The LSU football program is being sanctioned by the Southeastern Conference for a violation it may not have actually committed. The SEC has banned LSU from signing early enrollee recruits/verbal commits to financial aid agreements for the next two years. The Tigers have also been stripped of ten percent of their in-person evaluation days for 2015.
Matt Womack, an offensive tackle from Mississippi, signed financial aid papers for LSU with the intent of graduating high school in December and enrolling in Baton Rouge in January. A handful of high school football players execute this plan every year. If they have the credits to graduate high school early and get to college six months before other incoming freshman, they have a jump on the adjustment to college life as well as getting an early start on working with the football program. Since both sides have signed the agreement, it also allows the university unlimited contact to the player leading up to his enrollment. Once Womack signed the agreement, LSU was no longer held to NCAA mandated contact limitations. However, unlike the letter of intent that most high school players sign that first Wednesday in February, the financial aid agreements do not bind the player to that particular school.
Therein lies the rub for LSU. Womack reportedly signed financial aid agreements with multiple schools, and then decided not to go to LSU at all. He instead signed his binding letter of intent with Alabama. Since he did not enroll at Louisiana State University, all of that extra contact the Tigers coaching staff had with him over the last few months has now retroactively been deemed to be in excess of NCAA allowances.
The NCAA, and in this case the SEC, don’t want coaching staffs to sign players to financial agreements instead of LOIs for the purposes of gaining unrestricted access to them. Womack’s father provided testimony to the SEC that he did not believe LSU used the financial aid agreement to contact his son on an unlimited basis. Still, this is the SEC where coaches routinely find the smallest loopholes in the rules and drive a massive truck through them. So, whether LSU knew in advance that Womack would never actually sign with them or not, they now have to pay the price for the young man’s decision.
The Tigers are now prohibited from using this early committal arrangement through the end of the 2016 season, putting them at a significant disadvantage compared to other conference schools. Players who graduate high school early can still enroll at LSU, but they cannot be offered financial aid agreements for that early attendance period. LSU will also lose 21 of its recruiting evaluation days for 2015, where coaches are allowed to travel to meet with prospects at their high schools and watch them play in person.
The LSU athletic department issued a statement this week, saying that since the athlete in question never signed with the Tigers, they would have no comment on the circumstances or the penalties handed down by the SEC.
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