Dukes412 wrote:

Has there ever been an instance where a player might have gotten an academic scholarship over an athletic scholarship. I’m sure this would alleviate any coach’s pressure with a scholarship restraint. Sorry if it’s a dumb question and I’m also not indicating by any means that DUQ should do this if they were over the limit.

Not a dumb question at all, but one that I already addressed before this thread got personal. If a student is recruited for athletics, even if they get an academic scholarship it still counts against the limit. The NCAA does that to prevent the exact hypothetical you mentioned.

duq81 wrote:

The link CLK posted earlier explains it. basically, a player would have to be an academic star to qualify for something like that. Very high grades, high SAT score etc. You couldn't just put an average player on academic scholarship.
 

Even then the player would count towards the scholarship limit. Quoting directly from CLK's link:
"Counters are student-athletes who are included in the maximum award limitations of their sport if the following applies:
In football or basketball, the student-athlete is recruited and is receiving institutional financial aid granted without regard to athletics ability, but participates in varsity competition."

duq81 wrote:

The key word is "recruited". If he's not recruited, then he won't count. What's the definition of recruited though? 

A prospect is considered to be recruited once any of the following happens: a member of the coaching staff meets them anywhere off-campus, the prospect takes an official visit, or a written scholarship offer is made. The only one that could have possibly not qualified would have been Bekelja. He talked about phone calls, but never mentioned meeting with coaches. He planned on taking an official visit, but never did partially because of the outbreak. By sending him an LOI letter any doubt was removed though. All five will count against the scholarship limit.