Is the practice of "oversigning" a way to cheat, or morally wrong?

'attrition' is real. 3-4 kids every year leave the program due to injuries, playing time concerns, etc.

Here's another site dedicated to blasting the practice:

oversigning.com

I'm trying to view the practice without my purple and gold glasses, but to me, it comes down to the promise made to the athlete at the time they are offered a scholarship and/or when they sign the letter of intent. If an athlete has the understanding that the are being given a 4-5 year scholarship that is irrevocable except for any violations on their part, then this does seem to be reprehensible.

On the other hand, if an athlete knows full well that he is getting a scholarship that could be taken if he is beaten out of the roster spot by a new recruit/player, and he chooses to go there anyway, and he knows he can transfer without penalty if things don't work out, then I really don't see any ethical problems with the practice. They are choosing to go to that school knowing that they must continue to work to keep their spot on the roster, and a scholarship.

This is a risk that each athlete must weigh given their own level of talent, and the competition level of the school. If a medium level recruit gets a schooly from LSU, and it doesn't work out, he knows he can very likely transfer to a second level school, or even another BCS school that happens to have more room at that position. Lester Ricard transferred from LSU to Tulane where he had a productive career as a two or three year started. Same with Craig Nall who transferred to Northwestern.

These are guys who have big hopes to be starters. They mostly transfer for the reason that they want a chance for more playing time at another school. The fact that they were given a chance to earn a starting spot at LSU, but didn't beat out the competition, doesn't make LSU out to be the bad guy. In fact, I would think many of these players were thankful for the opportunity, even if things didn't work out.

Is there an aspect here that I'm missing?

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Is the practice of "oversigning" a way to cheat, or morally wrong?

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Neither. The only time the practice is marginally questionable is when a qualified recruit is denied a ship because of oversigning and even then it's rare and the impact is not really that bad. Upper classmen who get cut are like those on academic scholarships who lose them because they fail to meet the necessary standards. The athletic standards are more subjective, but the principle is the same. Coaches don't make these cuts arbitrarily.

Recruits that don't get ships and go on to JC are those who didn't qualify. The point of signing them is to build a relationship for a possible future signing. Nothing evil going on here.

The only ones left are recruits that are asked to grayshirt. Usually they are asked in advance, and if they agree then what's the beef. The problem is when you have a situation like Porter last year where we screwed up the numbers when everyone qualified to our surprise. Porter was asked to grayshirt at the last minute after he had already been in summer school.

That's really not cool, but it's important to remember that he would have still gotten his ship, but he would have had to wait one semester. Porter could have chosen to make lemonade out of this lemon by taking the gray shirt especially since he was going to be redshirted anyway. He could better prepared himself for college and athletic life while moving his 5yr eligibility out another year. He chose not to.

Like I said what happened to him was not cool, but it's not like Miles put a cap in his knee. All of this is within the rules and it's really not morally wrong. It's just life.

I'd make up excuses too if I knew that my conference, which was for so long the dominant force in college football is on the downslope and the new super power, the SEC takes home national titles on the reg.

Just a bunch of whining crybabies who don't know how to handle someone else's success.

Its no more wrong than the kids who switch schools and put schools in a bad spot.

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My friend, who is an OSU and Big 10 fan

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They have a rule against it, so they get butthurt over it. They did not have to pass the rule. Much of our pain is self-chosen.

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being given a 4-5 year scholarship

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I might be wrong, but I thought a players scholly is up for renewal every year (in the grand scheme of things).

Just like an academic scholly, if a student doesn't perform up to a certain level, then that scholly would be taken away, or not renewed.

Correct?

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Do all players who get hurt and aren't able to continue to play lose their scholarship? Or are some of them given assurances that even if they are hurt, they will be kept on scholarship at the university?

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Most who get hurt go on medical scholarship and no longer count toward the 85.

How is this different than academic schollys? If a student is on academic scholarship and is making a 2.0 or less, do you think the institution should continue to uphold their commitment based upon the grades?

Exactly. It is no different.