but didn't our coaches attend "open camps" in other states? - in other words, as long as it's not the APP Football Camp in Atlanta but an open camp would our coaches be prohibited? --- I'll pull for Saban any day over the Big 10

[WVAPPeer]

And YET AGAIN, the NCAA playing from behind ---
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... uct-policy

[hapapp]

The NCAA sucks - but I don't like any of the Big 10 especially Harbaugh so I'm glad they can't pull this scam. I admit at this point I haven't read any of your attached threads but didn't our coaches attend "open camps" in other states? - in other words, as long as it's not the APP Football Camp in Atlanta but an open camp would our coaches be prohibited? --- I'll pull for Saban any day over the Big 10

As I understand it, they can participate only if they volunteer their time.

So, I guess you think when our coaches conducted these camps in Fla and Ga they were pulling a scam.

[firemoose]

The NCAA sucks - but I don't like any of the Big 10 especially Harbaugh so I'm glad they can't pull this scam. I admit at this point I haven't read any of your attached threads but didn't our coaches attend "open camps" in other states? - in other words, as long as it's not the APP Football Camp in Atlanta but an open camp would our coaches be prohibited? --- I'll pull for Saban any day over the Big 10

"Open" camps, or better yet Open Events (more accurate description) would still happen. But there are BIG differences between those and satellite camps, not the least of these is that there are only a couple in the different areas of the country each year. Events like "The Opening" in Atlanta (part of a group of Nike Opening events across the country) are, for the most part, invitation only events and most of the players that receive invites are already known commodities, most of which would be going to P5 programs. Plus you would have coaches from dozens of schools attending and they, a lot like the NFL Combine, would just be watching others run drills. Little if any hands on work.

The satellite camps are different in that many that attend (anyone think a 5 star or even 4 star players are going to take the time to come to a camp run by a G5 and an FCS program?) would never get an invite to a bigger event and most of them were lower ranked type players, the "hidden gems" or "diamond in the rough" type guys that haven't received a lot of attention for whatever reason (rural area, smaller HS conference, loaded area where they just haven't gotten enough exposure or have several P5 players on their team, etc) but that, by having one on one time with them and being able to work with them, you are able to identify players that are not only good but also those that fit your system. To the P5's these types of camps were not needed and were just a way to get into other areas, not that they really need to as they usually aren't after players that they need tons of hands on time with and, for the most part, their name is enough to gain interest and on campus camp visits. But I don't think scam would be a good description for a joint camp run by App and Valdosta St.

The NCAA could have gone in many different directions with this. The P5 have tons of advantages over the G5 and FCS programs already. People may have complained some but they could have placed more limitations on the P5's while still allowing the G5's to conduct camps, especially given that most players coming to those camps would be mostly backup P5 targets, at best. Many other things could have been done to at least give the G5's a fighting chance but no, it's nothing now.

[WVAPPeer]

The NCAA sucks - but I don't like any of the Big 10 especially Harbaugh so I'm glad they can't pull this scam. I admit at this point I haven't read any of your attached threads but didn't our coaches attend "open camps" in other states? - in other words, as long as it's not the APP Football Camp in Atlanta but an open camp would our coaches be prohibited? --- I'll pull for Saban any day over the Big 10

As I understand it, they can participate only if they volunteer their time.

So, I guess you think when our coaches conducted these camps in Fla and Ga they were pulling a scam.

Gee - I must have missed Scott taking the entire team to Florida for Spring Break, uh, spring practice???

[hapapp]

No but our coaches have held camps in Georgia and Florida. But I guess the SEC and your hero Saban had their feelings hurt.

[WVAPPeer]

Let me try to make this as clear as possible. The ONLY SCAM I was referring to was Michigan having spring practice in Florida. Got it?

[T-Dog]

The D1 Council voted on this. The Sun Belt rep is Texas State AD Larry Teis, not Karl Benson.

[firemoose]

The D1 Council voted on this. The Sun Belt rep is Texas State AD Larry Teis, not Karl Benson.

