Let me ask you something. Were there cameras trained on you when you decided what college you were going to? Were there syndicated television personalities watching your every move when you announced your choice? Did you have administrators and professors jumping up and down and cheering in a room when you announced your choice of college? If this was the case for you, put this paper down and go about your life.
For the rest of us who made the decision in relative anonymity, does this mean that our decision is any less important? Of course not.
National Signing Day brutally knocked its way back into the sporting world’s consciousness on Feb. 6, giving all college football fans out there a little bit of a tease as to what the next four years in their beloved school is going to bring. No doubt, seeing where the biggest (literally and figuratively) high school recruits sign certainly has an air of excitement about it. But, is it really necessary?
Now, I am, by no means, saying that talented high school football players shouldn’t sign with a big-time team nor am I saying that they shouldn’t get an education, but I think all the pomp about a single player signing with a team should be brought down a notch or two.
On National Signing Day, ESPN started the day with wire-to-wire coverage of the press conferences held by the nation’s best football players. The day started off with defensive end Robert Nkemdiche, the nation’s top recruit, deciding to play for the Ole Miss Rebels. That early-morning announcement was greeted in Oxford by Ole Miss coaches jumping up and down and cheering when the decision was made. These coaches resembled the crew at Mission Control when Curiosity landed safely on Mars. They were that excited to nail the country’s top high school football player. This is where it gets a little ridiculous.
To be excited about new faces on your team is one thing. But have we, as fans of college football, allowed this kind of behavior to go unchecked for this long? I would argue that, at this point, when a big time player signs with a program, it is no longer about the education. It is only about the name recognition of the player and the university, now married as one. The simple fact that we idolize these top recruits and push them to sign with grade A programs without focusing any resources on the academic side of the school year after year doesn’t help to deter this kind of thinking. Of course, this doesn’t happen to every player who is signing a letter of intent to play college ball, only the big-name ones.
The circus tent has got to fall down. The media have got to lay off. Honestly, if the top recruit chooses one school over another, that is his decision and, quite frankly, I don’t really care about it.
