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The rules of recruiting have changed Posted: Wednesday February 06, 2002 11:02 PM
Signing Day is big enough to have earned capital letters. The first Wednesday in February is the day when college football coaches officially unveil the names of the incoming freshmen who will join the team in the fall. Like the children in Lake Woebegon, all of the signees are above average. There is not a bad recruit in the bunch, even if there is. The fact is, Signing Day has become a ceremonial event. Like most ceremonies, it’s all an act, choreographed with the care of a Broadway show. Take the State of the Union speech last week. Any talking head with an audience of more than seven voters got a preview of the highlights of President Bush's address. By the time he actually gave the speech, the only surprise was the phrase “Axis of Evil.” (Afterward, Bush’s staff looked like Jerry Rice trying to create space between the president and that phrase, but we digress.) Recruiting has changed so much in the last 10 years that Signing Day carries with it all the suspense of your average Jay-Jay the Jet Plane episode. “The whole thing is different,” Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum said Tuesday, S-Day minus-1. “We had 18 or 19 kids committed before Christmas. It’s a lot better.” The early commitment, pioneered a decade or so ago by Joe Paterno at Penn State, has become the norm. Teams evaluate high school juniors in May. The best prospects are invited to football camp over the summer. The prospects who really shine are offered scholarships. The rest are a lot more familiar to the coaches. A player who is deemed not good enough learns that he had best search elsewhere. “You’ve got time to adjust,” says Texas coach Mack Brown, the consensus winner of the 2002 recruiting derby. “It cuts down on kids being left out.” There are other changes in recruiting from the bad old days. With only seven coaches allowed on the road at once, guys get an occasional rest. Technology has changed recruiting in ways good and bad. Brown cited Caller ID as a help, saying that if a kid isn’t answering the phone, you know it’s time to stop calling. All coaches consider the recruiting web sites a hindrance. “It’s not good for them when kids commit early,” Slocum said, explaining that an undecided recruit translates into more hits on a web site. The days when prospects didn’t decide where to sign until the last minute are over. Lorenzo Booker, the Ventura, Calif., super back, who announced his college choice on national TV Wednesday night, is an anachronism. Though Bobby Bowden defies his 72 years in nearly every other way related to college football, on Signing Day he remains the same as he always has been. He wakes not knowing what the fax machine will bring. Florida State continues to wage recruiting battles for the top high school seniors right up until Signing Day. The Seminoles proved once again that they can run a two-minute drill off the field in February as efficiently as they do on the field in the fall. This year, the Seminoles collected their best recruit on Wednesday night, when Booker changed his mind at the last moment and signed with Florida State instead of Notre Dame. Not only did Bowden steal Booker out of California, but he also kept a local from going out west. Tallahassee safety Pat Watkins decided late in the game to play at home instead of signing with USC. But Florida State is the exception, not the rule. A week ago, when a reporter spotted Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen on a flight to Dallas, the coach received the impolitic greeting of “Aren’t you done yet?” Then there’s Slocum. On Thursday, S-Day plus-1, he planned to board a plane and fly to Vermont for a short, snowbound vacation. Which begs the question –- if the Aggie recruiters did their heavy lifting before Christmas, why does Slocum need a vacation? Sports Ilustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel cover the college football beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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