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Wisconsin Football: Meet Wisconsin’s newest signees
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Article on NSD how high schoolers are the ones feeling the shaft the most if they are not standout talent kids.
The numbers are still tricking in, and players can sign for the next few months, but early data suggests there were a couple hundred fewer players signed to scholarships at the FBS level this year. The reasons are pretty obvious: the transfer portal and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many schools preferred to hold back scholarships for existing college players in the transfer portal who the schools know can play as opposed to high schoolers who had limited or no reps this fall due to the pandemic. Staffs simply never got the chance to see them play in person.
"If it is a borderline recruit for us, we'd rather take a transfer who we know can cut it physically at the college level," said one staffer. Read more about the transfer situation here.
Another limiting factor was money. While all 2020 seniors have been granted the ability to come back to school for a bonus year and not count against the scholarship maximum of 85 due to the pandemic, many schools in the Group of Five and even some in the Power Five are unwilling to fund scholarships above and beyond the normal 85 max. That means that many schools will be playing at 85, and if they accept some bonus seniors back for 2021, that self-imposed cap limited the number of high school players they could sign.
The numbers are still tricking in, and players can sign for the next few months, but early data suggests there were a couple hundred fewer players signed to scholarships at the FBS level this year. The reasons are pretty obvious: the transfer portal and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many schools preferred to hold back scholarships for existing college players in the transfer portal who the schools know can play as opposed to high schoolers who had limited or no reps this fall due to the pandemic. Staffs simply never got the chance to see them play in person.
"If it is a borderline recruit for us, we'd rather take a transfer who we know can cut it physically at the college level," said one staffer. Read more about the transfer situation here.
Another limiting factor was money. While all 2020 seniors have been granted the ability to come back to school for a bonus year and not count against the scholarship maximum of 85 due to the pandemic, many schools in the Group of Five and even some in the Power Five are unwilling to fund scholarships above and beyond the normal 85 max. That means that many schools will be playing at 85, and if they accept some bonus seniors back for 2021, that self-imposed cap limited the number of high school players they could sign.