Every team gets 25 Initial Counters per Academic Cycle
What is a Blue Shirt?
What about the impact of the new NCAA Counter rule?
The new NCAA rule is that a team can get an extra counter (up to 7) for every Portal entrant a team loses AFTER December 15, 2021 and is academically eligible at their new school. As of right now we have 2 transfers (Diabate and Gamble) who look to have already met the criteria. By my tracking we have 24 annual counters (25 minus Tyrone Truesdell Blue Shirt), plus the 2 who look to have met the relief requirement. Given that we will be going through a cultural change it's extremely likely we will have more than 7 Portal entrants after 12/15, perhaps significantly more. So, given that environment it's fair to say we likely have 31 counters to use.
How do you know UF has 24 counters instead of 25 in this cycle?
Quite a few years back the numbers of counters available at UF was leaked. In fact someone had taken a picture of a chalkboard in one of the Coaching office meeting rooms. Once you know a definitive amount at any point of time it's easy to track from that point forward
Are there limitations on these 7 extra counters?
It's not clear how one goes about getting them awarded, but the general thought is once they are awarded they have to be used for other portal players and not recruits in the current or future class. I also believe that they are not likely to be allowed to be carried over (portal players in the next cycle). Once these new counters are awarded you will see UGA and Bama (and other top programs) become even more active in the Portal, that's why it was important for UF to take as many top players from the Portal early as they could. Kudos to Napier and the Administration for allowing as many as 3 early enrollees AFTER the Drop/Add date. I'm not aware of that ever happening in the past. Another sign that everyone is on the same page with the program turnaround. UGA signed a large Early Signing Day because so many top players wanted to sign with them that it has limited their early action in the Portal. That will change shortly as they are awarded counters for Kimber (UF), J.Robertson (Miss St) and several others as they meet the criteria. Bama held back some on Early Signing Day to make sure they room for guys like Ricks and Gibbs. They will also be active again soon.
Will UF use all 31 counters?
That's where the 85 man limit comes into play.
After you remove the guys who have entered the Portal, I have 67 scholarship guys with eligibility returning. I don't count Marco Ortiz (1 yr scholarship).
67 +
9 Early Signees +
4 announced transfers in +
3 commitments (Etienne, Farmer, M.Mitchell) +
2 possible imminent transfers in Javon Baker, O'Cyrus Torrence
6 more late signees (Douglas, Boardingham, Winston, C.Story/J.Jenkins, M. McCoy, +1 type)
=91 for Fall 2022
- 9 (I'm going to assume at least 9 more transfer out/medically disqualify between now and the Fall)
=82
Leaves room for 3 more transfers (mostly DL)
The scenario above has UF using 27 counters (9+4+3+2+6+3).
To use all 31, we will need 13 transfers out/medically disqualified. Sure would be nice to have 7 (3 DL, another OL, LB, 2 best available) more transfer spots instead of 3.
Even though several players stuck with the team despite having intentions of leaving, I would not infer from that the staff doesn't want some players to leave. I think they will still want that but not until after Spring when both sides know each other a little better.
Feel free to ask Initial Counters questions
- Additions (High School, JUCO, Transfer) to the scholarship list count as an Initial Counter.
- These additions are also not counted as an 'Initial Counter' until they enroll. So if they don't qualify or get released from their LOI before enrolling it doesnt count as an initial counter
- If they leave the day after enrolling it still counts as an initial counter
- If a player leaves and then comes back, they only count as 1 initial counter (no double counting)
- Players who have been walk-ons (paying their own way) for at least 24 months and then granted a scholarship do not count as an initial counter
- Counters not used in 1 cycle can be carried-over to the next cycle
- To go above the annual allotment of initial counters can only be done so if the player is a Blue Shirt. A Blue Shirt utilizes a counter from the upcoming cycle since the current cycle has exhausted its 25.
What is a Blue Shirt?
- It is an unrecruited athlete for that school: No Home visits with that school, No Official Visit with that school, No LOI
- A Recruit can only enroll as a blue shirt when all other initial counters in that cycle have enrolled, which means they will typically have to wait until the Fall (unless the whole class early enrolls)
- Much easier to do with a Transfer, because they are easier to be "unrecruited"
What about the impact of the new NCAA Counter rule?
The new NCAA rule is that a team can get an extra counter (up to 7) for every Portal entrant a team loses AFTER December 15, 2021 and is academically eligible at their new school. As of right now we have 2 transfers (Diabate and Gamble) who look to have already met the criteria. By my tracking we have 24 annual counters (25 minus Tyrone Truesdell Blue Shirt), plus the 2 who look to have met the relief requirement. Given that we will be going through a cultural change it's extremely likely we will have more than 7 Portal entrants after 12/15, perhaps significantly more. So, given that environment it's fair to say we likely have 31 counters to use.
How do you know UF has 24 counters instead of 25 in this cycle?
Quite a few years back the numbers of counters available at UF was leaked. In fact someone had taken a picture of a chalkboard in one of the Coaching office meeting rooms. Once you know a definitive amount at any point of time it's easy to track from that point forward
Are there limitations on these 7 extra counters?
It's not clear how one goes about getting them awarded, but the general thought is once they are awarded they have to be used for other portal players and not recruits in the current or future class. I also believe that they are not likely to be allowed to be carried over (portal players in the next cycle). Once these new counters are awarded you will see UGA and Bama (and other top programs) become even more active in the Portal, that's why it was important for UF to take as many top players from the Portal early as they could. Kudos to Napier and the Administration for allowing as many as 3 early enrollees AFTER the Drop/Add date. I'm not aware of that ever happening in the past. Another sign that everyone is on the same page with the program turnaround. UGA signed a large Early Signing Day because so many top players wanted to sign with them that it has limited their early action in the Portal. That will change shortly as they are awarded counters for Kimber (UF), J.Robertson (Miss St) and several others as they meet the criteria. Bama held back some on Early Signing Day to make sure they room for guys like Ricks and Gibbs. They will also be active again soon.
Will UF use all 31 counters?
That's where the 85 man limit comes into play.
After you remove the guys who have entered the Portal, I have 67 scholarship guys with eligibility returning. I don't count Marco Ortiz (1 yr scholarship).
67 +
9 Early Signees +
4 announced transfers in +
3 commitments (Etienne, Farmer, M.Mitchell) +
2 possible imminent transfers in Javon Baker, O'Cyrus Torrence
6 more late signees (Douglas, Boardingham, Winston, C.Story/J.Jenkins, M. McCoy, +1 type)
=91 for Fall 2022
- 9 (I'm going to assume at least 9 more transfer out/medically disqualify between now and the Fall)
=82
Leaves room for 3 more transfers (mostly DL)
The scenario above has UF using 27 counters (9+4+3+2+6+3).
To use all 31, we will need 13 transfers out/medically disqualified. Sure would be nice to have 7 (3 DL, another OL, LB, 2 best available) more transfer spots instead of 3.
Even though several players stuck with the team despite having intentions of leaving, I would not infer from that the staff doesn't want some players to leave. I think they will still want that but not until after Spring when both sides know each other a little better.
Feel free to ask Initial Counters questions
Last edited:
