To me this problem became an issue when they cut from 25 a year/105 total to 25 a year/85 total. If you figure that about half the players redshirt at some point, then a player's career would average 4.5 years. If a school awards 25 scholarships a year, they would eventually end up with 112 on scholarship. Factor in a couple lost players a year due to injury, graduation, grades, or whatever, and you end up close to the old 105 number. The annual number should have been cut to 20-21, in my opinion, if they were going to cut the total to 85.

Any school that, like Troy or Temple, awards 25 every year, has got to be churning players, eliminating a lot more that the normal 2-3 a year attrition.

You're really just now learning about this?

The SEC is the SEC because they all sign 10-15 more players than anyone else every year, then cut guys over the summer. I don't have much positive to say about Ohio State, but at least Jim Tressel is an ethical man who doesn't oversign (he instead gives scholarships to deserving walkons). 

Of course, this is why the SEC annihilates Ohio State every time they play.

Oh, and if you really want to get some jollies go read up on the Bryant Scholarship.

Alabama is so corrupt it's embarrassing but the NCAA doesn't care -- they let the SEC spin the money machine.

The 25/year is a myth. That rule only applies to conferences that enforce it (like the Big 10 and the MAC).

I am a Troy grad and fan who was born and raised in Akron. I am familiar with the history of the University and your athletic program. Several of my relatives hold degrees from Ohio U. That being said, I'd like to point out that the numbers have been manipulated by the media in order to sell a story, that is, the Troy numbers of which I am very familiar. The figures fail to differentiate between February signings, gray shirts and mid term letters of intent. Troy signssomewhere between five and eight players at mid term. These scholarships count against the previous years class. There is always some attrition that occurs naturally without the need to force a player out. For instance, there were several players that quit the team over playing time issues, others had career ending injuries;there were also academic and disciplinary casualties as well. We also gray shirt four to five players per year. They, as you know,  count on the next years recruiting class. Our quarterback who played in the New Orleans was gray shirted then red shirted. He had plenty of talent but lacked the physical strength and size to play football at the FBS level so he needed to be developed. This was a risk that paid off.In order for a school like Troy to sign the type of players that not only will be successful but also help the program to grow our staff must not only be creative but take certain risks. The bottom line is that Troy only oversigns three to four players per year and they are generally placed by our coaches into a junior college program. This post was only meant to be explanatory not argumentative. BTW I attended the New Orleans Bowl and thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the OU fans. You are by and far the most gracious lot I have met. It's a shame to travel that far for such a disappointment. I have made such journies several times. Y'all have a great institution and a good athletic program. Good luck next year. I'll be rooting for you.

Considering that these are contracts, why is oversigning even one player acceptable?

That is correct Troy fan those are counted twice (not sure how many you get that way), but we have had a few of those our selves over the years.  What this article is also not taking into account is the number of kids who sign and then don't make the grade, or do not make it to college period and the school then picks someone else up.  Hence you sign two kids but only get one.  Now that being said there are some schools who simply send out 35+NLI's and only "accept" the ones they want.

I've wondered the same thing myself, L.C. This is all real shady. I'm not speaking specifically about Troy, whose fans seem to have reasonable explanations for their numbers, but more to some of the SEC schools who reportedly make a joke of the whole thing.
In other words, having a player be replaced with another via a second LOI because the first guy didn't qualify, went instead to a JUCO, etc., is far different than purposely signing in excess of your maximum LOIs with the intention of weeding out the chaff once they get on campus. That's criminal, IMHO.