Committing Too Early
October 27th, 2008 - byI’ve had the chance to talk with recruiting expert Tom Lemming on a few occasions. Tom practically invented national football recruiting and every time we talk he speaks about the lack of education in recruiting. He recently updated his Chicago Sun Times blog to reiterate that stance.The list of players who have reneged on early commitments is getting longer and longer and the reasons that some offer to explain their change of mind get sillier and sillier.
It is typical of what is going on in the recruiting process. What is Evans thinking? He may think USC has too many wide receivers on its roster but Notre Dame has the best freshman wide receiver in the country in Michael Floyd. So Evans may not choose any school.
Kids are deciding too soon. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. They simply aren’t educated in the recruiting process and they aren’t getting very good advice.
By February, there will be a run on the top 200 players. At least 40 to 50 will de-commit because they made decisions too soon or they have no sense of integrity at a young age and will go back on their word at the snap of a finger. No one is telling them to stick to their word.
Of course, some players have the right to renege on their early commitments because they have been lied to by the college coach. Sometimes kids have a justifiable reason for de-committing.
