Former Alabama football players say the school's No. 1-ranked football program has tried to gain a competitive edge by encouraging some underperforming players to quit the team for medical reasons, even in cases where the players are still healthy enough to play.

At least 12 times since coach Nick Saban took over the program in 2007, Alabama has offered players a "medical" scholarship, according to public statements made by the team. These scholarships, which are allowed under NCAA rules, are intended to make sure scholarship athletes who are too injured to play don't lose their financial aid. A player who receives one of these scholarships is finished playing with that team.

Three Alabama players who've taken these exemptions say they believe the team uses the practice as a way to clear spots for better players by cutting players it no longer wants. These players said they believe Mr. Saban and his staff pressure some players to take these scholarships even though their injuries aren't serious enough to warrant keeping them off the field.

"I'm still kind of bitter," said former Alabama linebacker Chuck Kirschman, who took a medical scholarship last year. Mr. Kirschman said Mr. Saban encouraged him to accept the scholarship because of a back problem that he believes he could have played through. "It's a business," Mr. Kirschman said. "College football is all about politics. And this is a loophole in the system."

Alabama isn't the only school that has given players medical scholarships. Including the Crimson Tide, the 12 members of the Southeastern Conference have given at least 25 of these scholarships to football players in the past three years. Ultimately, it's the school's decision whether a player is healthy enough to play football.

In a statement, Doug Walker, the school's associate athletic director for media relations, said Alabama's first priority in these situations is always the health of its players. "Decisions about medical disqualifications for student-athletes are made by medical professionals and adhere to the parameters outlined by the NCAA…and the Southeastern Conference," he said in the statement.

The school added that the "process for medical disqualification is very similar from campus to campus across the country." Alabama said that student-athletes sign a medical-exemption certificate agreeing that they fully understand the conditions, that the diagnosis of the injury or illness clearly appears to be an incapacitating one, and that there's a "reasonable expectation" they'll never again be able to play.

An Alabama spokesman said the school won't discuss individual cases, citing health-privacy laws. Mr. Saban declined to comment.

How college-football teams manage their allotted number of players is a serious competitive issue in the sport. The 120 schools in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision, the sport's highest echelon, are limited to 85 scholarship athletes each. No more than 25 new signees are allowed to join a team in the fall. Because injuries are common, teams do whatever they can to make sure those spots are filled by the best athletes.

Because some players may fail to qualify academically, some teams take on more players than they have room for, to make sure they don't get caught short. The problem for teams comes when the numbers don't work out and the team winds up needing to make cuts.

Alabama, which won the national championship last season, is off to a dominating 3-0 start this year, including a blowout win over Penn State. The Crimson Tide play at No. 10 Arkansas Saturday in the weekend's most anticipated game.

The program is one of several in the SEC that have developed reputations for pushing roster limits. Since Mr. Saban took over as coach after a stint with the NFL's Miami Dolphins, Alabama has routinely had to trim its roster ahead of the season. Placing players on medical scholarships has helped it do so.

In some cases, the players who took these scholarships say they didn't feel pressured. Charles Hoke, a former Alabama offensive lineman who took a medical scholarship in 2008 because of a shoulder problem, said the choice was left entirely up to him and was based on the many conversations he had with the team's doctors and trainers over the course of his junior year.

Others who took these scholarships say they believe the school is violating the spirit of the rule. Mr. Kirschman, the linebacker, said he injured his back in April 2008 but continued practicing with the team through the spring of 2009. That May, he was approached by coaches and trainers and asked to take a medical scholarship.

"I wasn't playing significant minutes, but I was personally upset because I did anything coach asked, I was a team player, I had a 4.0 average," said Mr. Kirschman, who played in two career games, both in 2008, and is now working full time as a robot programmer at Mercedes.

Mr. Kirschman said the school offered in the summer of 2009 to pay for his graduate degree in business—an offer he accepted—and that he still gets some of the same perks as players. "I still get game tickets, which is nice," he says.

Mr. Kirschman said the decision to take the medical scholarship was ultimately his, and that he decided to do it to open up a scholarship for the good of the team. But he said he felt he was pressured. "It was pushed," he said. "It was instigated for several players."

