WVU football plans to play host to two dozen or so prospects at tonight’s Gold-Blue Game and make, or at least begin to make, a significant haul toward the 2012 class. WVU basketball is looking for a splash as well when 6-foot-10 center Aaric Murray makes his way to campus along with some other already signed members of the 2011 class Murray may eventually join.

Those unsigned players should be in attendance at the game and, if so, you can see them with your own eyes and … well, that’s about it.

As we know (probably) all too well right here, the interaction between fans/students/graduates/boosters/etc. of an institution and the “prospective student-athlete” are prohibited and strictly regulated by the NCAA. Teams and schools that, frankly, don’t have the time or ability to thoroughly police this get in trouble because of this.

And yet, it’s not too hard a concept to grasp. Basically, if you’re attached to the university in one of the aforementioned manners, you cannot say or do anything to influence the prospective student-athlete. And I mean anything. No chanting of one’s name. No posters. No asking for, or providing, an autograph. No haiku. No standing ovation. No nothing, lest you commit a secondary violation.

WVU wants none of that trouble and will have a compliance presence all over the place tomorrow night. That reach will expand to the media and I would think more specifically those recruiting publications that make their reps and please their constituencies on such occasions.

From a WVU Sports Information email yesterday:

All,

In an effort to ensure you are aware of the NCAA regulation regarding a prospective student-athlete’s visit to WVU, please be aware of the parameters surrounding NCAA Bylaw 13.10.5 – Prospective Student-Athlete’s Visit.

As a credentialed reporter or photographer, you are NOT permitted to engage in any activity that publicizes a prospective student-athlete’s visit to WVU.  This includes interviewing the prospect and/or taking a picture of the prospect during the visit for usage in media content surrounding the visit.

Please contact WVU Sports Communications if you have any questions.

I guarantee you that will be broken a few times Friday, and mostly because people don’t know the rules. WVU is to be commended for getting this out, but it’s going to be hard to control this. For one, there are far, far too many people who can be defined as “media.” On top of that, a lot of that “media” doesn’t count itself as “media” and believes it can operate outside the parameters.

This is where the trouble occurs: “Oh, it’s for a message board.” Or, “Eh, I run a blog.” Even, “Bah, I’m retired and only come for the meals, what does it matter if I snap a photo?” It’s very tricky and I’d imagine almost completely impossible to completely prevent. Kudos for the effort, though.

As much “media” as is permitted, the crowd is much, much larger and, as such, much, much more difficult to oversee. Twitter, Facebook and something called MySpace just makes this even murkier. WVU’s compliance has a plan that is no different tonight than it is for the other home games.

Email correspondence from compliance commander Keli Cunningham:

We will have a “compliance table” stationed at the stadium that will be staffed by compliance for questions from prospective student-athletes, their families, alumni, etc.  Similar to our activities at all home football games, we will be working with the football staff to ensure prospects are separated from boosters while they’re on the field, etc. and patrolling the facilities to spot check areas for any concerns.

Again, so hard to be effective and efficient, but you do what you can do and WVU is doing it. And WVU didn’t stop there. An email was sent to all Varsity Club members who could conceivably be in town for the weekend. Cunningham wrote that the intent was “to educate them of the restrictions surrounding contact with prospective student-athletes. In addition, information is included in the itinerary that will be distributed to former football student-athletes returning to campus for the weekend.”

All of that spells out what the people can and absolutely cannot do this weekend. It covers liabality and, I suppose, even a plausible deniability. Still, it’s a veritable no-win for WVU, too. Not everyone or everything can be prevented. Not everyone will understand everything. The attempt to adhere to the rules will undoubtedly bother some people, many who think their actions are harmless, some who believe they ought to be exempt.

That goes across all genres, too. In fact, one Sam Huff was so agitated it moved him to cancel his plans to attend the weekend festivities at his alma mater.

He fits under sub-points a) ” Have participated in … the institution’s athletic program;” and b) “Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization of that institution.”

He also is one of only two former WVU players to be enshrined in the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame (Joe Stydahar, the first pick in the 1936 NFL Draft).

Huff gets asked for autographs a lot … and he signs and signs. I’ve seen Huff stand for more than a few minutes and sign for plenty of fans on plenty of occasions, no matter their age.

“I’ve been around this sport – the greatest sport there is, in this country, certainly – and I read that thing and can’t believe anyone would agree to anything like this,” Huff said. “If someone asks me for an autograph, I can’t sign it for them?

“Whoever made these rules is wrong. Just wrong. Signing an autograph is going to get a kid to come to West Virginia? This is just way out of bounds.”