Lining up a bunch of hats at a non-televised press conference has become as in as MySpace.
National Signing Day used to feature high school football prospects making their decisions in front of friends and family in a school auditorium, picking the hat of their chosen school.
It has become a spectacle, impossible to avoid. Consider, Michigan live streamed its signing day event, featuring Tom Brady, Derek Jeter and Ric Flair, and it wasn’t even the most unique aspect of the day.
That would be the commitment of Deontay Anderson, a four-star safety from Texas who announced his decision to attend Ole Miss while skydiving. Upon landing, he revealed a red “Hotty Toddy” T-shirt in a video produced by Bleacher Report.
Not to be outdone, four-star defensive end Michail Carter brought a Bulldog to his announcement to signal his commitment to Georgia, and four-star safety Brandon Burton used a game of paintball to make his decision. Upon reaching the finish line, he showed off a UCLA shirt.
ESPN featured day-long programming, allowing highly rated prospects to announce their decision on national television. Some of the kids were whisked away to their announcements in limousines. How boring.
Meyer edges Harbaugh
The Jim Harbaugh-Urban Meyer rivalry is just as intense in recruiting circles.
Ohio State and Michigan finished with the fourth- and fifth-ranked recruiting classes in the country, according to 247Sports.com’s composite rankings that take into account all the major recruiting services. Harbaugh cleaned up in New Jersey, highlighted by overall No. 1 Rashan Gary, the highly rated defensive end choosing the Wolverines over Clemson, Ole Miss and USC on Wednesday afternoon on ESPN. Harbaugh also flipped DePaul Catholic Kareem Walker, one of the highest-rated running backs in the country, from Ohio State. The Buckeyes didn’t leave the Garden State empty-handed, signing Old Tappan four-star safety Jordan Fuller.
Poor Rutgers.
While Harbaugh drew national headlines for his unorthodox recruiting methods, — from his much-publicized sleepovers with recruits to attending classes with them — Meyer still edged him out on signing day, proving he doesn’t have to change his methods to compete with Harbaugh. Earlier in the week, while addressing reporters, he seemed to take a dig at Harbaugh, by saying “this is not a circus.”
Next year’s showdown can’t come soon enough.
Alabama still at top of class
There are champions of signing day and the real winners once the games begin in September. They don’t always coincide, not unless you’re Alabama. After landing nine commitments on Wednesday, including five-star linebacker Ben Davis, Nick Saban’s defending champions garnered the No. 1 recruiting class by 247Sports, with five five-star recruits, according to Rivals.com, two more than any other school. This is the seventh time in nine years Rivals has ranked the Crimson Tide’s at the top. Most impressively, it’s not as if top-rated prospects go in and play immediately at Alabama. This year, former overall No. 1 prospect Da’Shawn Hand was the Tide’s third-string defensive tackle. The Saban machine shows no sign of slowing down.
Smart man in charge
Kirby Smart promised he could do both jobs — serving as the Alabama defensive coordinator and the Georgia head coach — at the same time, and he has proven prophetic.
In addition to helping the Crimson Tide win their fourth national championship in seven years under Saban, a month later Smart has put together an impressive class for Georgia, ranked seventh by 247Sports.com. And he did so by hurting Alabama in the process, flipping speedy three-star wide receiver Tyler Simmons, who was originally headed to play for Saban. His best work, however, was keeping quarterback Jacob Eason committed, as the consensus top-10 prospect originally pledged to former coach Mark Richt.
Hopefully, the sons of celebrities have better college football careers than Cordell Broadus, the son of Snoop Dogg who quit playing football at UCLA prior to the regular season of his freshman year. Evander Holyfield’s son, Elijah, a four-star running back ranked 108th in the country by Rivals, signed with Georgia. Meanwhile, Michael Irvin’s son, Michael Jr., followed his dad to Miami.