If a team loses, say 5 juniors to the NFL are the allowed to sign more than the 25 the next year?
Each time we write a post that references the SEC’s new soft 25-man signing cap, we receive a number of emails from people asking why we use the word “soft” in front the cap part. We do that because, technically, SEC schools can still sign more than 25 players per season.
Under the first-year signing cap, SEC programs are still allowed to “back count” early enrollees to the previous year’s signing crop. Nothing has changed on that front. A school can bring in more than 25 in a class if there’s room in the previous class for back counting and if those players enroll early.
On a related note, SEC PR man Charles Bloom has informed Seth Emerson of The Macon Telegraph that one thing has changed:
“If a player signs, he counts without regard to whether or not he actually enrolls. ‘Back counting’ is only permitted for mid-year enrolles who are able to be included as an initial counter for the academic year in which they enroll. ‘Back counting’ is an artificial term for this discussion and not accurate as the question is about the signing limit.”
What you need to know:
* If a school signed 23 players last year, it could techically back count two early enrollees this year and still sign 25 more players… giving the school a 27-man class on paper. Thus our use of the term “soft 25-man signing cap.”
* If a player signs with a school and fails to qualify academically or enroll for any other reason, tough noogies. (Never wrote that before.) Schools must count all players who sign, not just the ones who enroll.
