How many can Tennessee sign?

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Back counting

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Initial counters are capped at 25. Tennessee is going to back count 5 to last class, and will count 25 in this class. This much is, I believe, readily accepted and known.

But what is an "initial counter." Counters are normally any student-athlete who receives an athletic scholarship, partial or full. But in sports like football and basketball, counters also include any student-athlete who was recruited and who receives financial aid from the school. This is to prevent abuse by schools who might have "walk-ons" who were recruited then given "non-athletic" scholarships from the financial aid office.

So what is a recruited athlete? A recruited athlete is someone who takes an official visit to the campus, has in-person contact with a coach off-campus, or receives a National Letter of Intent or other written athletic scholarship offer. However, the following will not result in the NCAA considering a prospect a "recruited athlete": Coaches can evaluate prospects any number of times. Coaches can call prospects any number of times. Prospects can take unlimited unofficial visits to the campus. Coaches can make verbal scholarship offers to prospects. None of this would result in the athlete being "recruited."

Athletes who are not "recruited" can receive non-athletically related aid without restriction. I don't know if any of the commits can get any academic scholarships or other forms of aid, but I played a D1 sport on a full academic scholarship (actually got paid after all expenses) from the Lottery Scholarship and University Scholarship and no athletic scholarship. Who knows, with the increased cooperation between the athletic department and academics...

Another way, which I believe is the more likely way.

In football, an athlete generally counts as an initial counter in the academic year he first receives an athletic scholarship. The biggest exception is for midyear enrollees, where the school typically has some flexibility to push the initial counter back to the previous year. But there is a rarer exception that could help athletes enrolling at any time.


An athlete can be put on scholarship and not be counted as an initial counter until the following year if: He was not recruited(defined earlier) and he signs the scholarship after the start of fall practice.



The athlete would count against the limit of 85 overall scholarships that year. But he would not count against the 25 initial counters until the following year. Maybe this is why some guys are signing the financial aid agreements?



I would pay attention to any guys who don't take official visits.

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15.5.6.3.4 Nonrecruited Student-Athlete Receiving Institutional Financial Aid. [FBS/FCS] A student-athlete not recruited (per Bylaw 15.02.8) by the institution who receives institutional financial aid (based in any degree on athletics ability) after beginning football practice becomes a counter but need not be counted as an initial counter until the next academic year if the institution has reached its initial limit for the year in question. However, the student-athlete shall be considered in the total counter limit for the academic year in which the aid was first received. (Revised: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)The question then becomes "How does Bylaw 15.02.8 define a recruited student athlete?" Here's what it says:

15.02.8 Recruited Student-Athlete. For purposes of Bylaw 15, a recruited student-athlete is a student athlete who, as a prospective student-athlete: (Adopted: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)

(a) Was provided an official visit to the institution's campus;

(b) Had an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with a member of the institution's coaching staff (including a coach's arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete's parents, relatives or legal guardians); or

(c) Was issued a National Letter of Intent or a written offer of athletically related financial aid by the institution for a regular academic term.


It may be important to note here that this definition was only added to Article 15 - Financial Aid in 2011. A definition already existed and is still included in Article 13 - Recruiting which appears to be much broader. Here's what it says.

13.02.13 Recruiting. Recruiting is any solicitation of a prospective student-athlete or a prospective student athlete's relatives (or legal guardians) by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution's athletics interests for the purpose of securing the prospective student-athlete's enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution's intercollegiate athletics program.



13.02.13.1 Recruited Prospective Student-Athlete. Actions by staff members or athletics representatives that cause a prospective student-athlete to become a recruited prospective student-athlete at that institution are: (Revised: 1/10/90, 1/11/94 effective 8/1/94, 1/10/05 effective 8/01/05)

(a) Providing the prospective student-athlete with an official visit; (Adopted: 1/11/94 effective 8/1/94)

(b) Having an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the prospective student-athlete or the prospective student-athlete's parents, relatives or legal guardians; (Adopted: 1/11/94 effective 8/1/94)

(c) Initiating or arranging a telephone contact with the prospective student-athlete, the prospective student athlete's relatives or legal guardians on more than one occasion for the purpose of recruitment; or (Revised: 1/11/94 effective 8/1/94)

(d) Issuing a National Letter of Intent or the institution's written offer of athletically related financial aid to the prospective student-athlete. Issuing a written offer of athletically related financial aid to a prospective student-athlete to attend a summer session prior to full-time enrollment does not cause the prospective student-athlete to become recruited. (Adopted: 1/10/05 effective 8/1/05, Revised: 12/13/05)


The exclusion of language similar to 13.02.13 and item c) under 13.02.13.1 when determining what defines a recruited student athlete for the purposes of counter status seems significant. It appears as though an extremely carefully run recruitment with some understanding and participation by the prospect could potentially keep said prospect from being classified as a recruited student athlete under the 15.02.8 definition, thus delaying their initial counter status under 15.5.6.3.4.

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