Honest question here T: Was this just an FYI or did someone say Benson? I never mentioned him but just said the Belt agreed with the decision. He has since released a statement that was added to the original App response that was put out. And he told several in the media that they (the Belt) will not be disclosing who, within the conference, gave the position of wanting to end the camps. It was a majority and that lead to Teis' vote. Honestly it's not that hard to figure out the position of most of the schools. Just shooting gum against the wall here and knowing that App would have voted for camps I would add Ark St with no doubts. The LA schools could go either way given how much LA gets picked over by LSU and other SEC schools. But they are in a strong recruiting area and no doubt get some recruits that are overlooked. And Ga Sou, Ga St, Troy, South Alabama, and Texas St would have been for the ban. Sou and State are tired of schools like App camping in GA and FL. The AL schools don't want anyone like us to start, and Texas St has enough competition to deal with already, a lot like us in NC.

The later article I've linked below gives the reported breakdown of how the 10 FBS conferences voted. The only issue with the part about the Belt in the article is that the statement the author says does apply to most of the schools in the Belt. But one can argue that it doesn't apply to App and Ark St. App especially is engulfed with competition in NC alone and, while the rest of the Belt schools (minus Ark St) are indeed square in the middle of the SEC and even a lot of the ACC footprint, we are hanging out alone up here on the edge. I know I'm leaving out Tech and UVA but there is a ton of competition in VA as well and the best area in the state isn't much different in distance from App as our GA/North FL areas. Still too far away for many recruits to drive and pay for a one day camp. Pretty much draw a 2 to 3 hour circle from App and see what we get. Only recruits with very good resources can go much farther for those one day camps. Any way you cut it things are going to be harder. We'll just have to deal with it the best we can.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... lite-camps

[T-Dog]

It was an FYI. I found out that every time something bad happens to the Sun Belt, people blame Karl Benson.

[hapapp]

Let me try to make this as clear as possible. The ONLY SCAM I was referring to was Michigan having spring practice in Florida. Got it?

I know that was your reference but I don't see what he did as a scam. I rather liked what he did. Thought it creative. Of course, it was enough to send Saban and the SEC crying to mommy.

[Rekdiver]

Have no fear.....we will find a way around this. We will find a high school coach or some performance group, sponsor their new camp and we will attend...

[T-Dog]

I'm sure recruits will be excited by the new lecture series hosted by volunteer Scott Satterfield. And the lecture will be in the middle of a big, flat field that happens to have cones set up around it.

[Saint3333]

The biggest losers in this are the student athletes that don't have the resources to travel to camps and show coaches outside a two hour or less radius their skills.

If they put the students first this would not have passed. But yet again they got it wrong.

I don't get calling it a scam.

[T-Dog]

FWIW, the NCAA Board of Directors still has to approve the rule on April 28th.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-footba ... ban-041116

[WVAPPeer]

The biggest losers in this are the student athletes that don't have the resources to travel to camps and show coaches outside a two hour or less radius their skills.

If they put the students first this would not have passed. But yet again they got it wrong.

I don't get calling it a scam.

Let me try to make this as clear as possible. The ONLY SCAM I was referring to was Michigan having spring practice in Florida. Got it?

[hapapp]

The biggest losers in this are the student athletes that don't have the resources to travel to camps and show coaches outside a two hour or less radius their skills.

If they put the students first this would not have passed. But yet again they got it wrong.

I don't get calling it a scam.

Let me try to make this as clear as possible. The ONLY SCAM I was referring to was Michigan having spring practice in Florida. Got it?

Why was it a scam? Certainly out of the ordinary and few schools could afford to do so but under the rules at the time it was permitted.

[WVAPPeer]

Well HAP "scam" was the word I used, I'm sure there are better words - It's the arrogance of Harbaugh I really don't care for - How much do we think it cost UM to fly 100 players + staff + coaches + special guests to Florida, house and feed them for a week, plus everything else that was certainly involved? - It's clearly an example of "we have so much money and we are so much better" that we can do whatever we want and the rest of you can eat my "dust". And looked what has happened - everyone is "punished". I guess all this crap with UNC has me to the point that I am sick of the "superior" attitudes, the bullying, the flaunting of arrogance, etc. ---

[Yosef10]

The biggest losers in this are the student athletes that don't have the resources to travel to camps and show coaches outside a two hour or less radius their skills.

If they put the students first this would not have passed. But yet again they got it wrong.

I don't get calling it a scam.

Let me try to make this as clear as possible. The ONLY SCAM I was referring to was Michigan having spring practice in Florida. Got it?

I think everyone's got it. They're simply telling you it's not a scam. Which it isn't. But carry on. CFB, especially at that level, is a business. Harbaughs move was nothing less than a savvy, creative and efficient business move. No "scam" about it.