Eric addressed a question about how other programs seem to bring in 25+ per cycle, and what impact grayshirting had:
"As far as the grayshirt practice, ND hasn't used it and it's risky for the player. It doesn't work will within ND's structure. You're asking a player to pay his own way for a semester, then go on scholarship for winter semester.
At ND that's a much larger cost than at most other schools. And there's no binding commitment from ND's standpoint (or any other school's) to honor the grayshirt commitment.
Other schools can also get away with running off players for reasons unrelated to disciplinary issues. BK would get skewered for doing that.
It's just not a great way to feed a program if you're ND."
I can't believe this practice remains legal. It seems to be a huge competitive advantage for other programs.
Greyshirting plus Juco's plus running off recruiting mistakes sums up Saban's success, especially in his early years. Once he started winning NC's, top talent followed with very little efffort. I think Dabo has done a much better job all around, including coaching. Saban used same tactics at LSU and Les Miles contiunued the practice except he couldn't get a to QB. When Bama played LSU in the NC game, there were 34 players on both rosters (18 for LSU and 16 for UA) that were not part of their official recruiting classes. Bama had 9 on medical scholarships. We had 1 and Michigan had none as way of comparison.
BK could have been help immensely by being able to do the same things, especially in 2016 when we needed to "import" defensive help. 3-4 DB's and 2 LB's and 3 linemen would have done it. I can probably get agreement on my suggestions who should have been dropped from the 2016 squad to make room.
Barely more than a preferred walk-on. Just a convenient way to always have 85. How good do you think these guys are?