In August 2009, Jeramie Griffin, a redshirt sophomore running back at Alabama, tore an anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during a practice—an injury that kept him out for that season. After undergoing surgery, he said, "I came back in the spring and I was OK."

Indeed, Mr. Griffin's bio on Alabama's official athletics website said he "looked strong in 2010 spring drills, just eight months off of surgery."

Mr. Griffin said that he was surprised last month when the football staff told him he had failed a physical. At that point, Mr. Griffin said, Mr. Saban sat him down and asked him what he wanted to do besides playing football. He said that Mr. Saban floated the possibility of a medical scholarship and asked if Mr. Griffin was interested in student coaching.

Mr. Griffin said he doesn't contest the results of the physical and said it was "basically my decision" to forgo the rest of his playing career.

Mr. Griffin said he has agreed to take a job as a student coach. He added that he felt less angry about being pushed to take the medical scholarship—which frees up roster space for the team—than he did about not living up to his potential.

"I felt like I could have played," he said.

Jim Tressel announced today that three walk-on players will be awarded with scholarships: Ricky Crawford, Chris Malone, and Scott Sika.

Sika has already graduated and will get an entire year of his graduate degree paid for by Ohio State. Crawford and Malone are set to graduate this year. Odds are that none of these guys see significant playing time, this is simply a reward for their dedication, hard-work, and character, and is the net result of Jim Tressel's recruiting philosophy, which is based on signing the number of kids you have room for on National Signing day and then awarding scholarships to walk-on players based on the shortfall between the number of guys signed and the 85 limit. We outlined this method of roster management a while back--the contrast to this style is to signed 26-28 recruits instead of 17 and instead of adding walk-on players to the scholarship roster you cut lesser performing or injured scholarship players to get down to 85.



In contrast, this is the polar opposite of the recruiting styles of coaches such as Nick Saban and Les Miles, who purposely sign at least 8-10 more players than they have room for and then get rid of whoever they have to get rid of via medical hardships, transfers to lesser schools, or just flat pulling a scholarship, like Les Miles did to Elliott Porter this year, in order to get down to 85 players by the NCAA deadline in August.

Tressel has had this philosophy since the beginning of his time at Ohio State and has never once oversigned a class and has awarded over 40 walk-on players with scholarships in his time at Ohio State. You have to admit that it is pretty remarkable how he has been able to keep Ohio State in the National Championship picture despite working against such a disadvantage in terms of the numbers. When you look at the numbers you see that Ohio State and Texas were very evenly matched in terms of numbers and the performance on the field against each other. USC is a little different story given that they are currently on probation because of recruiting violations. That leaves Florida, LSU, and Alabama, teams that have run through players at alarming rates, but who have also enjoyed a tremendous amount of success.

darbypitcher22;496091 wrote:kind of a shame that they do it that way; but then again I understand the cut throat nature of the business and the need to be competitive... I still don't condone what they're doing but there's nothing in the rulebook that says they can't do it

Only in the SEC...

TheMightyGators;496107 wrote:Good point, nothing in the rule book that says you can't do it. There is something the rule book about the maximum number of hours a team can practice each week. We won't name any teams breaking that rule though.

se-alum;496150 wrote:As much as I dislike most SEC teams, recruits and their families have to be held responsible for their decisions. If you're a marginal prospect, and you sign w/ Alabama, who's fault is it if you never get on the field?? I'm a big believer in sleeping in the bed you've made. If you decide to go to a school that you know is oversigning, don't be upset when you don't make the cut.

Tiernan;496330 wrote:I hope Arkansas puts some Alabama guys on legitimate "medical scholarships" today. I'd start with taking aim at a certain RB's left knee.

Speedofsand;496320 wrote:you Big10 homers got it all wrong. SEC signs more kids because more kids transfer voluntarily to get on the field somewhere else. Others turn pro early. The number of medical hardships is small compared to these reasons.

TheMightyGators;496342 wrote:And let's not kid ourselves here. Kids want to play in the SEC more than any other conference. It's a fact.

enigmaax;495810 wrote:Obviously these 20 year olds with serious injuries whose only dream may have been to play football know more than doctors and have no disappointment shading their spot-on medical diagnosis. Nick Saban is the devil and the SEC is hell and these couple of kids prove it. My god.