Fighton247 Board

It would be simplest to say no recruit or their family on the USC forum.
Reason given: NCAA guidelines forbid interaction between a recruit, their family & the fans on this board.

Anything short of the above will IMO lead to NCAA violations as they are written now.

I respectivly disagree. Fans have not been involved in the recruiting process for decades, unless of course, we are talking those certain fans that seek to intentionally interject themselves into the process.

Those overzealous or fringe element fans are typically not going to abide by the rules regardless. But they are an exceptional minority of the total fan base.

Leave the recruiting to the Coaching Staff. They know what they are doing. They don't need our help. And they certainly don't want us fans interfering with the behind-the-scenes strategy that coaching staffs employ to land certain recruits, or to manipulate and deceive others, to the advantage of their University.

The NCAA does not want the Fans involved in Recruiting.
The Coaching Staff does not want the Fans involved in Recruiting.

So, why do the fans feel so compelled to go against the grain, and defy the wishes of the very institution they claim to support?

So when a football player does good at a high school, no one in his community who is a fan of a college tells him they should go to that college?

You're telling me that in Texas or in the South, where the fans are rabid, and college football is life, no one generally tells them where they should go?

To illustrate how ridiculous this all is, a few hours ago someone posted a topic about Max Browne being at USC, and said that they said hi and welcome to the Trojan family. Doing that is a recruiting violation according to this BS, and I guess that thread was deleted. So if you are a fan, alumni, or booster, making a recruit who has already committed feel welcome is against the rules. This is absolutely ridiculous, and I bet that in the recruitment of every single 4 or 5 star player EVER, that rule has always been broken.

The rule, of course, is unenforceable over the Internet and has a lot of gray areas, but this is beyond the point. What is important is that USC has to do everything it can do to prevent violations and, barring that, at least have something to show the NCAA for its efforts.

If there's one thing to remember when dealing with the NCAA, it's the fact that the NCAA is very much about appearances and very little about substances. Even if there is no substance to this USC announcement it's the appearance that matters to the NCAA. Sadly, one of the few ways to beat the NCAA is to play their game.

As ridiculous and stupid as the whole Dillon Baxter story was it sends the message that USC is serious about compliance. This email from USC isn't that much different.

So then it IS OK for fans to talk to recruits, so long as they don't mention the athletics program or assist in recruitment. But really that could be twisted any way the NCAA wants; having a conversation trying to make a recruit feel welcome could be considered assisting in recruiting since making a recruit feel welcome when they're on campus is part of what the staff wants when they're recruiting someone. Also telling someone they're part of the Trojan family could be considered recruiting because that is promoting the sense of family and unity that exists when you're part of USC or the football team.

And what about this:
"DO NOT CONVERSE IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM WITH A RECRUIT OR A RELATIVE OF THE RECRUIT."

So I guess that's not true now?

The point is, this is all so ridiculous because it happens all the time and is completely unenforceable.

Of course it's ridiculous.

But you are missing a key point-
throughout history, until very recently, when every 4 and 5 star recruit was being welcomed onto every campus in America with these rules being violated in the process, THERE WASN'T A PERMANENT TRAIL ON THE FUCKING INTERNET THAT SHOWED ALL OF THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN FANS AND RECRUITS' FAMILIES!

AND USC WASN'T ON PROBATION AFTER GETTING HAMMERED WITH SANCTIONS WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE IN THE NCAA WANTING TO KILL THE PROGRAM FOR GOOD!

It's a brave new world, and all fans need to act accordingly. That means playing the NCAA's game, because we've seen what happens when a school doesn't.