Originally Posted by AXOmom
I don't necessarily disagree with you about "the consolation prize being BS". NCAA sanctions aren't usually very fair to the guys playing on that team at the time who rarely had anything to do with the reason the team is being punished in the first place, but this isn't the first time that's happened and it won't be the last, so Penn State's players aren't unique in that regard which, I know, isn't going to make it sting for them any less. Personally, while I'm sorry for them, that pales in comparison to the pity I feel for the victims, and if this is what it takes for every other coach and school administrator to get the message that some things are bigger than your school and your football team's reputation - so be it.
As Sydney K pointed out, the NCAA has, in this case, tried to do everything I think they can, under the circumstances, to give these players options. Other teams can pick them up without hurting their limits this year (schools like USC, which have their own scholarships limitations due to sanctions are an exception- but they still have two scholarships to offer and are already talking to PSU RB recruit). They will have to count them against next year's total.
K Sig RC and TSteven have a better understanding of the NCAA rules and regulations than I do (I love college football and have gotten familiar with some of the rules and regulations, but I don't know a lot of the ins and outs), so they can correct me if I'm mistaken on this, but an alum setting up a scholarship for a specific kid who then walks on to the football team would be an NCAA violation (providing improper benefits). If a walk-on receives financial aid from a school and stays on a team, for instance, they don't count against the total their first year, but they do if they continue on the team a second year. Again, I'll defer K Sig RC and TSteven on this, but I would think if this could be done, teams would have been doing it for awhile to get around the total limits.
There may be some players who have always dreamed of playing at Penn State and who will choose to go there, walk-on, and play there even if it means going into debt, and if so, hey, kudos to them, but honestly I can think of very few instances, outside of a Harvard or Yale or a school with a religous emphasis (Notre Dame, BYU) where a talented kid with other good options would choose to go as a walk on, particularly if it meant four years of student debt, rather than take a scholarship offer to another school and I can't think of many parents, regardless of how many generations went to that school, that would let them. Now, if the only other offers they had were to much smaller programs or vastly inferior schools and they knew they had no NFL potential, they just wanted to try and play football while they were in school because they love playing - then I could see that scenario, but that player is unlikely to be of much help to Penn State in the Big 10.
A player might get fed a line and sit on the bench, but that's always a risk whenever you sign an LOI. It might have happened at Penn State without the sanctions. A college football player usually knows that's a possibility. All you can do is look at the coach's record, talk to his players, and look at who your position competition is then make your call.
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