Your post is the first time I've ever seen anything about a "new rule" that puts a hard cap on how many early (midyear) enrolles can "backcount" against unused prior-cycle spots. Can you provide a link or copy of the "new rule" itself showing that's true? I'm certain that Bama backcounted more than 2 in the 2019 recruiting cycle. So unless it's a very new rule that became effective for the 2020 cycle, I doubt there's a direct arbitrary hard cap of 2.

The major "new rule" which became effective for the 2018 recruiting cycle was the addition of a new limit of 25 signed NLOIs and aid agreements per academic year, which count toward the 25 signings limit for the academic year in which the aid is initially provided (not the date of the signing itself) -- which, generally speaking, is consistent with the previously existing rules specifying that a player becomes an initial counter toward an academic year's 25 inital counters limit based on when the aid is "received for the first time" (initially provided).

Generally speaking, the signings limit rule does support pre-existing initial counter exception rules, including grayshirting and backcounting midyear replacement early enrollees against the current academic year's (prior cycle's) unused 25-limit spots, but it does not support blueshirting because it states that all aid agreements stipulating the aid is initially provided for the fall term must count toward that current academic year's 25 signings limit, and it has no exception that aligns with the "blueshirt" exception for nonrecruited players that allows for counting them against the next academic year's initial counters limit. That's why schools can't and don't blueshirt players anymore. Anyone saying they can and do is incorrect. Blueshirting cannot be done anymore for nonrecruited HS players nor for nonrecruited transfers.

There's also no provision for a school to get the signing limit spot back (to use for another player) if a player fails to qualify academically. But that player won't have to be counted again toward another academic year's signings limit if/when he transfers to and enrolls at that same college after graduating from juco.

This post was edited on 1/14/20 at 11:25 pm