Entering the first week of February means only one thing for college football coaches, players and fans alike. It means that the 2014 National Signing Day is just two days away.
National Signing Day is always on the first Wednesday in February, which is the first day that high school seniors across the country are allowed to sign their National Letters of Intent to play football for their chosen college or university.
As a huge fan of college football, I must admit that I love to watch the day unfold through the numerous media outlets that now cover the event. At the same time, however, I think that recruits are taking it too far.
I fully support the idea that a player should be able to celebrate his high school football career as well as the start to his career as a college athlete — which is no small feat — but I do not support all of the glitz and glamour that comes along with the celebration.
Years ago, if a player was committing to play college football, he might get a story about him in his local newspaper, maybe even a clip on the local news, but not much more than that.
If we fast-forward to the early 2000s we will see just how much everything has changed.
Now, the nation’s top recruits will show up in designer suits and announce on national television where they plan to play next year. Some recruits have even taken it a step further in the past.
In 2007 for example, Jimmy Clausen, the nation’s top-rated athlete, a quarterback from Westlake Village, Calif. committed to Notre Dame.
Clausen’s verbal commitment was of extravagant fashion. In late April he arrived to his press conference at the College Football Hall of Fame in a stretch limo wearing a black suit and three high school State Championship rings.
Clausen pledged his loyalty to Notre Dame and also said “I’m going to try to make this the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation this year. I look forward to meeting my future teammates this afternoon and work on doing everything I can to help us win National Championships.”
But he never won any National Championships during his time with the Fighting Irish, nor did he receive any of college football’s top honors.
This is just one example but it proves my point.
The media attention and notoriety we give to this event only perpetuates the problem by treating these top recruits like future NFL stars instead of young student-athletes, whose primary focus should be on education.
@MLLRC93
cm001111@ohiou.edu
