85 vs 105 questions…..I’m behind.

Nov 7th Sankey announced the SEC will remain at 85 until the case is resolved and things become formal. Other conferences are expected to do the same but none have publicly stated so as far as I can find. Google has an entire first page of commentary and articles about Sankeys decision.
Just like with NIL, recruiting information and transfer rumors which will ramp up this week, most of the information you will readily see spread amongst message boards is misinformation, disinformation or people speaking of things they have no clue about. Moscona,in this instance, as with many other instances in the past over these same issues, is guilty of that. He doesn't research well or at all it seems. He tweets a ton of wrong information that can easily be corrected with just minimal research. Similar to how to count scholarships and when they are no longer counted against you as we discussed numerous times last transfer cycle. Even the "insiders" were giving conflicting information. If they ain't in the draft or in the portal, their scholarship counts until May/June. Meaning you can't add a player on scholarship until there is a spot available. The Ausberry saga. What a waste that was.

In reality, 85 is too many. It should realistically be about 70.

When you have 20-30 players that barely play, or don't play at all, your roster is too big.

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1. Did the ncaa say, yes go to 105

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The NCAA has agreed to a settlement that would remove “scholarship limits” while also implementing roster limits. Specifically, football rosters would be limited to 105 players.

The settlement has been agreed upon between the parties in the lawsuit, however it has not been finalized. There is a fairness hearing set for April where others impacted by the settlement will be able to object and voice any concerns. The terms of the settlement won’t be “final” until then, at the earliest.

In the meantime the NCAA has not actually changed the rules on scholarship limits. Keep in mind that the changes under the settlement go way beyond football scholarship limits. I would imagine that the NCAA is playing it close to the vest as they don’t want to potentially lose negotiating leverage if it goes back to the drawing board.

So as of now, per the NCAA Division 1 Manual, teams are limited to 85 scholarships.

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2. Then did we add a guy that we could develop since we can afford the spots?

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I’m not sure who specifically you’re referring to but is it possible they might be a PWO?

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3. Then did the sec say this after we offered….”nope, sorry, sec is staying at 85 for 2025”.

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Apparently the SEC gave guidance to the coaches/AD’s a few weeks ago saying the conference would be staying at 85 next year. So yeah most of our offers would have been out at that time, and I do believe that many (maybe most?) coaches were operating under the assumption that they would have 105 next year.

That being said it’s not really the SEC’s fault. They don’t have the authority to increase scholarship limits beyond those set by the NCAA. If schools hand out scholarships to 105 players and the settlement falls through, those schools could be looking at pretty significant violations.

In an ideal world, the NCAA would have implemented an interim policy by now that addressed the pending settlement. But I’m guessing they don’t want to set it at 105 for the reason I mentioned above, and that they can’t necessarily set it at 85 because the settlement would then require them to change it.