National Signing Day. You know…..”The Decision”. Kids all over the country are signing letters of intent to play college football at the nation’s best universities. Some kids are relieved the day is here and others are silently wondering if they’ve made the right decision. Some coaches are wondering why the hell their star recruit switched to the rival school in the 11th hour and other coaches are like toddlers on Christmas. Today is National Signing Day and here are my thoughts on it.
1. Your national championship starts here. Your coach has to be more than just an Xs and Os guy. He has to be a salesman. How good can he sell? The NFL is all about the coaches and the quarterbacks. College football is all about the athletes. You get the best athletes and you’ll have a chance to win it all. Nick Saban is a great coach and he’s turned Bama around…..but Nick can recruit his ass off and that’s really why he’s winning.
2. Just because you’re a 5-star recruit doesn’t mean you’re going to the league. Mike Huguenin has done some tremendous reporting at NFL.com on 5-star recruits. Check it out here. Look at these numbers,
288 recruits were given five-star status from 2002-11. The 2002 class had the most five-star recruits, with 38; the 2003 and 2004 classes had the fewest, with 25 each. The average number of five-star recruits in a class was 29.
123 of the 288 five-star recruits were drafted (42.7 percent), and 45 went in the first round (16 percent).
3. Some of the NFL’s dopest player didn’t have a signing day. Jordy Nelson, Clay Matthews, Antonio Brown, J.J. Watt, etc all were walk-ons at one point in their college careers.
4. I love the crazy stories about recruiting like these from Barry Switzer.
5. These are life changing decisions man. Where would Desean Jackson be had he signed with USC over Cal. What about if Adrian Peterson chose Texas over OU. What about Gunner Kiel…is he going to the NFL Draft right now if he signed with LSU? What if Teddy Bridgewater stuck with his original Miami commitment, would he have made it to the NFL?
6. My top places to play college football would be…..
Texas – The city of Austin is amazing and beautiful. The weather is great. The campus is gorgeous and the school is great. I wouldn’t call Austin a college town as much I would call it a young city. Right now, the Longhorns aren’t the same, but Charlie Strong will turn things around sooner than you think.
UCLA – It’s located in the second biggest city in the country. The football program is riding high. The girls are hot. It’s minutes away from Beverly Hills. The campus is cool and it never rains is Southern California, what more could you ask for?
USC – Read everything I said about UCLA, just take out the Beverly Hills distance.
Arizona State – It’s one of the top party schools in the country. The campus is marvelous and the football team is winning. And the weather….yeah, it’s not too bad either.
LSU – There’s nothing like SEC football. The Tigers are always in the hunt for a national title and they’re always putting athletes in the NFL. It’s truly a great college town and if you want more New Orleans is only an hour away.
Alabama – College football is like having a job. College football isn’t fun when you’re not winning, but when you are…the city, not just the university but the city…is yours! Also, Saban’s got a pretty good track record of kids getting drafted that play for him.
Florida State – Winning. Girls. Party. Good weather. FAMU is down the street and so is Panama City. Options are always a good thing.
