Not with a bang but with a whimper. Since the early signing date in Dec was implemented it's pretty much neutered the whole drama of Nat'l Signing Day. Sure there will still be some big time players who haven't signed and will sign this Wed but it won't be quite the same as it used to be. The Irish expect one more player to join the class and he's a 4 star player (Isiah Foskey DE, Concord De La Salle). I think that will be the case all over the country, a couple of players and not much fan fare. I read on ESPN that only 41 of the ESPN 300 are not already signed with their colleges. So that's not a lot of players. What has attracted more attention though is that Portal. That's becoming like an Amazon Market place for college transfers.
I like the early signing periods. I wish we had them when I coached. I mean, if you look at it honestly, it's just boo hoo we weep for the networks and the former mailmen turned talent experts who exploited these kids at best, and at worst impacted their recruiting in certain cases for decades. I mourn no losses of days gone by.
I've read comments that the Recruiting Sites are being hurt by this, they have good activity of course all through the football season but then in December recruiting would heat up generating traffic till the Feb signing date, now it's dead for them after the Dec date.
Well I guess there has been at least a little drama... Va.Tech flipped Ohio State commit Doug Nester (OL), that leaves the Buckeyes with 8 ESPN 300 signee's compared to last years 18. Ole Miss flipped a Georgia QB John Rhys Plumlee who is also a potential MLB draftee so he might not make it to campus in the fall. The Gators flipped Alabama verbal Khris Bogle a DL and they are waiting on a kid named Elam who they are battling Georgia for the signature. So some drama, but not really a lot.
Not really a recruiting story, but I'm sure everybody has seen that Willie Taggert dismissed Deondre' Francois last years starting QB from the FSU program. It came on the heels of Francois girlfriend going on a Twitter rant and posting video claiming he beat her and stuff like that. So after the kid is dismissed from the FSU program, she has regrets and now says she lied and set him up, that she just wanted to get his attention. Deondre Francois' ex-girlfriend walks back abuse claims after his dismissal from Florida State
kp master of the understatement. This was a historically good class, I forget the numbers but they have the most ESPN 300 players in history, by a bunch. SEC continues it's dominance as 5 of the top 10 classes are SEC teams, the B12 had 2, the Pac 12, ACC and Big 10 each had 1 team in the top 10. The guys on ESPNU were talking about the PAC12 and it's recruiting and said it's very worrisome that besides Oregon nobody did much in recruiting and that Pac12 defensive recruiting is terrible.
Terry, like I've said before, I'm more concerned with filling needs than some magazine's rating and I think we loaded up on highly ranked defensive linemen and offensive linemen. Two very good.quarterbacks. I think that's the big takeaway.
I would agree that filling your needs is the most important goal. That said, Alabama seems to always fill their needs but with players who have at least based on HS, elite level talent. The majority of schools who have good classes, like ND, have some really good players but will be dependent on their lower ranked players developing and growing into really good college players. That's what Wisconsin has done, it's a bit tougher though to maintain a high level of success that way if you have a year or two where guys don't develop you have a season like Wisconsin had this year. With the level of talent that Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State bring in every year sure you aren't guaranteed those 5 stars and high 4 stars will all be what you hope but even the low end of those classes are typically players who would be the high end of a lot of classes in the top 25.
A lot of talk this AM on ESPNU sports about the FSU class, the 2nd year in a row that Taggert failed to sign a QB and he just tossed Francois off the team. Plus they said that the class overall isn't great and they haven't addressed the OL problems very well, brought in 4 OL's but only 1 was a highly rated kid the rest might be projects. Seems like when they divorced JIMBO they probably thought good riddance we're FSU we make the coach not the other way around. Of course Taggert is struggling now and maybe he turns it around but maybe they find out that you can't just plug anybody in and expect the same results you got during the glory days of Bobby Bowden Of course FWIW it's not like this class was outside the top 50, it's #16 in the 247 Composite.
"That's what Wisconsin has done"..... and Stanford, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, etc.... Typically competitive teams that just can't get it done at the highest levels. Without those elite players you're not going to be elite it seems. On FSU.... all you have to do is consider the years that Michigan and Florida have struggled along with teams like Texas, Miami, Nebraska ( is that a BIG RED train I hear rumbling in the distance? ).... and USC....teams that formerly were elite but have not been able to get back there in the past few years. Once a program.... even one like Alabama..... gets derailed it takes some pretty special coaching and pretty elite recruits to get it back on track.... like Saban at Bama and Swinney at Clemson. Looks like maybe Jimbo has a chance to get it done at Texas A&M and it sure looks like Mullen has a shot at Florida at returning the Gators to elite status along with Herman at Texas.
Not a 2019 recruit, but the Buckeyes got a big win when the NCAA granted immediate eligibility to Justin Fields . Fields had nothing but positive things to say about Georgia and declined to discuss the basis for the appeal. I wonder if Tate Martel will get immediate eligibility @. Miami .
If.Fields.got.the exception, then the door just.got.thrown wide open. I'm afraid we now have free agency in college football
Showing a bit of obvious favoritism here, I am delighted Fields has been cleared to play this fall. I agree the door is wide open now as well.
Yeah, this is why I gave up on the NFL. I never knew who I was suppose to support. The players and the owners could never figured out how they could both make money and maintain the integrity of the "team". I fear it is happening to college football now. Kids are transferring more and more, even if they had to sit out a year. Now they don't have to sit out a year. The first kid whose request to play immediately is denied that has a daddy rich enough, will sue the NCAA and now the NCAA has no argument.