The first Wednesday of every February is a glorious day to be a college football coach.
Beginning at 7 a.m., athletic department fax machines comes to life, spitting out signed agreements from high school players to enroll at their university.
There are parties, press conferences and rejoicing about the future. Judging by National Signing Day press conferences, no coach in the history of college football has ever signed a disappointing class.
It’s an equally proud time for players. After being fawned over by coaches, recruiters and fans for months, they receive instant love from the school lucky enough to be graced with their presence for the next four (or five) years. And so it has gone seemingly since the beginning of time.
Perhaps it’s time for that to change.
Jadeveon Clowney, the consensus No. 1-ranked high school player in the country, is expected to delay signing with a team until Feb. 14, his birthday. This year’s Valentine’s blind date will be the fourth consecutive year that one of the nation’s top prospects has delayed signing a National Letter of Intent.
For players like Terrelle Pryor, Bryce Brown and Seantrel Henderson, it’s the right move. For all the attention signing day gets, it’s simply the first day on which athletes can commit to a school.
Surveying the signing day wreckage allows a player to avoid schools that sign other highly touted recruits at their position if they so choose. Last year, Henderson waited for the NCAA sanctions against USC to sign; he eventually signed with the Trojans but later was released from his NLI to sign with Miami.
Delaying a decision is no more attention-seeking or selfish than committing on national television during an all-star game or in a church while Darude’s “Sandstorm” blares from the speakers (looking at you, Marcus Lattimore).
If anything, the lights shine brightest on signing day, not in the weeks that follow.
I sincerely doubt LSU fans will be disappointed if Clowney uses the extra time to visit Baton Rouge, as some have speculated he will.
I’d take it one step further, myself — if I were an elite high school football player, I would refuse to sign the NLI at all.
By signing that letter, athletes surrender their rights for four years. Their scholarships only cover one.
Scholarships can be revoked after a single season, but schools can still prevent players from transferring without penalty.
In short, the letter is only mutually binding for one year, after which the power switches entirely to the school.
Unless, of course, the athlete refuses to sign.
Included with the NLI is an athletics aid agreement, the one-year scholarship. The aid agreement can be signed without an NLI, but rarely is because schools only relinquish their power for the most highly-prized recruits.
It’s a move that perhaps only a handful of players could get a school to allow, but one Jadeveon Clowney should seriously consider.
Creating a trend would provide a platform for recruiting reform.
College football allows coaches to promise scholarships they don’t have and schools to block transfers even if a coach leaves.
Until those things change, it’s time for players to stop agreeing to play in a broken system.
 
 
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Contact Ryan Ginn at
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