February 5, 2014

Annual Day of the Insane

Today is the day I dubbed "The Annual Day of the Insane". Yep it's national signing day, the only day of the year where fax machines are still relevant, where recruits can send their letter of intent to whatever school they choose. I've written about this day before twice now. Well here's a third time.

I've talked about the allure of recruits and why fans get excited about this day, today I'm going to talk about the fans themselves and how they should react to this day and how their team does in terms of recruiting.

Number 1, Don't Stalk, Throw Verbal Abuses, or Complain why a recruit didn't choose your school: I remember when Keenan Allen choose Cal, Alabama fans were pissed. You see before Allen became a great receiver, Bama recruited him as a defensive back. He didn't want to be a defensive back and Cal offered him the opportunity to be a receiver. He choose Cal. Bama fans complained, threw insults at him, and stalked him on Twitter. Don't do this folks.

Remember these are kids that are 17 or 18 years old. Most of them are still in high school from tiny schools. Remember how undecided you were when you were that age? And remember they're choosing what's best for them. Keenan Allen choose the receiver and Cal route over Bama and secondary because that was best for him. And after judging his season in San Diego I'm guessing he made the right decision.


Number 2, There Are Always Surprises: Like Tom Brady going from a 6th round pick to NFL Hall of Famer, recruiting is littered with hundreds of kids who are not 5 star recruits who become something special. Aaron Rodgers wasn't even recruited out of high school by division 1 schools and look at how his career turned out. Just because your school didn't pluck away a couple of 5 star recruits doesn't mean the recruiting class is a dud.

Number 3, 5 Star Recruit Doesn't Mean Great Player: Just like how there are hundreds of recruits who weren't highly recruited who became something special, there are hundreds of 5 or 4 star recruits who are busts in college. For every 5 star recruit that pans out, there's another who busts for whatever particular reason.

Number 4, How Good Is The Coaching Staff?: I always think of Ron Zook when I get to this number. Ole Zook could recruit with anyone. Same with Ed Orgeron. They couldn't develop players if it saved their lives though. There are two parts in coaching, recruiting and developing. Most coaches can do one or the other and few can do both successfully.

Number 5, Act Like You've Been Here Before: Because you have. You've been happy and disappointed on this day before. Act like you've been here before. Don't taunt opposing fans because you landed the recruit their team was also after. And going back to number 1, don't go after the recruit if you're disappointed he didn't come to your school. Act like you've been here before.

2 comments:

  1. On the other hand, there's a TE (local kid from East High here in SLC) that decommited from Utah to sign with Utah State. That should never happen. Ever. I want somebody fired for that.

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    Replies
    1. Act like you've been there before RaiderUte. You're becoming one of them.

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