Signing Limit Waiver Details & Projected Attrition

I’ve seen a lot of incorrect information flying around regarding the transfer portal and the waiver for signing limits, and thought it might help to put all of this info in one thread. We’ll see – maybe this is a massive waste of time.. but maybe somebody gets some use out of this.

I realize I am not immune to mistakes interpreting some of this stuff. If anyone finds any incorrect information in this post, please let me know and I will update accordingly.

So for starters, what is the actual NCAA rule regarding replacement of transfers?

Background
In previous years, each D1 team has been subject to two main scholarship restrictions:
1. Maximum 85 total “counters.”
2. Maximum 25 “initial counters” per academic year.
A “counter” is basically any player that receives athletic financial aid – e.g. a scholarship. Non-scholarship players (walk-ons) are not “counters.” An “initial counter” is a player receiving athletic financial aid at the university for the first time. This can be a high school recruit, a D1 transfer, or a JUCO transfer.

So each team is limited to 25 “new” scholarships per academic year, meaning fall-spring. There are existing exceptions/loopholes (grayshirts, blueshirts, back-counted early enrollees, etc.) but those are really outside the scope of this discussion. All of those existing exceptions/loopholes still apply, regardless of the new NCAA waiver.

OK, so that was the old system. What changed?

Signing Limit Blanket Waiver
Given the rise in college football transfers, the NCAA has given universities a blanket waiver to exceed the annual signing limit in order to replace players lost to the transfer portal. You can read the NCAA’s Q&A document about the blanket waiver here.

The blanket waiver allows FBS team to add up to 7 initial counters above the normal 25 maximum, in order to replace players who depart the program. The actual criteria for replacement of scholarships under the blanket waiver are:
• The departing player must have left the university on or after the last day of the university’s fall term (which appears to be December 11, 2021 according to LSU’s academic calendar).
• The player being replaced must have remaining eligibility.
• The university must be able to certify that the player would be academically eligible for the following regular academic term, if they had not departed the university.

According to the NCAA Q&A document, the blanket waiver applies to scholarship players who depart the university for any reason – including transfers and the NFL draft. However, it’s possible (if not likely) that some of our NFL draft early entrants have not maintained their academic eligibility. One way to interpret this: if a player is leaving early for the draft and PLAYED in the bowl game, you know he was academically eligible. If a player is leaving early for the draft and OPTED OUT of the bowl game, he may or may not have been academically eligible; there’s no way to know for sure.

Note that for transfers, the “departure date” is based on the date they leave the university – not the date they enter the transfer portal.

The replacement scholarships can go to any initial counters – they do not have to be players from the transfer portal. They can be used on high school recruits, JUCO transfers, or D1 transfers.

The following are examples of players who would not qualify for replacement under the blanket waiver:
• Any player who transferred prior to the end of the fall semester.
• Any player who left the university prior to the end of the fall semester, even if they didn’t transfer until after.
• Any player who would not have been academically eligible for the regular semester following their departure (Spring 2022 for any players who have already departed).
• Any player who has run out of college eligibility.

The waiver allows replacement of up to 7 initial counters. If there are 5 eligible “departures,” we get 5 additional signees. If there are 10 eligible “departures,” we get 7 additional signees.

Projected Attrition:

What does our attrition (and projected attrition) actually look like? I went through the roster and identified players that we know are not returning next year, as well as players that may not be returning next year. Here’s what I found:

Already Transferred
Dates are based on the 247 transfer portal tracker. All three of these players should be eligible for replacement, assuming the dates below are accurate and they would have been academically eligible for the spring:
• Landon Jackson (DL, transferred to Arkansas 12/12/21)
• Eli Ricks (CB, transferred to Alabama 12/15/21)
• Max Johnson (QB, transferred to Texas A&M 12/17/21)
• Trey Palmer (WR, transferred to Nebraska 1/8/22)
• Alex Adams (WR, transferred to Akron 1/12/22)
• Dwight McGlothern (CB, transferred to Arkansas 1/16/22)*

*There are rumors that McGlothern was not academically eligible.

Still in Transfer Portal
These players should be eligible for replacement if they actually transfer and they maintain academic eligibility:
• Deion Smith (WR)
• Koy Moore (WR)
• Navonteque Strong (LB)
• Devonta Lee (WR)

NFL Draft – Remaining Eligibility
These players should be eligible for replacement, assuming they would have been academically eligible for the spring. That said, Clark, Stingley, TDP, and Flott did not play in the bowl so we don’t know their academic status for sure.
• Damone Clark (LB, 1 year remaining eligibility)
• Derek Stingley, Jr. (CB, 2 years remaining eligibility)
• Ed Ingram (OL, 1 year remaining eligibility)
• Tyrion Davis-Price (RB, 2 years remaining eligibility)
• Cordale Flott (CB, 2 years remaining eligibility)
• Avery Atkins (KOS, 1 year remaining eligibility)
• Cade York (K, 2 years remaining eligibility)
• Chasen Hines (OL, 1 year remaining eligibility)

Exhausted Eligibility
These players are not eligible for replacement regardless of whether they enter the draft, because they are out of college eligibility:
• Austin Deculus (OL)
• Cameron Lewis (S)
• Darren Evans (CB)
• Glen Logan (DL)
• Jontre Kirklin (WR/QB/DB)
• Liam Shanahan (OL)
• Neil Farrell, Jr. (DL)

To Be Determined
These guys did not play in the Texas Bowl and/or have various amounts of smoke surrounding them. Some of them may simply be injured.
• Garrett Dellinger (OL)
• Andre Anthony (DE, may have additional eligibility if he received a medical redshirt for 2017 or 2021)
• Charles Turner (OL)
• Marcus Dumervil (OL)
• Quentin Skinner (LS)
• Xavier Hill (OL)

Please let me know if any of these look incorrect and I will edit accordingly. Assuming people are actually interested in tracking this in one place, I’ll try to update this as we get additional information regarding attrition.