Satellite Camp Ban Rescinded In College Football

Earlier this month, Butch Jones was, at least judging by his comments to the local media, celebrating the decision to ban satellite camps in college football.

“We were prepared if it did go through, we had locations set up to be able to do that, but I still think at the end of the day, you need to get players to campus,” Jones said on April 11 following one of UT’s spring practices. “I’ve not been a proponent of satellite camps. Ironically we’ve spoken to many schools that have done the satellite camps, and quietly their assistant coaches were tired and wore out and didn’t approve of it.

“I thought a right decision was made there. For us, our camps are very important, but getting a young man to campus and having them experience Knoxville, that’s more important.”

Now it’s time for him to dust off those preparations, it appears.

The Division I Board of Directors rescinded the ban on “holding or working at camps and clinics away from their school,” which was adopted earlier this month by the Division I Council.

These camps or clinics, better known as satellite camps, have been made popular by Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, Penn State’s James Franklin and others, especially in the Big Ten and Pac 12, the two conference that have been vocally in favor of them. The SEC and ACC, meanwhile, led the charge against them, with several coaches such as Jones vocally approving of the decision to ban them.

In addition to rescinding of the satellite camp ban on Thursday, the board members also “directed the Council to conduct a broad assessment of the FBS recruiting environment,” according to a press release from the NCAA.

“The Board of Directors is interested in a holistic review of the football recruiting environment, and camps are a piece of that puzzle,” said Board of Directors chair Harris Pastides, president of the University of South Carolina. “We share the Council’s interest in improving the camp environment, and we support the Council’s efforts to create a model that emphasizes the scholastic environment as an appropriate place for recruiting future student-athletes.”