I was perusing the football message board at TechSideline.com and came across a post that questioned whether Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring violated NCAA Recruiting rules by specifically mentioning a recruits name and his potential role with the team before the recruit signed the official letter of intent. (Read the TSL post here.)

In Randy King’s Roanoke Times article on Friday, Jan. 18, Stinespring was asked about who would be Tech’s No. 3 quarterback in 2008 now that rising senior Cory Holt is moving to wide receiver. Stinespring told King that incoming freshman recruit Peter Rose of Amherst County would be the best bet.

“Obviously, you don’t want to ever get in a position where you have to play your third quarterback,” said Stinespring. “Right now, though, with the possibility of Holt moving to wide receiver, I think Rose would be our third guy.”

OK, so it would seem the Stinespring just committed an NCAA recruiting violation. I went to the NCAA Web site and read a lot of boring rules until I came to section rule 13.10.2 - “Comments Before Signing.” It reads as follows…

Before the signing of a prospective student-athlete to a National Letter of Intent or an institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid, a member institution may comment publicly only to the extent of confirming its recruitment of the prospective student-athlete. The institution may not comment generally about the prospective student-athlete’s ability or the contribution that the prospective student-athlete might make to the institution’s team; further, the institution is precluded from commenting in any manner as to the likelihood of the prospective student-athlete’s signing with that institution. Violations of this bylaw do not affect a prospective student-athlete’s eligibility and are considered institutional violations per Constitution 2.8.1. (Revised: 1/14/97)

If you pay particular attention to the bolded section, it would seem clear that BS did indeed violate NCAA recruiting rules governing comments about recruits prior to having signed an official letter of intent. What does this mean for Tech? Probably nothing. According to the NCAA Web site, there has only been one violation deemed a “major violation” of this rule. Even if the NCAA gets wind of it, I doubt the penalty will be severe. If anything, it will be a slap of the wrist and a stern “don’t do it again” from Myles Brand.

Still, this is just another reason to dislike Bryan Stinespring … like we need any more.