We have just 72 scholarship football players

**cyfan15** · 11-10-2009, 03:18 AM

FBS schools are allowed 85 scholarships and FCS schools are allowed 63. We have 13 fewer scholarship players than the FBS maximum and just nine more than the FCS maximum.

Also, consider that five of our 72 scholarship players are former walk-ons. That means just 67 of our football players were recruited on scholarship. On top of that, our recruiting classes have been consistently ranked in the bottom two or three in the conference.

With those numbers in mind, you have to give Rhoads and his staff, as well as the entire team, a TON of credit. To be within one win of bowl eligibility in a BCS conference with two games left after we won only two games last year is pretty remarkable. These coaches know what they're doing and the team has bought in. I'm very confident that more success is going to come soon.

The numbers situation looks better next year. If Parker is granted a medical harship, we lose only 13 scholarship players. With 59 returning plus the 26 recruits Rhoads says he will sign, we will be back up to 85. Actually it will be a little less than that assuming a few players leave and a couple recruits don't qualify, but it will bring us closer to the level we need to be at in the Big 12.

**Omaha Cy** · 11-10-2009, 06:24 AM

Where did you find this info?

**cyingreen** · 11-10-2009, 08:01 AM

Down on scholarships and not one whiny word out of this staff. The last coach we had that had a schollie defiency, Jim Walden, couldn't shut up about it. Coach Rhoads and the staff just keep moving on, working their tails off. Surely good things are not far around the corner.

**isuarch80** · 11-10-2009, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by cyfan15

FBS schools are allowed 85 scholarships and FCS schools are allowed 63. We have 13 fewer scholarship players than the FBS maximum and just nine more than the FCS maximum.

Also, consider that five of our 72 scholarship players are former walk-ons. That means just 67 of our football players were recruited on scholarship. On top of that, our recruiting classes have been consistently ranked in the bottom two or three in the conference.

With those numbers in mind, you have to give Rhoads and his staff, as well as the entire team, a TON of credit. To be within one win of bowl eligibility in a BCS conference with two games left after we won only two games last year is pretty remarkable. These coaches know what they're doing and the team has bought in. I'm very confident that more success is going to come soon.

The numbers situation looks better next year. If Parker is granted a medical harship, we lose only 13 scholarship players. With 59 returning plus the 26 recruits Rhoads says he will sign, we will be back up to 85. Actually it will be a little less than that assuming a few players leave and a couple recruits don't qualify, but it will bring us closer to the level we need to be at in the Big 12.

Those are crazy numbers to put out there, Cyfan. Thanks for that. That is truly amazing that we have that many available. That's almost a player per position on the depth chart that we are less than some of the big teams.
Depth breeds competition.
Also, with that few players on scholarship, it also means the coaches have a lot less room for error for missing on kids.
Many props to CPR and staff on getting the results so far, and it's nice to pull up Rivals and see the dent in recruiting the staff has already made for Feb signing day. I don't remember the last time I saw that many verbals already.

**jbhtexas** · 11-10-2009, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by cyingreen

The last coach we had that had a schollie defiency, Jim Walden, couldn't shut up about it.

Ummm...the situation Walden walked into was orders of magnitude worse than the one Rhoads came into, on numerous fronts...

**Cy1969** · 11-10-2009, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by cyingreen

Down on scholarships and not one whiny word out of this staff. The last coach we had that had a schollie defiency, Jim Walden, couldn't shut up about it. Coach Rhoads and the staff just keep moving on, working their tails off. Surely good things are not far around the corner.

Wow, what an awful post.

I was around for Walden, and these situations are COMPLETELY different.
Walden's 57 scholarships were caused, in great part, by NCAA violations committed by the previous coach.

This scholarship deficiency was created by the mismanagement of the program the last years of McCarney.

CPR has no right to complain. Besides what is he going to say??? Yeah Mac sucked at running a program, and alienate a large chunk of the fanbase???

This guy is way too smart for that.

**SCNCY** · 11-10-2009, 09:02 AM

How did this happen?

**Cy1969** · 11-10-2009, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by SCNCY

How did this happen?

It goes back to getting 30-35 verbals, and hoping that a full class of 25 shows up that Fall.

Then you add all of the problem children, who don't make it through 4-5 years, and you end up with this.

Although, I am sure by the time this gets much further, it will be all Gene Chizik's fault.

**cytech** · 11-10-2009, 09:05 AM

If we are 13 shy on the number of ships we can give out doesn't that mean we could sign more than 25 or 26 recruits, even though Rhoads has said that is the target number?

**tim_redd** · 11-10-2009, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by cytech

If we are 13 shy on the number of ships we can give out doesn't that mean we could sign more than 25 or 26 recruits, even though Rhoads has said that is the target number?

You can only hand out 25 a year.

**Cyrocks** · 11-10-2009, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by cyingreen

Down on scholarships and not one whiny word out of this staff. The last coach we had that had a schollie defiency, Jim Walden, couldn't shut up about it. Coach Rhoads and the staff just keep moving on, working their tails off. Surely good things are not far around the corner.

Originally Posted by jbhtexas

Ummm...the situation Walden walked into was orders of magnitude worse than the one Rhoads came into, on numerous fronts...

Originally Posted by Cy1969

Wow, what an awful post.

I was around for Walden, and these situations are COMPLETELY different.
Walden's 57 scholarships were caused, in great part, by NCAA violations committed by the previous coach.

This scholarship deficiency was created by the mismanagement of the program the last years of McCarney.

CPR has no right to complain. Besides what is he going to say??? Yeah Mac sucked at running a program, and alienate a large chunk of the fanbase???

This guy is way too smart for that.

Good responses, Cy1969 and jbhtexas. Not only did the school lose scholarships, a bunch of players quit the program. To make matters worse, the NCAA had just passed the rule limiting how many scholarship players colleges could recruit. Before, colleges could hand out as many scholarships they wanted in a year. Walden and staff could never catch up to the other schools. It's a wonder he was able to field a winning team -- which he did. And then the administration cut him off at the knees when they wouldn't allow Steve Lester to return to the team even though Lester completed a summer course.

**Cyrocks** · 11-10-2009, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by cyingreen

Down on scholarships and not one whiny word out of this staff. The last coach we had that had a schollie defiency, Jim Walden, couldn't shut up about it. Coach Rhoads and the staff just keep moving on, working their tails off. Surely good things are not far around the corner.

Also, I don't think Walden whinned about it.

Buck Turnbull, the Des Moines Register sports reporter at the time, kept asking Walden about who is not suiting up for the game at each press conference due to injuries and such.

As a joke, Walden would then put out fake reports such as:

ISU won't have 10 players suited up because of they contracted rabies after biting heads of bats (in reference to when Ozzy did it at Vets Auditorium a couple of years earlier)

He would do this until he reached the number of players he didn't have on scholarship.

**SpokaneCY** · 11-10-2009, 11:20 AM

Curious if any B12 programs have their full complement of scholly players? I would almost bet that NO program is within 5 players of a full complement.

**zach** · 11-10-2009, 11:31 AM

Coach briefly said that we were light on Scholly players last night. Said it would take 2-3 years to get that back up to where it needed to be since schools are limited on scholly's each year.

Z

**CyCy** · 11-10-2009, 12:06 PM

A can think of 11 players who left with eligibility remaining and 2 players who had to give up football because of injuries. That's basically what we are down.

A. Bell, C. Bell, Hulbert, McDowell, Bates, Ferguson, W. Franklin, Klerekoper, Land, Linder and Mathis all left. Knapp and A Sandvic were injured.

With a few exceptions, I don't think most of the guys who left would be getting much playing time.