Per Arkley

Jason Arkley ‏@JasonAmessenger 5m5 minutes ago

4 grayshirts: Adam and Ryan Luehrman (Athens, TEs), PK Louie Zervos (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) and WR Matt Seymour (New Westminster, B.C.)

CC-Cat i think your timeline is off on Question #1. Most recruits will report at the beginning of Fall Camp (usually late July or early August I think). Grayshirts will be on campus taking a partial class load for Fall Semester, but not allowed to work out with the team, practice with the team, eat with the team, etc. However, I don't believe they are barred from using the facilities (AKA weight room). They will be part of the team starting January 1 and will enroll full time at the university at that time. They are essentially delayed 5 months from the rest of the recruiting class but have alreaddy had a transition period to college life and the weight room. They also maintain their 5 years to play 4 starting the following year because of that delay. This is why they count against the 2016 recruiting class and not 2015. In the end they actually will have the opportunity to spend more time in the program than the rest of this year's recruits. Programs generally only offer grayshirt opportunities who are truly wanted, but simply don't have the space right now within the scholarship limits. This is not a Preferred walk-on type situation where you are taking a flyer, the coaches must believe these 4 are 100% worthy of the scholarships.


Can't help you on Question #2, but it can't be any more binding than the 1 year scholarships given to every other player.

Why would they? With a grayshirt they actually get 6 to play 4. Since they are a part time student the first fall, their 5 year clock doesn't start running, so they can still redshirt in 2016 if it is helpful.

For these 4, the grayshirt works well, for different reasons. For the twins it gives them extra time to fill out. For Seymour, it helps because the BC school calendar is odd, and if you recall, Irons didn't arrive until very late. For Zervos, his clock doesn't start running until Yaz is gone, and in fact, he could redshirt in 2016 and allow Amicone to kick, if that becomes appropriate.

The reason why is that they could get practice time in next fall - work with position coaches. For the twins especially, it would allow them to learn new positions.

While they have 6 years to complete 4, I'd be interested to know how many greyshirts actually also end up taking a redshirt (this the 6 years). My gut says few do, but I could be way wrong.

Again, all this is dependent on greyshirts NOT being allowed to participate in practice - which I am still assuming is the rule.

Fiance issue is not a factor in the discussion as they are on their own dime in each scenario. I'm looking for stats that would better define how many really take the 6th year. We'll see. Ability to work with coaches is why I'd consider the "joint year."

Question, lets say the clock for them starts January 1st of 2016 but we happen to play in an after new years bowl game (in January) then how does that work? Obviously, you wouldn't expect a greyshirt to have the skills to even contribute to a team nearing a bowl game and coaches may not even want to throw them into practice at that point... Just curious.

I didn't even consider when the semester actually started... Absolutely agree, that is an ideal problem to have.

I'm sorry that I can't really answer your question. Grayshirts are relatively new, and while growing, still aren't all that common. From memory, I can't recall Ohio ever actually using one before. They tried, last year, with Pierce Royster, but he ended up at Wyoming instead. That, apparently, is fairly common: when a school offers a grayshirt instead of an immediate scholarship the kids often will not accept it, and go elsewhere.

I did a quick search, and found this story:
http://tinyurl.com/ocq7oru
It describes some Michigan State experiences with grayshirts. One is a 2015 recruit, Chewins, who had previously committed to Miami, but who flipped to Michigan State as a grayshirt. He is "only" 6-7 237, and the extra year will give him more time to bulk up to play Offensive Tackle. The other grayshirt mentioned in the article is Jack Conklin, who grayshirted, then redshirted his first year, and now is a projected high draft choice at Offensive Tackle.

Given that Ohio has never used grayshirts before, that I know of, having four in one class is really jumping in with both feet.

Yes, I think that's right. He was in the 2011 class, but was to grayshirt. Instead he did as cc-cat suggested, and walked on in the Fall of 2011, and redshirted. Then he got his scholarship in the Spring, and was with the team in 2012, 2013, and 2014. He would be a redshirt Senior this fall, but I believe he is graduating this Spring.

Chris Garrett and Steven Jackson both did something like that in 2005, counting against 2006, but I don't recall if they were grayshirts, or if they had other circumstances that caused them to enroll late. You may well be right on Garrett, and Jackson may have enrolled late due to some family issues.

My understanding was that Jacob Koons from Trimble took a grayshirt after graduating highschool last year. Is that true and is he going to be on our roster this spring?

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/recruiting/football/sto...

It seems clear Ohio's grayshirts were given scholarships with the knowledge upfront that the grayshirt would be the case. The kid that was going to go to Louisville ended up at Wake Forest.