By Gary Lloyd

What are we even doing here?

Typically, my column ledes are painstakingly developed over dozens of minutes and thought. Sometimes hours. This one was easy.

What are we even doing here?

Those are the only words necessary for the week that it’s been in Alabama, specifically relating to Alabama High School Athletic Association sports. I’m writing this only six days since the 50-29 Spain Park win over No. 5 Hewitt-Trussville, but it somehow feels like a month ago. Why is that?

Well, a star defensive end who played in that game for Spain Park is now bound for Thompson, less than a week later. I covered the game Friday, heard rumblings about a potential transfer Sunday, and Monday was discussing when Jared Smith, a four-star defensive end, might play for Thompson. Wild, how fast something like this can happen.

And here’s why. According to the AHSAA Handbook, a student-athlete is eligible at a different school two days after making a compliant, bona fide move, so long as other eligibility requirements are met. On Page 35 of the Handbook, under “Determining a Bona Fide Move,” the first sentence reads, “Sometimes it is very difficult to determine what constitutes a bona fide move.”

“Sometimes”? “Very difficult”? How ambiguous, how open to interpretation. To be fair, the Handbook goes on to provide several guidelines for determining a bona fide move, but why the ambiguity? I’m no lawyer, though I do religiously watch episodes of Suits on Netflix, but what a weirdly written rule. Very weird, you might say. Take a stance. Make an actual rule that prevents playing for two schools potentially a week apart.  

I have no issue with Smith and his family leaving for another city or home, or any student-athlete from any sport doing so. People move all the time. Alabaster has become a popular destination, no doubt. So have other cities across this state, and you all know which ones they are. In many cases, look at the parallel between an increasing population and gridiron success. It’s happening, and while “More people mean more depth on the football team” is certainly true, get real. You know why it is.

But the issue is the rule, and I suppose my reason will be just as ambiguous as the rule. It’s just … icky. I suppose a vague rule means vague reasoning.

Kidding aside, if Smith plays this Friday for Thompson, he will have played against Hoover twice in one regular season for two different schools in Class 7A, Region 3. That just can’t happen. That’s the reason to look at this rule. How is this possible? I squarely believe you shouldn’t be permitted to play for two schools in one calendar year. It’s wild that it’s not already the case.

And if it doesn’t become the case soon, here’s my fear: It’ll be open season for high school football in Alabama, and all other sports. Stick with me here. Sure, the rule has been in effect for a while, and this has happened before Smith’s move to Alabaster. But it’s never been quite this public, or quick. Some will say, “You’re just talking about it because it’s a big-time recruit!”

Well, yeah. Almost any drama in sports or art or anything else takes a big-time player or big-time program being involved to move the needle. Think the Texas Rangers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series is going to get as much attention as a Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Yankees series would? Of course not.

Smith is a part of this story because he’s the big-time recruit. Thompson is a part of this story because it’s the big-time program that consistently wins – and consistently has new folks move to town. But the story, at least to me, is what this weeklong public discussion means for the future.

I know coaches who are dumbfounded by this story. And why shouldn’t they be? Imagine facing a defensive player one week who sacks your quarterback three times, or a running back who rushes for 200 yards against you, and the next week that player can suit up in your colors. That’s wild. Coaches have known about student-athletes moving from one school to another for years. That’s nothing new. The immediacy of eligibility in this case is what’s been eye-opening for coaches this week.

It potentially paves the way for open season in high school football. Call it free agency. Call it a trade deadline. I’ll keep calling it icky and the continued professionalization of high school sports. Let me be hypothetical. By this rule, a quarterback could hypothetically move from School A in the Birmingham area to School B in the Birmingham area in Week 3 of the season. A wide receiver from School C in the Birmingham area is a fellow recruit who loves this quarterback’s highlights posted on social media, and his family hypothetically makes the move to an apartment in the city of School B in Week 5. Boom, a super tandem is formed.

You can say it’s a stretch, but it’s not. The last week has proven it could happen. And that’s a scary precedent.

Maybe this public discussion in the Birmingham area will help. Maybe Simone Eli’s WKRG report about the Gulf Shores football program will help. Nothing will help, though, until all this discussion is had at the largest city between the two – Montgomery.

Gary Lloyd is the author of six books and a contributing writer to the Cahaba Sun.