Earlier today I was listening to a sports radio host in the upstate of SC try to convince his listeners that Florida State should let Matthew Thomas out of his LOI. The reason I had not blogged on this before is because the idea of letting a kid out of their LOI seemed so absurd, that it wasn’t even worth commenting on. That is until today when I realized there were people that actually thought this might not be a bad idea.
Coincidentally today Matthew Thomas decided to go ahead and attend Florida State. Notre Dame has their own commitment defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes trying to get out of LOI. I applaud Florida State and Notre Dame for standing firm and not allowing these athletes out of their commitments. Look I understand these are 17 and 18 year old kids making the biggest decision of their young lives, but barring the most extreme circumstances you can’t let them out of their commitments.
When I say extreme… I mean extreme. I’m talking you are moving 1,000 miles from your home and your single mother of 5 dies and someone must take of your 4 brothers and sisters. In fact the rules for hardship waiver of such a case need to be stricter and even more difficult than the hardship waiver for transfers wishing to not sit out a year.
It can sound a little a harsh, but consider the alternative. Had Florida State or Notre Dame released their commitment, an absolute Pandora’s Box of chaos would ensue. Players would still be recruited by other schools. I’m looking at you Lane Kiffen. Schools trying to work within scholarship limits would be handcuffed. Disgruntled players could extend this to the transfers and challenge those hardships rules.
The kids and their families have months if not years to make this decision. At some point it has to binding.
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