NCAA Lifts Satellite Camp Ban

A few short weeks after banning satellite camps due to things like Jim Harbough's outlandish efforts such as the IMG Academy Camp during Michigan's Spring Break, the NCAA Board of Directors over-ruled the NCAA Division I Council's April 8th decision.

The biggest opponents of satellite camps were the SEC and the ACC. Each league had internal bans on such activities. The SEC voted in its 2015 spring meetings not to renew the ban once it expired on May 29th if the NCAA as a whole did not ban the camps according to SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

The vote to prohibit the camps was contentious and convoluted, as you had incidents like the Pac-12 commissioner claiming that its representative - UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero - did not vote the way the majority of the league wanted. Washington State head coach Mike Leach, in particular, was not thrilled with the result. He wasn't the only conference rep to go rogue, either. Sun Belt rep Larry Teis voted against most of his conference's wishes, as well.

So, with all of the controversy and numerous folks pointing out that the ban was a knee-jerk reaction that really just hurt the kids trying to get noticed in any way they could, we knew a lifting of the ban would likely happen.

What Does It Mean For The SEC?

Nothing, really. The SEC was already recruiting at a very high level with a prohibition on the camps and the schools were preparing for a lifting of the ban a few weeks back.

Now that the internal ban is going to lift due to today's NCAA decision, the doors are going to be wide open for SEC teams to participate in the camps. I'm sure many of the coaches have no desire to do it, but it's going to be a part of the landscape in the near future with all of the publicity. The biggest question is where they'll happen.

Where Will Auburn Go?

Cincinnati head coach Tommy Tuberville, a proponent for the camps, has expressed interest in welcoming his former employer and its coaches to Ohio for a camp. Auburn hasn't recruited the midwest very heavily, although it has lent the Tigers some pretty good offensive line talent, recently, such as Alex Kozan.

You can bet everyone will set up a camp in south Florida. IMG Academy will be a big target for almost every major school in the nation. Auburn has traditionally stuck to Alabama, Florida, and Georgia for most of its recruiting, and if the Tigers are looking to expand their footprint, it will probably be to somewhere like Texas.

Will it matter all that much? Probably not. It'll just be another spectacle and talking point for the media to write about over the coming months. We'll see an arms race of bigger and better camps. If they work, you'll see them get bigger and even more outlandish. If they don't have a big boost for schools, then those schools will likely save their money and go back to the traditional way they've done things.

It's Not Over, Yet

Here's the fun part in this whole shebang... today's decision could, itself, be overridden. So we may not be done with this whole argument, yet.