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I honestly can see Harbaugh and Meyer using recruits as pawns to meddle with each other. If schools start attempting to use this as an advantage, imagine what that could do to college football. It needs to be changed, yyou're trying to close the deal. If a kid signs a FAA, you dont have a reason to think that they're not gonna sign a LOI and enroll. Not if you're a good recruiter.

Y'all are getting hit with the "Josh Malone Rule." Back when we recruited Malone was the first year for FAA's. Josh signed papers with us and Clemson and for some reason Clemson chose to announce that they had an FAA. This brought a lot of attention to the issue and people started wondering what would happen when Malone chose a school. Long story short, Malone signed with Tennessee and nothing happened to Clemson but the FAA rule was sent to be reviewed to prevent kids from signing multiple FAAs. An FAA means a school can have as much contact as they want (normal recruiting rules don't apply) but they are bound to honor the scholarship no matter what happens. The NCAA clarified that yes, even if you lose you still have to honor that scholarship because you gave it away with the FAA - again it's to prevent a kid signing FAAs with 5-6 schools and subverting the recruiting rules.

It punishes schools that lose out but it's meant to prevent FAAs from becoming common. They're really only meant for special cases like with Malone who was an in-state kid likely going to an in-state school.