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shipperxFNL, I love ya. I really do. But you know there's something that I really have to set straight because your research department screwed up...
Bama has twelve national championships. Not eight. T-W-E-L-V-E. M'kay?
Second of all, I've had issues with the recruiting storyline they have with Smash. For one thing, there are a bunch of restrictions on when a student can be recruited. It's monitored and legislated to an anal retentive degree. Plus, schools report on each other (boy, do they squeal on each other), so Smashmama doesn't have to do anything to stop overrecruiting except let on that some big schools are trying to recruit the kid and 'they' (looking at you NCAA) will be watching like hawks. (They are watching like hawks anyway on Rivals.com and Scout.com which tracks these things to the nth degree to begin with).
Third, this whole underlying thing about "will a school guarantee all four years" of scholarship... Well, unless Smash is a hell of an athlete, it would be five years because, unless a team is desperate or the kid is a phenomenal athlete, they are redshirted their freshman year (i.e. they're on the team but they don't play so it doesn't deduct from their eligible playing years. I don't mean that they're on Kirk's away team and bound to die). Red shirting is in addition to the four years they're allowed to play, so they actually have five years under a scholarship (more if they sit out most of a year due to medical hardship). Other than that, if an athlete is injured to the point where they cannot play ever again, they're moved to a medical scholarship. That's what they've had to do with poor, poor Prothro. Damn, Prothro was talented but a bad catch two years ago gave him a rather horrific break in his leg. Last year he remained on full football scholarship, despite not playing at all. This year, still unable to play, he was moved to a "medical scholarship" where he still has a scholarship to the university despite the fact that he can no longer play football. Schools don't kick kids out of school just because they can no longer play.
Also, at the very least, Bama stands by their recruiting. We have a high school kid right now that gave a verbal commitment last fall. The poor kid was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. After the kid's brain surgery, our coach promised the kid that regardless of whether he can ever play, Bama intends to stand by its scholarship offer. So Mama-Smash's concern that one injury in his current season would do in Smash's college career isn't an entirely true reflection of how college football scholarships are handled even in really intense football schools.
Finally, Mama-smashes timing is a tad bizarre in that she's wanting Smash to not pay attention to recruiting when signing day is just a handfull of weeks away. (And I'm laughing my ass off with the description of the Bama team because it's SO not reflective of the team we actually have. Hee! We wish what Coach Taylor was saying was actually true. Dude, we are the school telling signees that they can play as freshmen, and we sincerely mean it. We are that desperate. :)
Basically, while I appreciate the storyline, and while I laughed at the Bama mentions, this isn't FNL's most true to life storyline. (Then again, it's probably a case of my knowing way too much about the realities of the situation.) I'll overlook all of it except one small detail -- it's twelve national championships.
Roll Tide. :)
ETA: Dude. Dude! The TMU thing at the end. That's an absurdly inaccurate portrayal of recruiting. It's really not done that way.
But hey, it keeps Smash close to home...
Bama has twelve national championships. Not eight. T-W-E-L-V-E. M'kay?
Second of all, I've had issues with the recruiting storyline they have with Smash. For one thing, there are a bunch of restrictions on when a student can be recruited. It's monitored and legislated to an anal retentive degree. Plus, schools report on each other (boy, do they squeal on each other), so Smashmama doesn't have to do anything to stop overrecruiting except let on that some big schools are trying to recruit the kid and 'they' (looking at you NCAA) will be watching like hawks. (They are watching like hawks anyway on Rivals.com and Scout.com which tracks these things to the nth degree to begin with).
Third, this whole underlying thing about "will a school guarantee all four years" of scholarship... Well, unless Smash is a hell of an athlete, it would be five years because, unless a team is desperate or the kid is a phenomenal athlete, they are redshirted their freshman year (i.e. they're on the team but they don't play so it doesn't deduct from their eligible playing years. I don't mean that they're on Kirk's away team and bound to die). Red shirting is in addition to the four years they're allowed to play, so they actually have five years under a scholarship (more if they sit out most of a year due to medical hardship). Other than that, if an athlete is injured to the point where they cannot play ever again, they're moved to a medical scholarship. That's what they've had to do with poor, poor Prothro. Damn, Prothro was talented but a bad catch two years ago gave him a rather horrific break in his leg. Last year he remained on full football scholarship, despite not playing at all. This year, still unable to play, he was moved to a "medical scholarship" where he still has a scholarship to the university despite the fact that he can no longer play football. Schools don't kick kids out of school just because they can no longer play.
Also, at the very least, Bama stands by their recruiting. We have a high school kid right now that gave a verbal commitment last fall. The poor kid was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. After the kid's brain surgery, our coach promised the kid that regardless of whether he can ever play, Bama intends to stand by its scholarship offer. So Mama-Smash's concern that one injury in his current season would do in Smash's college career isn't an entirely true reflection of how college football scholarships are handled even in really intense football schools.
Finally, Mama-smashes timing is a tad bizarre in that she's wanting Smash to not pay attention to recruiting when signing day is just a handfull of weeks away. (And I'm laughing my ass off with the description of the Bama team because it's SO not reflective of the team we actually have. Hee! We wish what Coach Taylor was saying was actually true. Dude, we are the school telling signees that they can play as freshmen, and we sincerely mean it. We are that desperate. :)
Basically, while I appreciate the storyline, and while I laughed at the Bama mentions, this isn't FNL's most true to life storyline. (Then again, it's probably a case of my knowing way too much about the realities of the situation.) I'll overlook all of it except one small detail -- it's twelve national championships.
Roll Tide. :)
ETA: Dude. Dude! The TMU thing at the end. That's an absurdly inaccurate portrayal of recruiting. It's really not done that way.
But hey, it keeps Smash close to home...
