I'm probably in the minority, but I'd offer a quality long snapper a schollie. This kid sounds like he fits that bill.
I'm probably in the minority, but I'd offer a quality long snapper a schollie. This kid sounds like he fits that bill.
The guy will be paying OOS if he chooses to come on as a performed walk-on. Even if he's only a long snapper for 1 semester before he goes on scholarship that's $15,000+. That's a lot of coin to pay to hope that you can get on scholarship by Spring.
If he has shown he is good then just offer him. As long as he has some decent coaching then he should never struggle; I don't know how much Riddle worked with Drescher, but the guy was an NFL quality long snapper. Hopefully the lure of playing in the Big 12 at a respected university draws him in. I'm sure given his credentials he could walk-on to many programs.
Rivals has him with a visit scheduled to Virginia Tech next week. I guess it's between the Buffs and the Hokies.
Given his academics and being from California, I've got to believe that CU-Boulder is a better fit than VTU and Blacksburg.
The advantage he has is with his academic numbers he should qualify for academic based financial aid. If he can get a chunk of it paid for then it makes it a lot easier.
At the same time our special teams last year were not exactly stellar. We are not at a point of turning down 4* guys at other positions due to lack of schollies. If he is that good then offer him, we are not good enough to overcome bad snaps on placements or snaps over our punter's heads. I have never been a kicker or holder (they don't let big guys do that) but logic says that if the specialist can count on a quick, consistent, accurate snap every time that is one less thing to worry about letting them focus on doing their jobs the right way.
This recruiting class won't even be close to the amount we can have (24 with the reduction?). STs start with the long snapper. It's a no glory position, but worth a scholarship if he's good. No need for a RS either since we don't have one on scholarship yet. Sounds like he has a motor and can also help on coverage. It helps that he can't get shoved until way after the snap too. If we had 4* knocking on our door I'd agree with you (MAYBE), but 1 scholarship for a 4 year starter is fine with me. I'd imagine it's hard to beat an incumbent LS too, unless he is bad. The way that I see it is that we are going to have available scholarships and if we can beat out other teams (think VT) because we can offer a scholarship then we should do it. Otherwise we are going to be under our limit of 85 again this year. May as well snatch up guys that can contribute right away, especially at a position of need.
I thought there were stringent rules about academic scholarships given to players on the FB team. There are 85 scholarship players, but only 105 or so players that can be on a team. If these "preferred" walkon players are given academic scholarships you can mess with the 85 limit. I understand he does have very good qualifications, but that's a rather gray area that I bet a lot of schools use a lot as well.
On the grayshirt thing, wouldn't it be better not to over-recruit this year?
As it stands, we're looking at only 14 available scholarships next year. Why cut into that number with prospects from a down recruiting year? It makes a hell of a lot more sense to bank on either having a good season or new coach to bring in a really good 2011 class. When it comes right down to it, if we suffer attrition that takes us below 85 schollies heading into the fall, I'd rather fill those spots by awarding schollies to senior walkons, get their grades in our APR for next year, and then have the slot open for a 2011 recruit.
On the grayshirt thing, wouldn't it be better not to over-recruit this year?
As it stands, we're looking at only 14 available scholarships next year. Why cut into that number with prospects from a down recruiting year? It makes a hell of a lot more sense to bank on either having a good season or new coach to bring in a really good 2011 class. When it comes right down to it, if we suffer attrition that takes us below 85 schollies heading into the fall, I'd rather fill those spots by awarding schollies to senior walkons, get their grades in our APR for next year, and then have the slot open for a 2011 recruit.
The numbers work out to 14 but there are always things that happen to change that. I would guess that by LOI day next year the number is close to if not over 20.