How Signing Day Has Changed

Wednesday will be my eight NSD since joining UHND back in the summer of 1999 and in that fairly short period of time, it’s amazing how much its changed in significance. Even back then, a good number of top recruits still waited until Signing Day to make their decisions. It was a lot more common to hear, “I’m going to decide on Signing Day” back then than it is today. Take the Scout.com Top 100 for example. Only 9 of their top 100 prospects have yet to decide where they are going.

Because fewer and fewer recruits wait until NSD to make their decisions, Signing Day has turned into a nerve racking, paranoid filled day on most college football message boards. Many schools are finished receiving verbal commitments or have one or two left lingering out there, but a lot of schools have multiple players that could be rumored to be wavering.

Read any Notre Dame message board and you’ll hear rumors about Greg Little, Chris Little, Ian Williams, or Robert Hughes rethinking. Nevermind that 99% of these rumors have little or no solid sources behind them.

Part of the problem is that recruiting junkies want there to be news up until NSD and when there isn’t any out there, people make it up so there is something to discuss or freak out about.

Honestly, I don’t know what’s worse, waiting till NSD to hear that your one and only quarterback recruit has decided to go to Wake Forest, or worrying about whether or not your one and only true defensive tackle recruit will sign somewhere else?