Normally I hate Signing Day... mainly because it's a lot of work for local sports guys like me. For example, I visited 5 different Wichita-area schools on Wednesday between 8 am and 3 pm... it was a lot of driving in the snow... plus, my wake-up time usually falls in the 10 to 10:30 AM range, so getting up at 7 to make an 8:20 signing ceremony was not conducive to my normal schedule. But this year I got really into Signing Day for some reason. It was exciting to see all of the local players with D-1 talent getting ready for the future. Plus, I thoroughly enjoyed following the Big 12 teams as each school tries to get a leg up on the other. With the conference becoming more and more competitive, these recruiting classes could determine the future of the league!
I started Signing Day in Garden Plain where Logan Dold headlined a group of four from the State Championship team that signed Letters of Intent. Dold will be a good fit at K-State. He works hard and should thrive under Ron Prince's disciplined program. It's still uncertain whether Dold will play on the offensive or defensive side of the ball, but he said Wednesday that he will get a shot at running back in Manhattan... good for him.
The biggest local story out of Signing Day revolves around Chris Harper.. a couple of storylines here: first of all, apparently Michigan's Rich Rodriguez made a late run at Harper last week. Harper said that Rodriguez called him several times and even flew to Wichita last week to try and convince the Northwest High QB to flip for the second time and become a Wolverine (you'll recall that Harper originally committed to Kansas State at a much-ballyhooed news conference with Arthur Brown in December, only to de-commit about a week later when one of KSU's coaches left for Maryland... Harper then committed to Oregon last month). Despite the fact that Rodriguez, "scrambled his head up a bit," Harper is still going to Oregon. My buddy DT (who works at the ABC station in Eugene) says the Rodriguez story hit there last week and had them scrambling a bit, too (Harper is arguably Oregon's top recruit this season). Harper says one of the main reasons he chose Oregon instead of Missouri (other than facilities) is Oregon's desire to make him a quarterback. Well, Harper may have some competition. It turns out the top recruit in the whole country (who we all thought was going to pick either Michigan or Ohio State on Wednesday) says he's going to keep thinking about it and now has Oregon on his short list. Bad luck for Harper... maybe. The most important thing to remember about football recruiting (or recruiting in ANY college sport) is that these are 17 and 18 year old kids... remember when YOU were 17? Exactly...
... moving on...
In the Big 12, it's a good but not great class for KU. I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed that the Jayhawks weren't able to recruit better off of the 2007 season. I know they're down scholarships because they're on probation, but Mark Mangino should have been able to do better than 9th in the Conference/40th in the nation. Jayhawk fans had better hope that this class isn't as weak as it is on paper (at least compared to the other teams they're competing with in the Big 12).
K-State has some good pieces, but they're bringing in a lot of Juco kids. Some people view this as a panic move. As with all things recruiting, I choose take a wait and see approach. Rivals has K-State ranked 28th in the country, 7th in the Big 12 right behind Missouri and Oklahoma State... not bad, considering KSU lost to both of them this year. I personally don't think this should be a "hot-seat" year for Ron Prince, but others might view it as such.
Other impressions of the Big 12: OU and Texas had huge classes as always... lots of highly rated athletes who will compete against each other and probably continue to make the Sooners and 'Horns very good. Colorado shocked everyone by stealing the nation's #1 rated running back out of nowhere (a kid from Ventura, CA named Darrell Scott who was considering Texas, USC, Florida, Miami... all the usual suspects... for some reason, he chose CU... naturally negative people will call "foul"... whatever). Texas A&M somehow managed a top-20 class out of the mess that was their 2007 season... but, in the words of my buddy Harris (who covered A&M for 2 years), "there will always be those College Station Crazies who want to go to TAMU no matter what". Nebraska's class should help bring them back, but would have been better if they hadn't lost so many verbal commitments during the whole Bill Callahan fiasco. Missouri was a big winner simply by finding the heirs to two major positions in their Spread Offense: the Tigers have Chase Daniel's successor in 5-star QB Blaine Gabbert (rated the #1 pro-style QB in the country by Rivals and Scout) and Andrew Jones at Tight End (who is a beast at 6'5" and 230 lbs and looks to follow in the foot-steps of All-Americans Martin Rucker and Chase Coffman). Missouri had the 4th ranked class in the Big 12 until CU's late grab of Scott vaulted the Buffs ahead (and rightfully so... I mean, c'mon... he's the best running back prospect in the country... allegedly).
When it comes down to it, take all this Signing Day stuff with a grain of salt. It's great to think nice thoughts for your favorite team's future... and it's even nicer if your a parent who just saw your child's dreams come true with the simple act of signing his name on a piece of paper (not to mention the thrill of skipping those tuition payments!). But the work is just beginning for all of these kids. As always, theses recruits will be judged by what they do over the next 4 to 5 years... not what they've done already or what some "analyst" thinks MIGHT happen.... even if that "analyst" is me :)
bpa
|
Save
Email
Print
del.icio.us 
Google
Yahoo 
digg