I believe that tomorrow is signing day, Right?
Does anyone know if the NCAA is making a change on the number of scholarships for next year due to Covid? My question centers around 11 or so seniors are taking advantage of the new NCAA rules and if this would interfere with the number of recruits available for scholarship?
GO BOBCATS
The recruiting classes are still capped at 25 per year, that has not changed even with Covid. What has changed is everyone has gotten an additional year if they chose to exercise it. Here's where things get interesting. To the best of my knowledge and the last I read, teams are still capped at 85 scholarships even with this additional year of eligibility. Why does that matter? Because instead of losing your senior class and simply replacing them with a freshmen recruiting class, you're getting seniors who are staying another year and that counts towards the 85 limit, just like the same as the new frosh do.
For some schools who are under, or in some cases, well under the 85, this won't matter. But for a school like Ohio who is expected to return at least 12 super seniors (guys exercising the extra year), they might have to get creative with the scholarships. Because last I saw, Ohio was either right at or very close to the 85 limit and has been for years. The 12 guys who are coming back is a lot higher than what some schools are returning that I have seen so far over the past few weeks. However, since Ohio's 85 number has been good for years, they've always been able to hold back a few scholarships, which has always helped them land transfers and over the last few years, sign some steals during the late signing period (like they will with the DB from Georgia this year).
Ohio's classes have also hovered under the 25. My guess is since the roster has been in such good shape for years, they have the flexibility to offer the 12 super seniors. If numbers are tight after those 12, I'm guessing you'll see some wiggle room with gray shirts, etc. But no matter how you cut it, Ohio is in really good shape and is in better shape than any other MAC school based on the 85 number, avoiding the mass transfers numbers like many MAC schools have had, and the high number of super seniors returning.