National Signing Day!

Today is a big day for college programs all over the country. Of course we hear about the big time recruits and where they are headed, but today is a big day for every high school kid that is lucky enough to get a college scholarship offer. Today is the 1st day you can sign a national letter of intent to play sports at a college or university. Most people think it is only for football, but there are other sports that look towards their future on this day and it is just as important to them. But since football rules the world or at least in the south, I am going to focus on the signings of players in the SEC and the ones that got away!

Looks like several of the SEC schools are going to have another year of top ranked recruiting classes. According to Rivals.com the school with the best class so far in LSU. Here is the rankings right now:

1 LSU
2 USC
3 Ohio State
4 Alabama
5 Texas
6 Florida State
7 Michigan
8 North Carolina
9 Miami
10 Florida
11 South Carolina
12 Georgia
13 Oklahoma
14 Arkansas
15 Michigan State

These rankings could change at any time since there are still several big time recruits that have yet to commit. Georgia is in the running for a couple more that could all pick to play in Athens. Even if they only get 1 out of the 2-3 that are still considering the Dawgs, they will move up several spots in the rankings. Georgia missed out on several big time players from within the state when Greg Reid decided FSU was the place for him and when Jarvis Jones picked to play at USC. But one of the biggest players yet to declare is WR Marlon Brown from Memphis. If he commits to the Dawgs, that will raise UGA into the top 10. He is expected to make his decision public later today.

Here is a picture of corner back/receiver Branden Smith after he signed his letter of intent for UGA!

Being a football fan in the SEC, I can’t help but get caught up in all of the hype surrounding signing day. But I also feel that it is a detriment to the young players. They are treated like rock stars for their last couple of years in high school, they get calls and visits from big time coaches and are told how valuable they will be if they go to a certain school. All of these things give the players big heads and bad attitudes. It sets unrealistic expectations for themselves and everyone around them because they all think they are going to be big stars at the next level, when realistically, they will be lucky to ever see the field, especially in their first year or two. Some players will live up to their hype, but most do not. After their senior year of being the big man on their high school campus, they will be back to being a peon at a big university. Where there is tremendous pressure to perform up to the high expectations set by all of the hype they had while being recruited. Listen, I am not naïve; I know this is part of college football now and I am part of the problem! I sit around with my buddies talking about these kids and how I hope we get them. That is how big recruiting has become, but that doesn’t mean it is right!

Anyway, teams don’t win championships on this day, but they could just get that one piece that does push them over the top in the next year or two and they will win a championship. All I know is that UGA has another solid recruiting class this year and now we need to focus on getting these guys to make their grades and learning the system so they can start making the team better as soon as they get into school.

Go Dawgs!