Grad rates high for tonight's bowl teams ...

Compared to those of many other college football teams, the NCAA graduation rates (officially known as the Graduation Success Rate, or GSR) for both of tonight's bowl teams are fairly high. (See my previous posts on this issue, too.)

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl --
   GSRs: TCU, 78; Louisiana Tech, 75

A few things to keep in mind: The NCAA's GSR measure looks at the percentage of players who earned a degree within six years of entering college. The latest data is for those who entered college in 2004, so it's a somewhat dated measure, reflecting how well those students performed academically -- as measure solely by whether they earned degrees or not -- over the past six years. So if a particular college program decided this year to improve the academic success of its players, we wouldn't see results, as measured this way, until six years later. Of course, the opposite of that is true too -- if a program began dropping the ball, so to speak, on working hard to ensure that their players earned degrees, we wouldn't know about it for many years. It's important to note, too, that the GSR calculation doesn't penalize schools for students who, while in good academic standing, leave the program, perhaps to transfer to another school or maybe even go to the NFL before earning their degree. The NCAA makes GSR data available by school and by conference in a searchable database. And see a rather rosy-sounding NCAA news release, too, covering GSRs for all sports.

Graduation rates for football bowl teams ...

A couple of months ago, the NCAA released updated graduation rates for college football players, and I provided those figures for schools in the BCS rankings in a November 6 post. Now that bowl games are underway, I thought it would be interesting to provide the graduation rate -- officially known as the Graduation Success Rate, or GSR -- for each school in each bowl match-up. I'm starting a little late on this, because some bowl games have already been played, so I've added GSRs for those teams too. Check back, too -- I'll post the GSRs for teams that play in each day's bowl games.

Tonight's game (December 20)

Beef  O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl --
GSRs: Florida International 43, Marshall 77

Games already played (December 17)

Gildan New Mexico Bowl --
GSRs: Temple 60, Wyoming 64
  (Game result: Temple 37, Wyoming 15)

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl --
GSRs:  Ohio 71, Utah State 77
  (Game result:  Ohio 24, Utah State 23)

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl --
GSRs San Diego State 56, Louisiana-Lafayette 56
  (Game result: San Diego State 30, Louisiana-Lafayette 32

A few things to keep in mind:  The NCAA's GSR measure looks at the percentage of players who earned a degree within six years of entering college. The latest data is for those who entered college in 2004, so it's a somewhat dated measure, reflecting how well those students performed academically -- as measure solely by whether they earned degrees or not -- over the past six years. So if a particular college program decided this year to improve the academic success of its players, we wouldn't see results, as measured this way, until six years later. Of course, the opposite of that is true too -- if a program began dropping the ball, so to speak, on working hard to ensure that their players earned degrees, we wouldn't know about it for many years. It's important to note, too, that the GSR calculation doesn't penalize schools for students who, while in good academic standing, leave the program, perhaps to transfer to another school or maybe even go to the NFL before earning their degree. The NCAA makes GSR data available by school and by conference in a searchable database. And see a rather rosy-sounding NCAA news release, too, covering GSRs for all sports.

The $2,000 stipend suspended, for now ...

Remember that new NCAA provision adopted in November that would allow Division I athletic conferences to allow their institutions to give an additional $2,000 to some scholarship athletes to cover some of their incidental college expenses? Well, not so fast. After 125 schools by December 15 had requested an override of the new rule, the NCAA decided to suspend it at least until the NCAA Board of Governors meets in mid-January, when changes could be made in it. In general, the schools requested the override based on one or more of these factors -- the speed at which the new rule came about, concerns about its effect on fair competition, concerns about implementation in all sports, and concerns about the effect on activities related to Title IX (the 1972 federal law prohibiting any form of gender-based discrimination in any educational activity -- including athletics -- at institutions receiving federal funds).

Football recruiting "dead" period approaches ...

The college football recruiting process requires college coaches to follow certain rules and regulations designating when and how they can contact potential recruits. For example, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Division I football recruiting calendar establishes a "dead" period beginning December 19, 2011 and continuing through January 3, 2012. During this period, "a college coach may not have any in-person contact" with a prospective recruit or his parents on or off campus at any time, according to the NCAA. However, "the coach may write and telephone" a prospective recruit or his parents during this period.

