It seems like every year Shaw's given a scholie to at least one deserving walk-on, which is a nice incentive in itself. But if we are truly going into next year with only 76 or 77 scholies that seems to be just negligence ----- or at best a very, very sad reality.
It's easy to argue that the last 8 or 9 guys might never see the field, but it's just as easy to point to how injuries and various retirements have also contributed to lack of depth. You can't predict those types of things at the individual level, but you can perhaps plan team numbers better to deal with them. Y'know -- "plan for the worst, hope for the best." Attrition will happen.
The one variable that is totally under our control is which 5th year players will be invited back. I think we got caught assuming some would want to come back, and they didn't. Which begs the question about our whole 5-yr strategy, which historically has been redshirt the first year and then count on 4 more years after that. The combination of leaving for the NFL early and also 5th year players we would like to keep but who would rather move on is testing that philosophy.
It's easy to argue that the last 8 or 9 guys might never see the field, but it's just as easy to point to how injuries and various retirements have also contributed to lack of depth. You can't predict those types of things at the individual level, but you can perhaps plan team numbers better to deal with them. Y'know -- "plan for the worst, hope for the best." Attrition will happen.
The one variable that is totally under our control is which 5th year players will be invited back. I think we got caught assuming some would want to come back, and they didn't. Which begs the question about our whole 5-yr strategy, which historically has been redshirt the first year and then count on 4 more years after that. The combination of leaving for the NFL early and also 5th year players we would like to keep but who would rather move on is testing that philosophy.