Now that the festivities of national signing day are coming to an end I would like to go over a few of the points of why I hate recruiting AND SO SHOULD YOU. Now I used to be wrapped up in this day as much as anybody freaking out about "will we get this 4-star" or "will (insert your school's rival) get that Parade All American", but what I have learned over the years, THIS DAY WILL NOT MEAN ANYTHING FOR 3 YEARS. Look at your schools last years signing class and ask yourself how many of those kids made an immediate impact on your schools 2011 season. My next reason to hate this day is we let these 17 and 18 year old punks get up on a stage and pick from a bunch of hats, basically saying that it is all about them. Taking a selfish attitude into college is nothing but poison for a team. Being from the state of Mississippi I always use this example: coming out of high school, University of Mississippi star Patrick Willis was rated as a 2-star by a majority of the scouting services, while Mississippi State signee Robert Elliot was 4-Star and thought to be the most prized recruit in the state. Now looking back, who would you have rather have? Thing need to change, and need to change drastically. Another reason I hate recruiting is the interaction in which fans have with recruits now. Twitter and Facebook have changed the game drastically and know of many occasions in which a fans interaction swayed a recruits decision. If you have ever tried to contact a recruit in a negative manor for not signing with your team I would suggest you are a loser, and really need to get a life. The last reason is, is cheating. Hell, everyone is doing it, so I guess it's not that all that bad...
Now every team tries to be optimistic and think they landed the best class. But with the help of my inspiration, Every Day Should Be Saturday (@edsbs, seriously follow him if you love sports) he will explain what you need to know about signing day AND translate coach speak.
EVERYONE'S CHEATING. Just assume this, and you will be able to eliminate half of the smokescreen surrounding recruiting. The NCAA's rules regarding recruiting are a marvel of obfuscatory but intrusive genius. Like badly designed tollways, the recruiting process turns every recruit the wrong way by design. Along the way they and their attendant suitors have likely blown through a rule inadvertently, and perhaps several intentionally. Mark Richt self-reported a secondary violation when he accidentally butt-dialed a recruit. Meanwhile, Cecil Newton openly solicited Mississippi State for $180,000 for the rights to his son's services, and after much head-scratching and furor it was determined that there was no such rule against this happening in the NCAA's codes.
Given this wide gulf between reality and regulation, take any accusation of wrongdoing with deep skepticism because in one way or another, everyone is in some degree cheating. The NCAA is making this up as they go, and the schools are behaving like most people do in a black market: illegally, and with gusto in their illegality. Cars, jobs for relatives, having pastors disperse large contributions to the church made by coaches back to players, buddy passes on airlines for cheap travel, free food, complimentary drinks, women, loose cash, luxury hotel rooms reserved for players and their families, free entry into clubs...almost all of it is banned, and all are being used right now to work student-athletes into a signed and binding National Letter of Intent.
EVERY RECRUIT IS OVERRATED. This cannot be overstated. The stars system is arbitrary, and assigned by people who have very few empirical measures for how these rankings are determined. The finish to recruiting season will often be summarized in a kind of top 25, often with recruiting services declaring someone "won" signing day. This victory is entirely on paper, and slightly less valid on the page than a fantasy football championship.
STARS MATTER. As amateur and subjective as they are, recruiting rankings do correlate tightly with future on field success. Ignore them at your own risk, because there is a real reason to follow recruiting in college football: these are the building blocks of a program, and their quality determines the structural integrity of your team.
THE MARSHALL RULE. If you see a player commit to a smaller conferences school after listing "Ohio State, Miami, and Florida" on their interested schools, it is most likely because they could not get the SAT score necessary to clear their admission to said schools. Smaller schools do have two advantages in recruiting: instant playing time at most positions, and the mixed blessing of slightly lower admissions standards.
NOTHING IS OFF THE TABLE. While coaches can't pay players under the current rules, what they can do is make the most outlandish rhetorical arguments for why they should come to their school. God, as it turns out, has definite and specific opinions on where you should go to school. Shockingly, they often align tightly with the coach's own interests, or with a pastor's, or mother's, or whomever is talking to the recruit and suggesting that not going to a school would be against the wishes of the Almighty themselves.
Outright lying is on the table, too. Many recruits told they could play quarterback have showed up to camp and found themselves working defensive back drills "just to get you in football shape." Many a quarterback has been told there is no other quarterback on the two-deep only to find the school courting another signal-caller simultaneously.No skullduggery is left behind, and should not be because the doctrine of negative campaigning applies here. You don't want to go negative first, but once they do, you should leave no prisoners and burn the other team to the foundations.
And now for coach speak. You probably heard your coach say some of these things throughout the day...well here is what he meant:
Statement: "We're switching to a new scheme."
Translation: "After missing on all three offers to linebackers, we have no more scholarship linebackers , and will be playing a 5-0-6 defense this year because we have to."
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Statement: "Ah, let them have him. He wouldn't have made the grades to get in here, anyway."
Translation: "I am a fan of a Big Ten school, and have just had a prized recruit sign with an SEC school at the last second."
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Statement: "We have no idea what happened. One minute [PLAYER NAME] was ours, and the next he was signing with them."
Translation: "I am not hinting that this player was paid. I am stating that he was paid."
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Statement: "I'm happy with this class. We don't believe in oversigning. We did it our way: with integrity, class, and with a real focus on the student-athlete."
Translation: "We signed 14 players including two kickers. I am on the verge of crying at every moment of this day."
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Statement: "A lot of guys say he's too small, but you can't measure heart."
Translation: "This recruit is a running back with an artificial hip and exercise-induced asthma. We gave him a scholarship because his father is rich, and will give our university an unnatural sum of money in exchange for a jersey."
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Statement: "I heard there were some character issues. Didn't want him anyway."
Translation "This recruit runs a 4.3, can juke on thimbletops, and has the hands of an angelic Jerry Rice. He will change the face of his program for years to come, and do so in the positive. Please allow me to weep openly into my trembling hands in my office without interruption."
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Statement: "He's got deceptive quickness and field smarts."
Translation: "Yeah, we signed a white wide receiver."
Until next year, happy signing day.
