By B.G. BROOKS
Scripps Howard News Service
In the puzzling world of soft and solid verbals, eleventh-hour decommits and the alarmingly subjective star rating system, May has morphed into February.
Increasingly in college football recruiting, the calendar is ignored. More and more high school prospects are committing to colleges before the first practice of their senior seasons. Unofficial campus visits, those paid for primarily by parents rather than the university, are becoming spring and summer norms.
The University of Texas' Class of 2008 is filling up fast. The Longhorns have received 19 early commitments, with Texas A&M (17) not far behind.
And national letter of intent day isn't, well, fast approaching. To make that spring commitment legally binding, raising a protective umbrella against rival recruiters, prospects and the schools hoping to sign them must wait until Feb. 6, 2008.
Think of it like this: You find your dream car, tell a salesman you'll be back for it and leave it on the lot for 9 1/2 months. Will other buyers back off? Would you?
Many college coaches, maybe the majority, are pondering the implementation of an early signing period. Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, which sets the annual recruiting calendar, said the idea has "a little more air under its sails than in the past. . . . It's more compelling than it's ever been."
So much so that an AFCA task force has been established "to take a look at every aspect of it," Teaff said. During their respective conferences' spring meetings, Division I-A coaches likely will discuss the merits of an early signing day and report back to Teaff's group.
"In the past, the (idea of an) early signing date has fallen along lines of those who have and those who are still trying to get," Teaff said. "But it's definitely being looked at very seriously and is up for discussion. By the end of May, we'll know whether to move forward."
If many coaches agree there should be a signing period to accommodate the growing number of early commitments, there is disagreement as to when it should be.
Teaff doesn't want an early signing date to replace the traditional first Wednesday in February and become the national signing day. He favors a mid-December period coinciding with the early signing window for junior-college prospects.
"To me, that makes the most sense," he said. "By December, those who are (still) committed are really committed."
Most of the time, anyway.
Texas coach Mack Brown recalls the saga of John Brantley, a highly touted quarterback from Ocala, Fla., who wound up as Gatorade's 2006-07 national player of the year.
On April 5, 2006, Brantley committed to Texas. On Dec. 20, Brantley de-committed from Texas in favor of Florida. He signed with the Gators in February.
Some coaches, such as Colorado's Dan Hawkins, see a late-spring/early-summer signing date as being more feasible than one in mid-December. In the Brantley-Texas case, an early signing would have locked him in as a Longhorn _ but for how long if the lure of being a Gator remained?
Such instances could prove to be one pitfall in a recruit signing early, but Hawkins and others see many more benefits, particularly with some prospects being able to afford a number of unofficial campus visits while others must wait to take official (paid- by-the-school) trips.
"It wasn't like I was from the dregs, but my dad had no money," Hawkins said. "Kids that have no money can't take all these unofficial trips and come to your camp and go to all these Nike things. . . . They have to wait for the official trips in the fall ...'
Hawkins' solution: "If you wanted to bring them up for your camp, you could. Then those kids at least have _ if their dad and mom have no money _ at least they have a shot at schools in May and June."
Furthermore, he said, with a late June signing day, coaches could plan on July being a relatively worry-free vacation month before camps open in August. Also, prospects would get a clearer picture of a school's needs; waffling on decisions could be eliminated, as would "baby-sitting" committed recruits for nine months or more.
But there are coaches who don't align themselves with Hawkins and his late June alternative, mainly because they value senior season evaluations.
While Wyoming coach Joe Glenn calls soft commitments and de-commitments "the ugliest part of recruiting," he believes a mid-December signing date still would allow the in-season campus visits he believes are most effective and would not detract from further evaluating a prospect during his final season.
"I think (an early date) is a logical thing to have, but 'Hawk' and I just have a difference in when to do it," Glenn said.
Like Glenn, Colorado State's Sonny Lubick believes most coaches want to see more, not less, of a recruit before signing him. Thus they view the continued monitoring of the prospect through his senior year as vital.
"Kids change," Lubick said. "Right now, there are maybe three in Colorado who could play for anybody. But I think most coaches want to see more of them and the other (prospects)."
In June, Teaff said, it is strictly guesswork in predicting what kind of senior season a prospect will have, as well as how he will fare academically and socially.
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