Sorting out the NCAA's "dead" period for recruiting, as well as other designated periods for evaluating players and contacting players, can be confusing. Although complying with these recruiting rules and regulations is primarily the concern of the coaches who are doing the recruiting, potential recruits and their parents might want to be aware of them so that they know when coaches can or can't make contact -- and just how they can make contact -- on certain dates.

Fortunately, the NCAA makes available online definitions for each of these types of recruiting periods, as well as a Division I football recruiting calendar and a Division II football recruiting calendar.

Much more information about the college football recruiting process is available in the book Beyond Friday Nights: College Football Recruiting for Players and Parents. 

The Redshirt, Greenshirt, and Grayshirt ...

High school football players interested in playing college football might be confronted with the words "redshirt," "grayshirt," and "greenshirt." These terms refer to player recruiting and player development strategies used by many colleges in recruiting for football.

NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) rules allow a college football player five years to complete his four seasons of eligibility. That fifth year in which the player doesn't compete on the field, although he practices and receives his scholarship just as any other player on a football scholarship, is called the redshirt year. Usually, new recruits are redshirted their freshman year because they tend to need more time to develop as college players who can contribute to the success of the team. A freshman player who plays in games during his first year on campus (he isn't redshirted) will have only three additional years to play, but a freshman who doesn't play in games during his first year in college (he's redshirted) will still have four more years of playing eligibility after that first year.

A high school player receives a greenshirt or is "greenshirted" when he graduates early from high school, foregoing his spring semester there so that he can enroll in college during that spring semester. Almost unheard of until recent years, the greenshirt allows high school players to participate in spring practice with his college team, develop his football skills and understanding of the team's system during the spring and summer, and possibly begin playing in games the following fall. This system gives a player and the college team an early start on preparing to play football in college, but comes at the cost of leaving high school early, which might or might not be the best long-term strategy for a student.

A player gets a grayshirt or is "grayshirted" when he signs a letter of intent on signing day in February, but doesn't enter college full-time until the following spring instead of the following fall. He doesn't receive a scholarship, practice with the team, or take a full-time load of college courses until his spring enrollment. Grayshirting a player allows a college to sign a player, but delay his play in games for another year. In effect, grayshirting gives a player another year of practice before play, since the NCAA-mandated five-year eligibility period doesn't begin until a student is enrolled full-time. College programs that have already awarded near the maximum number of scholarships allowed under NCAA rules are forced to sign a small recruiting class, and they are the most interested in players who are willing to grayshirt.

Football recruiting tip: the full-game high school video

A highlight tape -- showing a high school football player's most dominating performances during one of his high school games -- is a good way to show college football coaches what a potential football recruit can do on the field. Whether posted on YouTube, with the link sent to those college coaches, or burned to a DVD that is mailed to them, or made available some through another method, it can be a good way to get their interest. But if college coaches become really interested in a high school player, they'll soon want a video showing one of his entire ghigh school football games. Think of it this way – if your highlight video has 25 of your best plays, that suggests that you played really well in only about two or three plays per game. So sooner or later, college coaches will want to see how you played during an entire game, and a full-game video is the only way for them to do that. Of course, if you want to play only as a punter or a kicker in college, or perhaps only as a deep snapper, punt returner, or kick returner, you could get by with a video showing every punt or kick in which you participated. But for players at every other position, video of entire game is something that college coaches will want to evaluate before offering a scholarship.

Football recruiting tip: study team rosters

If you’re not one of the few top high school football players in the nation at your position, do you still have a chance to become part of a college football team? Of course you do. You simply have do a little more to sort out which college football programs might be interested in you, and you probably have to work a little harder to grab a college coach’s attention. Here's one tip:

Study the rosters of college football teams to identify their needs for players at your position. On their official websites, almost all college football programs post a list of every member of their team. Usually, additional information – such as position, height, and weight, and classification (freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior) for each player – are provided as well.  So with a little study, it's easy to figure out how many players they have at each position and how many of them are juniors and seniors. If most of them are such upperclassmen, there’s a better chance that they’ll be looking for new recruits at those positions. Any high school football player who sees such a potential opening should send the college's head coach or recruiting coordinator a letter (look for addresses on the football program's website) providing contact information; height, weight, and speed; awards or other recognition received; and other relevant information.