gipper What you don't understand, with regard to Corley's recruitment by UF and others is, he was not "committed" to UF in spite of what he and his father were saying. For months he was taking visits and onsidering other schools before he announced to Scout.com he was no longer interested in signing with UF. UF decided to move on after Corley had done the same. But, none of this is really very important. However, watching what's going on in Big-10/11 country (allegations of cheating and the commish "fighting" with the sports media) is a bit humorous. It's a little like watching the fight over Anna's remains!!
Not many if any Gator fans ever counted Corley as someone who was signing with the Gators on Feb 7th. His commitment was softer than soft. In any event players have been taken...stolen.....recommitted elsewhere from Florida to schools like FSU, Ga and ND for years... It's part of the game and it's not against NCAA rules for recruits to change their mind or for coaches to try and change those minds. A kid may say he's going to join the Army but it's not official until he signs on the dotted line. He may switch and join the Navy instead.
You can't have something stolen from you that isn't yours. And no recruit is yours until they sign on the dotted line. Since the Gators have started getting recruits earlier than in previous years we have lost several each year that change their minds. That includes two from the same school that had commited to the Gators and changed late last year to Arkansas. Also the QB that changed from the Gators to Texas last year. One player switched on signing day last year and again that happened this year. I'm still not going to complain because that is the players right. I might question the integrity of people who switch on the last day and "shock the world" as some of these 18 year old think they do. If the system gets changed where we have an early signing period I would like that, but until that time I'll say again you can't have something stolen from you that's not yours to start with.
It's going to get ugly if the coaches don't do something to police themselves. I went through the SWC wars, I can tell you that you don't want that situation to break out again. It was very ugly.
Terry, I agree with Bill....this "recruit to the echo of the whistle" tactic is not a regional phenomena and it's not a new phenomena. It's just new to Weiss and in his past world it would be called tampering. Such is not the case here and my opinion is that CFB recruiting is squeaky clean compared to what it was back in the late 70s and early 80s when the SWC in particular and the SEC and others resorted frequently to much worse NCAA rule-breaking tactics to lure prospects.
It remains up to the kid, and the adult charged with countersigning their LOI, to say "no more". Additionally, the NCAA should implement an early signing period.
It was hitting to the echo of the whistle according to Bobby Bowden. And after Spurrier made his scene before that bowl game with FSU the Noles had gotten away with it for years. Not so much any more as they get called for a lot of late hits they used to get away with.
I think they need to implement the following rule. "when a recruit has given a public verbal to a college, he is no longer eligible to take further visits in recruiting. He may at anytime publically renounce the verbal and notify the school he was verbaled to and immediately be able to continue his open recruiting". It's sort of like you can't tamper with other teams players while still on scholarship. Is my memory correct that SOS didn't much care for some of the things that went on in SEC recruiting and make some public comments that got him in trouble and also even wrote a letter to the SEC complaining about some situation in recruiting?
Terry, I think what Spurrier complained about was cars and $$$ not changing commitments. However Terry I have a general agreement with you. But there is one other thing we have to consider and that is the commitments from these kids are not released by the coaches involved but the kids and through people like Scout and Rivals that release the information. I don't believe the coaches are allowed to comment on the individual players. But the thought behind what you are saying is a good idea.