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Early Signing Period For College Football Shelved
Although the issue may not be dead, it has been shelved. The Collegiate Commissioners Association has decided to put off the issue of an early signing period for college football.
In fact, it seems there was "early consensus support" for the early signing period, according to Mid-Atlantic Conference commissioner Jon Steinbracher. However, it has been decided that the talks would be postponed and reconsidered at next year's meeting in June 2016.
The proposed change, as is currently being discussed, would allow the recruits who wish to to go ahead and sign their national letters of intent during a three-day signing period in December. The change could keep recruits from further "bombardment" of contacts and calls, as well as leave the various college programs more time to deal with the undecideds.
The current signing period is about two months later, beginning on Wednesday of the first week of February. Currently, football is one of three collegiate sports that do not have an early signing period. The other two are water polo and men's and women's soccer.
Though the Southeastern Conference has been opposed to the early signing period as presented, the conference would support an early signing period to begin the Monday after Thanksgiving. Supporting the December signing period were the American, MAC, Conference USA, Pac-12, and the Sun Belt conferences.
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Bama Football Loses Two Players
Alabama football lost two players on Wednesday. Freshman running back DeSherrius Flowers has been ruled ineligible "due to a recently discovered initial ineligibility issue" as reported by AL.com. Privacy laws prevent UA officials from commenting further. It could be said only that Flowers was not going to be cleared to enroll in the fall.
Flowers was an early enrollee and had begun practicing with the team, even participating in spring drills. He was even receiving some praise from coaches and players alike.
Multiple reports are now surfacing that Flowers will be transferring to a junior college, though no particular school has been named.
According to 247Sports, the 4-star prospect was ranked as the fifteenth best running back in the country.
Flowers departure leaves an already depleted running back corp even more so. Bama still has Derrick Henry, Bo Scarbrough, Kenyan Drake, and true freshman Damien Harris. However, Drake is recovering from an ACL injury (but showing great improvement), as is Scarbrough.
In addition to Flowers, Bama is without the services of defensive back Jonathan Cook . According to head football coach Nick Saban, Cook is "no longer a member of the team." AL.com reported that Cook was dismissed from the team via a telephone call from Saban yesterday.
AL.com is also reporting that they had a conversation with Jonathan's mother, Melissa. She reportedly told them that "her son had some issues off of the field, but none was of the legal variety."
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The 1979 Alabama Football National Championship
The 11th National Championship in football for the University of Alabama came in 1979. This was the sixth and final national championship credited to head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.
The '79 Tide went undefeated in the regular season, finishing at 11-0-0, and winning the Southeastern Conference championship. Also, the Tide defeated a pair of Top-20 rivals during the regular season. Bama best the 18th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers 27-17, as well as the 14th-ranked Auburn Tigers 25-18.
The Crimson Tide then received an invitation to play the 6th-ranked Arkansas Razorback in the January 1, 1980 Sugar Bowl. Bama routed the Hogs 24-9 to finish the season at 12-0-0. The outstanding player of the game was Major Ogilvie.
