National Signing Day: Why the SEC’s going to rule again

 

On Wednesday, it’s over. National Signing Day 2015 will be on us, and we can look for the next stars. Some of the predictions of freshmen excellence were right last year (Nick Chubb), and some were right about JuCo excellent (D’haquille Williams), but some are still projects. And that’s OK.

This year’s National Signing Day is actually going to be pretty exciting, with three out the top five and four out of the top 10 still trying to work out where they are going to end up. So watch out for Martez Ivy (between Florida and Auburn), Byron Cowart (Florida, Auburn, or FSU), Iman Marshall (USC or Florida State), and CeCe Jefferson (Florida or Ole Miss). Florida could bag three Top 10 players in this year’s Draft National Signing Day…but none of them play offense.

The SEC’s going to rule National Signing Day, we think, because our conference is the most competitive and keeps on sending players to the NFL, which is better than those schools up north. And if you’re as good as Odell Beckham, then why not prove it in the happy confines of The Swamp or The Hedges instead of the grim cold tundra that’s Ohio or Wisconsin or anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line this time of year?

And the great thing about National Signing Day is that SEC fans can take the tiniest of breaks. Look, we know that we’ve got a conference that’s the best at football, but also the best at passion and the best at tailgating. If you don’t believe me, non-SEC readers, watch the ground shake at Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night and have a cocktail on The Grove or with the Vol Navy outside Neyland.

But our fans need to stop lobbying high school athletes. It needs to stop. It’s weird. Especially when the messages get a little darker and more threatening, because the player you feel is the next Amari Cooper might go to your biggest rival.

The high school athletes themselves know the game, and play it to their advantage. They will play the social media audiences. My buddy, who writes about recruiting for a B1G school, was at the High School All-American Game (or whatever you call it) and he said this: “The kids from the Northern places are generally really respectful, while the kids from the South are pretty rude and arrogant.) And a lot of this arrogance and rudeness comes from fanbases making these kids out to be the gods that they aren’t. And there’s nothing more funny than a kid who’s made himself into a media god, signed for a big team, and then done nothing but ride the bench for 2-3 years. Which, if you think about it, makes you and your buddies who spent all year tweeting him begging him to come to the Big School Down South a little stupid.

The biggest situation of over-the-topness Kyler Murray, who looks like he’s staying at Texas A&M.

Murray, the nation’s top-ranked quarterback out of Allen, TX and who’s Dad is an Aggie alum, played the media with his Texas shirts and gave Texas A&M fans a freakin’ heart attack, but it came down to Kevin Sumlin meeting with the family, and assuring him that the 5-10 QB really has a future with the Aggies, and won’t be the next Kenny Hill (For the record, Kevin Sumlin’s going 2-0 on career-destroying Star QBs, what with Kenny Hill’s conversion from God to The Worst QB Ever To Transfer in a matter of months, and Johnny Manziel going from Heisman to rehab yesterday. Just thought you should know that, future). Murray played the media. He knew about his RTs, his favourites, and the commotion he’d cause in that part of the world, and did it anyway. Was he REALLY thinking about going to Texas? Probably not. But he generated enough traffic about himself to make Tom Brady & Gisele Bundchen (or is it Gisele and Tom?) feel jealous.

But seriously SEC fans, stop trying to interact with the kids. They really don’t care about you. Waste your tweets on tweeting @SECblog, where we can assure you that if it’s not racist or abusive, we’ll reply to you and be happy to talk football.

The other big question coming out of National Signing Day is going to be: Are we seeing an end to every player wanting to play for Nick Saban?

 

talents to somewhere else other Tuscaloosa. Maybe they’ve realised that with the depth of talent the Crimson Tide puts together every year, it wouldn’t be within their interest to come play for Alabama. Sure, Alabama fans would see that a sign of weakness, but personally, I’d see that as a sign that a player wants to play, get some limelight, and maybe make some money playing in the NFL. You won’t get a lot of money at NFL-level if you’ve had little or no chance to play for Nick Saban. Frankly, we’re surprised more kids don’t transfer from Tuscaloosa.

But let’s be honest, Alabama’s still the top school when it comes to recruiting, and there’s no-one who can really compare. Sure, Ohio State can get any player it wants from the North, but every year, Alabama loads up on the best recruits in the land, and will do for the forseeable future. And his assistants are great at bringing in the talent (when they aren’t leaving) Kirby Smart’s probably not that great a defensive co-ordinator (or wasn’t in 2014!!), but he’s one hell of a recruiter, and Lane Kiffin should really know when to give the ball to a star running back (see CFB Play-Off Semi-Final), but he’s also one hell of a recruiter!!